Boston!

We got to Boston on Thursday night after an uneventful (thank goodness) bus ride from NYC. Our first Boston dinner was at Durgin Park! This restaurant is becoming somewhat of a family tradition. Grandma and Grandpa Goessling ate there back in the day, Adam & Andrea ate there, and now we ate there too! It was delicious, although a bit pricey. (We would be later told by an older gentleman at a pub that the Yankee cut of Prime Rib- which I ate- used to be $ .99! It's gone up a bit since then, but it was delicious. Edwin had the salmon and says it was equally sublime.

Yes, that Prime Rib is the size of a small child. I did not finish it.

That's me on the left! Does it look the same Grandma?

On Friday, we did something I (Edwin) have been wanting to do since I turned 21: visit the Sam Adams brewery. I'm a huge fan of beer and being in the city that is home to Sam Adams, I couldn't resist. So, my trustworthy companion and I hopped on the metro and in 30 minutes we were in beer country. We were hungry and a little doubtful we would find good food, but alas, Sam Adams provided! Actually, it was more like ULA (pronounced oo-la) Cafe that provided. It's an indie restaurant (owned and operated by locals) with great coffee and awesome sandwiches. My sandwich had turkey, guacamole, and provelone cheese. Chel had this great hummus sandwich with a spinach soup and topped it off with an Italian soda. ON TO THE BREWERY. I suddenly felt like Charlie when he first set foot on the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. The tour was awesome, we learned about hops, yeast and the good stuff that goes into Sam Adams beer and we ended the tour with FREE BEER!! We tasted 3 types of beer: the original Sam Adams lager, the Summer Ale (Chel's favorite next to Honey Weiss), and an IPA (a stronger beer but still delicious). We left the brewery thirsty for more Sam Adams beer... at least I left a little more thirsty. There was a trolley that took people to Doyle's, a famous pub featured in the movie "Mystic River". At Doyle's I had a Sam Adams that is only made for Boston and only consumed in Boston. We also got free Sam Adams beer glasses and best of all we made friends. I met this older gentleman who used to teach high school English. I forgot his name but we had a great time chatting about his life, Boston, great places to eat, and Sam Adams beer. Turns out (his wife told Chelsea) he's a small shareholder in the Sam Adams company, has a chair at Doyle's with his name on it, and was at the bar when the CEO of Sam Adams tried to pitch his beer for the first time (he succeeded).

Friday was a great day. I hope this isn't the last brewery I visit, especially since the Leinenkugel's brewery is in Wisconsin where we will spend the rest of our summer (I'm a big fan of Sunset Wheat). We had a good time at the brewery and later on had an amazing evening on the water... stay tuned for those details.