Boston has very good things.

Good conversation, good food, really good hummus.

A lovely skyline. Perfect weather! (At least while I was there - I have no interest in Boston winters, I know I am a wuss and could not deal. Big ups to those who can.) Hotel rooms with beautiful views over a quiet, sunny harbor.

Yummy, flowing tapas and damn good drinks. Insanely delicious garlic shrimp.

Friends with interesting facts.  That monument in the background? That's the monument of the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was actually fought on Breed's Hill.  The monument was built on the actual location of the battle of Bunker Hill (meaning, it was built on Breed's Hill). 

I will never, ever forget this fact because Jess, Casey, Kyle aka Frecklebrother, and Erica (Kyle's lovely fiancee) were all kind enough to share it with me several times... each. Now, every time I look at a picture I took with the Bunker Hill monument in the background, I smile.

Bob - a very good dog. He's a very friendly, snuggly little guy.

Paul Revere's house! There's not a straight line in the place. Creaky, crooked, and wooden, with lovely lilacs in bloom outside. I got busted trying to take a picture of an embroidered sampler.  I wasn't using a flash, but I stupidly have my camera set to make amusing animal noises when turning on and focusing... and evidently such nonsense will get you busted in museums and historical houses where there are no pictures allowed.

Good luck statues! I had to rub John Harvard's foot when I found out that it is considered good luck to do so.  Since it is a statue, and I have statue posing issues, I got a little funky with my pose and totally cramped up my hamstring.  Nine years of ballet and now just striking a goofy pose with a statue means a cramped hamstring... I am not as spry as I used to be!

On the afternoon of my last day in Boston, Jess, Casey, and I met up with Kyle and Erica, and they gave me a fantastic tour - Kyle even printed out a map with aerial views of colonial Boston side-by-side with and Boston today, and the five of us rode around the city in a convertable. That day was perfectly sunny, crisp, beautiful. It was so great! I got to see everything from the site of the Boston Massacre (Kyle's commentary was particularly vivid here) to the Boston Commons, to these beautiful gardens where Kyle and Erica took their engagement photos, to the outside of the Cheers bar. I just sat back and soaked it all in and listened to all the facts and anecdotes. It was a perfect ending to my trip, and my experience in Boston - I loved it! At the end of my last day, we sat in one of Boston's many breweries (my kinda town) featuring a very nice beer menu (my kinda place). A perfect ending.

I felt very welcomed, I learned a lot about the city, and I had a blast. It was exciting to get some work done with Jess and Casey all together, too - focused around a coffee table, scribbling notes and brainstorming, making plans.

I'm grateful for so much right now, every day. Life and home and work and fun - very grateful.