#10 Boston Alert - August 13, 2004
Aloha folks!
What is up? It has been once again an exciting week for yours truly - I love Massachusetts!!! (Did you know that the name stems from Native Americans who referred to themselves as Massachuset = "People of the Great Hills"?) This place is great!
On Thursday of last week I joined the AMC for an evening hike in the Blue Hills near Quincy (http://www.mass.gov/mdc/BLUE.HTM). After struggling on the freeway for 1 1/2 hours to get there, and a self-inflicted detour along a road called Chickatawbut (believe me it is not pronounced the way you think), we started out near Houghton Pond, hiked the Skyline trail and ended up looking down toward Ponkapoag Pond (http://www.mass.gov/mdc/maps/BLUE.GIF). What did I tell you about the names around here? Once the hiking troupe figured out that I was searching for local tidbits and interesting things to tell, there was no stopping them. I learned that a "bubbler" (pronounce: bubbla) is a drinking fountain, and a carriage is a shopping cart. People here eat "stuffed quahogs" which are hard-shelled round clams (pronounced ko-hog). A residential area where you have to reduce your speed, features signs saying "thickly settled."
Saturday morning I once again volunteered through Boston Cares, this time at the Greater Boston Food Bank - sorting groceries destined to go to food programs. That was so much fun! What a great group! Interestingly enough, through the Boston Cares newsletter, I also recently found an old friend from California who has been living in Boston for the past three years. Hi Elizabeth Carpino!
On Sunday, I was once again on the road with the AMC, this time for a bike ride, starting at Wompatuck State Park, and riding along the South Shore through Hingham, Scituate, and Cohasset. All beautiful Massachusetts coastal towns, with beautiful cliffs, beaches and great weather! Scituate featured quite a few historic sites, among them the Lawson Watertower (http://www.scituatehistoricalsociety.org/sites_tower.html). Just outside the town we stopped at the Third Cliff where an inscription read "The first plantations at "Satuit" were laid out by the men of Kent in 1628 on this cliff, which was then more extensive." After lunch in the harbor we headed to the Scituate Lighthouse (http://www.scituatehistoricalsociety.org/sites_lighthouse.html), where the two daughters of light house keeper Simeon Bates, Abigail and Rebecca, rose to fame as the so-called "army of two" - "Noting the approach of two redcoat-filled barges from a British ship of war, the girls snatched fife and drum and hiding behind a thick cluster of cedar trees made such a din that the British mistook them for an entire regiment and made a hasty retreat. "
After riding through the more affluent community of Cohasset (http://www.key-biz.com/ssn/Cohasset/history.html), a section of our group (the sane people) decided to stick to the original 33-mile route, whereas I joined the crazed bike riders and decided to add 15 miles. We biked along the seaside town of Hull and Nantasket Beach. (http://www.nantasketbeach.com/pictures.php/1) The beach used to feature a honky-tonk kind of strip with rides of which only the Paragon Carousel is left. Across the street, on a balmy Sunday night, we saw a jazz band playing at a beachside gazebo with couple dancing.....
We ended up at Fort Revere, a 1775 revolutionary war fort, with a great view of some of the Boston Harbor Islands, in particular the Brewster Islands, named by members of a pilgrim expedition after the Elder William Brewster (http://www.nps.gov/boha/pphtml/nature.html). Just beautiful!
I managed to get back to the parking lot in one piece, even though I felt as if my legs would disassociate from my body at any moment. We ended up riding 50 Miles, and despite some soreness the next day, it was an absolutely wonderful ride.
I have been running still with the hospital's running group (now with new shoes!) - I signed on for my first race, on September 16th, a 4.2-miler called "The Blues Run" followed by the "Big Pig Roast." (With the races, the Bostonians are equally creative in their names - I just discovered a race called "Run for the Woods").
I have been exploring Newbury Street, one of Boston's prime shopping avenues, where pretty much everything is expensive (e.g. my haircut, and the all-white-sparse-design-we-serve-you-Pellegrino-and-show-models-on-TV salon Umi. -http://www.umisite.com/ - they were just voted best hair salon in Boston Magazine). On Tuesday one of my colleagues and I headed for Louis Boston, which is an (expensive of course) Clothing Store and it has a restaurant (also snazzy, the guy ordering the wine, whose name was Brick (I swear) introduced himself and glanced at me suspiciously as I was drinking my beer). [http://www.louisboston.com/] The beers were excellent(Hitachino White, a Japanese wheat beer and a Belgian Duvel).
I also joined the Boston Ski and Sports Club, they have a tremendous amount of activities going on, so don't be surprised if you find me rock climbing or playing kickball.
My favorite topic, as always are the restaurant and bar names:
-Barefoot Bob's in Hull
-Upper Crust (a pizza place in Beacon Hill)
-The Foggy Goggle
The weekend will hopefully allow some nice activities - the weather forecast is not too promising - heading out for a hike on Saturday and a drive down to Cape Cod on Sunday.
Now I am off to go contra dancing in Cambridge! (http://www.neffa.org/Thurs_hist.html).
pet:)
What is up? It has been once again an exciting week for yours truly - I love Massachusetts!!! (Did you know that the name stems from Native Americans who referred to themselves as Massachuset = "People of the Great Hills"?) This place is great!
On Thursday of last week I joined the AMC for an evening hike in the Blue Hills near Quincy (http://www.mass.gov/mdc/BLUE.HTM). After struggling on the freeway for 1 1/2 hours to get there, and a self-inflicted detour along a road called Chickatawbut (believe me it is not pronounced the way you think), we started out near Houghton Pond, hiked the Skyline trail and ended up looking down toward Ponkapoag Pond (http://www.mass.gov/mdc/maps/BLUE.GIF). What did I tell you about the names around here? Once the hiking troupe figured out that I was searching for local tidbits and interesting things to tell, there was no stopping them. I learned that a "bubbler" (pronounce: bubbla) is a drinking fountain, and a carriage is a shopping cart. People here eat "stuffed quahogs" which are hard-shelled round clams (pronounced ko-hog). A residential area where you have to reduce your speed, features signs saying "thickly settled."
Saturday morning I once again volunteered through Boston Cares, this time at the Greater Boston Food Bank - sorting groceries destined to go to food programs. That was so much fun! What a great group! Interestingly enough, through the Boston Cares newsletter, I also recently found an old friend from California who has been living in Boston for the past three years. Hi Elizabeth Carpino!
On Sunday, I was once again on the road with the AMC, this time for a bike ride, starting at Wompatuck State Park, and riding along the South Shore through Hingham, Scituate, and Cohasset. All beautiful Massachusetts coastal towns, with beautiful cliffs, beaches and great weather! Scituate featured quite a few historic sites, among them the Lawson Watertower (http://www.scituatehistoricalsociety.org/sites_tower.html). Just outside the town we stopped at the Third Cliff where an inscription read "The first plantations at "Satuit" were laid out by the men of Kent in 1628 on this cliff, which was then more extensive." After lunch in the harbor we headed to the Scituate Lighthouse (http://www.scituatehistoricalsociety.org/sites_lighthouse.html), where the two daughters of light house keeper Simeon Bates, Abigail and Rebecca, rose to fame as the so-called "army of two" - "Noting the approach of two redcoat-filled barges from a British ship of war, the girls snatched fife and drum and hiding behind a thick cluster of cedar trees made such a din that the British mistook them for an entire regiment and made a hasty retreat. "
After riding through the more affluent community of Cohasset (http://www.key-biz.com/ssn/Cohasset/history.html), a section of our group (the sane people) decided to stick to the original 33-mile route, whereas I joined the crazed bike riders and decided to add 15 miles. We biked along the seaside town of Hull and Nantasket Beach. (http://www.nantasketbeach.com/pictures.php/1) The beach used to feature a honky-tonk kind of strip with rides of which only the Paragon Carousel is left. Across the street, on a balmy Sunday night, we saw a jazz band playing at a beachside gazebo with couple dancing.....
We ended up at Fort Revere, a 1775 revolutionary war fort, with a great view of some of the Boston Harbor Islands, in particular the Brewster Islands, named by members of a pilgrim expedition after the Elder William Brewster (http://www.nps.gov/boha/pphtml/nature.html). Just beautiful!
I managed to get back to the parking lot in one piece, even though I felt as if my legs would disassociate from my body at any moment. We ended up riding 50 Miles, and despite some soreness the next day, it was an absolutely wonderful ride.
I have been running still with the hospital's running group (now with new shoes!) - I signed on for my first race, on September 16th, a 4.2-miler called "The Blues Run" followed by the "Big Pig Roast." (With the races, the Bostonians are equally creative in their names - I just discovered a race called "Run for the Woods").
I have been exploring Newbury Street, one of Boston's prime shopping avenues, where pretty much everything is expensive (e.g. my haircut, and the all-white-sparse-design-we-serve-you-Pellegrino-and-show-models-on-TV salon Umi. -http://www.umisite.com/ - they were just voted best hair salon in Boston Magazine). On Tuesday one of my colleagues and I headed for Louis Boston, which is an (expensive of course) Clothing Store and it has a restaurant (also snazzy, the guy ordering the wine, whose name was Brick (I swear) introduced himself and glanced at me suspiciously as I was drinking my beer). [http://www.louisboston.com/] The beers were excellent(Hitachino White, a Japanese wheat beer and a Belgian Duvel).
I also joined the Boston Ski and Sports Club, they have a tremendous amount of activities going on, so don't be surprised if you find me rock climbing or playing kickball.
My favorite topic, as always are the restaurant and bar names:
-Barefoot Bob's in Hull
-Upper Crust (a pizza place in Beacon Hill)
-The Foggy Goggle
The weekend will hopefully allow some nice activities - the weather forecast is not too promising - heading out for a hike on Saturday and a drive down to Cape Cod on Sunday.
Now I am off to go contra dancing in Cambridge! (http://www.neffa.org/Thurs_hist.html).
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
2:12 PM
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