Boston, Day 3: Or Rather, Topsfield

Today I was supposed to travel on the commuter rail from Boston to North Beverly. No go. I get to the station, and follow signs for "tickes". I wait in line, and find out that the ticket counters are only for buses, and the actual train station is in a different building. By this time, I'm cutting it short. I get to the train station, and I stand in line again, and just before I get to the only open counter, I realize I'm traveling north, and I'm at South Station. No biggie, I thought, I'll just get to North Station and take the next train. So I call my friend for a ride, but she doesn't pick up... so I call my family, to let them know I'll probably be a little late, having run into a tiny hitch in my travel plans. However, it turned out to be easier to take the T all the way to the end instead, and get a ride from there. So I had to find a map or a Person, who could explain to me the easiest way to get from the wrong station to North Station to North Beverly... My only recommendation for the MBTA is that they consolidate North and South Stations, so careless travelers such as myself don't make the mistake of going to the wrong one and end up missing their trains. Ah well. It all worked out.

I spent part of the afternoon lounging on a boat in Marblehead, which was incredibly enjoyable and relaxing. I recommend boating for stressed people. Seriously. We went on a little tour of the harbor, which was pleasant. We also looked at and commented on all the little, big and bigger boats on the water and the mansions on the shore. Evidently there's one house with a collection of Dutch Masters. Do you think if I ask nicely he'll give me a tour?

The last and possibly greatest news, is that I had Lobster!! Yes indeed, I had the most wonderful dinner that started with the sweetest, tastiest lobster I've had in a while. Mmmmm. Pretty soon I'll be a lobster-eating expert. I already know that 3-5 inches of water is considered fine for the pot when boiling them. And although we didn't race the lobsters tonight, there's no saying that tradition won't be reinstated in the near future. I think I'll start planning my next trip to Boston... ;)

Tomorrow is unfortunately my last day in Massachusetts, but I have great plans for that, too. Stand by.

Boston, Day 2: Various

So, the beach didn't happen. The skies threatened to rain, and the forecast was grey, so we didn't go. Turns out it was a pretty nice day throughout, and we probably would have been fine. There goes my last outdoor swim before Labor Day, I guess.

The highlights for Friday include the Nichols house, which was interesting but not fascinating. An average and slightly rambling tour that took us through a house built in 1808 (hence my interest) but was really about the last inhabitant, an eccentric old woman who lived in the 20th century. Which is definitely not as interesting as early 19th century history, IMO.

We first though, had brunch at Zaftig's, in Allston or thereabouts. Very good, worth a 20 minute wait, but definitely not worth an hour and a half wait. Try the challah french toast.

We walked around the beautiful Beacon Hill, and the Boston Common. Then we walked along Newbury St, where I managed to avoid emptying my bank account on merchandise I don't need and can't afford, and can't bring home either, due to limited suitcase space. Bravo me!

Later that night we went out, to the very touristy (it's on the Freedom Trail) Bell in Hand, where I watched Michigan Uni lose to Utah :( Followed by a unique party on a rooftop. I took pictures, but owing to my camera's automatic flash capabilities, can't be assured that any of them will come out. We left in time to take the T home, and that was that.

Boston, Day 1: The Freedom Trail

Spent most of today (about 4 hours) walking the Freedom Trail, which I found difficult to navigate until after I got to the Visitors' Center and picked up a map ... and then noticed the red trail, about a foot wide, that runs down the middle of the sidewalks and through crosswalks. Doh.

The trail itself is quite interesting: I walked through or around at least three burying grounds, inside a beautiful church, where I boldy asked someone else's tour guide why some of the benches face backward (seriously, who wants to crane his or her neck around to try to look at the preacher who's talking behind one?). Turns out, the children probably sat there, presumably so the devout parents could keep a warning eye on their children who assuredly had short attention spans. I took pictures of quite a few old buildings, and walked over the cobblestone circle that marks the spot of the Boston massacre, where five Bostonians were shot ... by accident? At least, that's how the history books and tour guides tell it. Peeked over plenty of shoulders to try to see some break dancers in front of Faneuil and around the Quincy, South and North markets, Haymarket... skipped Paul Revere's house because I'd seen it before. Then, because I had some extra time on my hands, I walked across the Charles River on the Charlestown Bridge. Where I stopped about a third of the way along, and swore silently when I noticed that the middle section IS WIRE MESH. So I was walking on a bridge where I could SEE THE RIVER BELOW ME. Nobody mentioned that, so I paused a moment to gather my courage, and walked across with my eyes on the beam I made sure to keep under my feet. Then, after I witnessed the amazingness of the children's hands-on section of the USS Constitution Museum, I did it again! Still directly over the supporting beam, though, and I'm pretty sure my speed picked up as I neared the end.

Finally I got back to the North End, where I had great coffee, excellent tiramisu', and an excellent (and expensive) seafood dinner. Yumm. Said goodnight to the host in Italian - Buona sera, signore - think I got a reply in Italian, yay! Probably I could be very comfortable in Boston's very Italian North End.

I think the beach is on tomorrow's schedule - stay tuned.

A Couple of Green Thoughts From Boston

First up: Transportation. I rode the 'Green' (how appropriate) line today, no mistakes or mishaps! The 'T' is very different from the Washington, DC Metro - similar to Chicago's 'El' in my opinion, though I've only ridden each of those a couple of times. The 'T' feels more like a trolley than a subway, but that's maybe only because the 'B' line is mostly above ground. Fun to ride, but hard to balance if there's no room to sit. Plenty of times I thought I'd pitch right into another unsuspecting passenger, but thankfully that never actually happened.

Secondly: Walked about 20 minutes this morning to find a local coffee shop where I could have breakfast, and ended up at one that advertised ice cream as well - the coffee wasn't bad, but what's the deal with coffee shops immediately offering throwaway cups even after you tell them you'd like to eat in? Not only that, but this particular coffee shop offered me my scone on a plastic plate. How many of those do they run through in a month, I wonder?

A Quick Note On Vacation

I did it! I have tickets for Nashville. Travel itinerary still to be worked out, but I have a month to do that.

In other news, tomorrow I leave for Boston! Spent some time last night congratulating myself on getting tickets for a train that leaves at 11am... so I can sleep in a little bit tomorrow, if I manage to finish packing tonight. Note to self: Charge iPod.

I'll try to keep a travel diary here for the weekends I'm away, and will try to include some greenery in both the travel and the diary, to keep with the theme of the blog.

More to come from Boston!

To Do: Nashville, TN

Unfortunately, I'm a late planner. So when other people know they're going on vacation from date x to date y several months in advance, I start looking at flights oh, the month before I'd like to go on vacation. For Boston it wasn't such a big deal. For Nashville at the end of September, it makes a huge difference.

So I'm planning my trip, which now involves not only the Metro and two flights each way, it also involves a MARC train to BWI. Which could be fun, and only takes an extra half an hour. But it seems a bit ridiculous. Thank goodness it's also cheap.

Usually I prefer to take a POV to the airport, it being more comfortable and less reliant on my ability to leave and arrive in time to catch my flight. But in this case, it will fit in with my efforts to travel more by train, as a preferred method of (greener) public transportation. The MARC also, surprisingly, can travel to BWI faster than I can get there by car. So there are at least two advantages, plus the money I'll save by not traveling out of Reagan or Dulles airports.

Now I just have to make sure I can get there without any mishaps.

Autumn Breeze Trumps Air Conditioning

Hands down. I am 100% all in favor of fresh air, whenever the temperature makes it comfortable. Today the weather has been cool enough that I felt cold eating my lunch outside on a bird poo-infested picnic bench. Furthermore, I've been able to keep the window open all day, without melting into my seat. Not only does this mean that my office has smelled fresh and outdoors-y, and that I haven't been wasting money and energy on air conditioning, it means most importantly that I have not felt my fingers, nose and toes turning into little organic blocks of ice. Now if only I could get this to work in my tiny apartment that has no air circulation...

Going Green at Wolf Trap, With the Backstreet Boys!!

I realize this makes me uncool in the extreme, but I definitely enjoyed myself last night at the Backstreet Boys concert.

Before you laugh so hard your drink exits through your nose, however, let me just point out that the concert was sold out, and attended by people of varying ages. And too many teenie-boppers in too-short dresses. But nevermind.

Girlicious started off the evening with hip hop beats that 'featured' stars like Sean Kingston (they made a recording, so he was there digitally, at least). For the uninitiated, Girlicious was created by the Pussycat Dolls. Essentially the same band, with maybe one fewer member and ten fewer years on them.

Then we waited, and waited.... and waited. Finally the house lights went down, the stage lights went up, and a voice announced... the Backstreet Boys! I still can't believe I actually attended their concert. To start, it was sort of a joke. "Ha ha, wouldn't it be funny if..."

Much to my surprise, they are (still) very good performers. They even opened with a blow-up boxing rink, where they did their uniform dance moves and pretended to battle. The dancing did not disappoint. Same stuff they used to do 10 (15?) years ago. Of course, they sang the classics (I'm sure everyone knows what they are ;), and plenty of songs I hadn't heard before (I wasn't that big a fan as a pre-teen). They all have their own solo thing going on now, so they sang some songs individually - AJ's had to be my favorite. At one point, he even came out wearing a Run DMC t-shirt, which I found particularly interesting. Some of his dance moves ought to be checked out on YouTube, if there are any videos up.

Throughout the whole concert there was much screaming, clapping, arm-waving, and singing, as there should be at any pop concert worth its speakers. And, to finish the night off on an especially good note, we left before the traffic got so bad we would have had to spend an hour in the parking lot. All in all, a very good, if late, night.

I feel I should also mention that Wolf Trap's concessions stands have gone green, with all biodegradable plastics and glass and plastic recycling. If you don't mind that they're made out of corn that people all over the world could be eating, go ahead and waste your money buying food in plastic containers at Wolf Trap. Though it is more fun to bring your own picnic (drinks and food allowed into the park).

Confession #1

I threw out a yoghurt cup today.

I could have used it to hold flowers in a too-large pot.

The Peanut Hotline. Or, How To Recycle Styrofoam Packing

A colleague of mine contacted me today about recycling some packaging peanuts she didn't want to waste. Previously this year I was handed a stack of stapled papers so that I could remove the dozens of staples before recycling the white paper (which is all that is officially recycled at the museum). My determination to re-use and recycle is well-known here. The offer was presented with a laugh, and I willingly spent the next 10 minutes de-stapling the pages by hand (I don't have one of those nifty staple-removers that remind me of the back end of hammers).

To get back to the main point of the story, I told my co-worker that I didn't actually have any idea how to recycle packaging peanuts, except to re-use them in later shipments. I offered to do a little research to find out how and where plastic loose fill can be recycled. Very quickly I found The Plastic Loose Fill Council, which has a very convenient online form to find drop-off centers in your area. There is also the Peanut Hotline, which refers thousands of customers each month to nearby drop-off facilities for packing peanuts.

Labor Day in Boston!

It's done. I'm going to Boston over Labor Day weekend. Traveling by train, for what is probably only the second time in my entire life. In the United States, that is. Trains are used much more frequently in Great Britain, where I spent four years, and I took many trips from St. Andrews to Edinburgh, just to go shopping and see castles. That trip, unlike the upcoming trip, only takes about an hour.

I'm quite excited. It will be good to bypass the traffic in Connecticut, which is always a pain when driving to New England. Unfortunately will be unable to stop at Rein's Deli, a traditional stop on family drives to visit relatives for Thanksgiving. On the other hand, if I remember to bring enough food with me, I will not have to buy snacks on the snack train, and can avoid wasting the excessive packaging used to protect and preserve sub-par snacks.

Definitely looking forward to that lobster.

The Dishwashing dilemma

Shuffling into the kitchen after a wonderful family dinner, my mom yells after me to put the dishes in the dishwasher. I scrape the food off the plates and stack them next to the sink as I prepare to load the machine. I’ve always had a hard time trusting that the machine will truly clean the really grimy plates, and thus, I rinse off the plates before stashing them away in the strategically designed dish-washing shelves.

As I developed an environmental conscience, I began to question the need for another machine in our everyday lives when we are perfectly capable of doing the job ourselves. I brought this issue up with the kitchen master – my mom – and she claimed that using the dishwasher actually uses less water than what we would use hand-washing the dishes. I accepted this claim for a while and now I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really true.

Water conservation is not the only issue here. There are all the materials used to make the dishwasher, the energy used to put it all together, the energy used to run it, as well as the environmental damage done when it’s not disposed of properly.

I came across an informative article on Slate.com that discusses a German study that compares hand-washing versus the machine and it seems as though the results support the use of the machine. Yet, the study does not take into consideration the issues mentioned above.

The conclusion: both methods have their perks. If you choose to hand wash- use the method mentioned in the Slate article. If you use the machine, don’t rinse before hand- just scrape.

To Do: Train Fare to Boston

My vacation hours expire at the beginning of October, so right now I'm looking at spending those hours in faraway places. Well, sort of far away, at any rate. First on my list is Boston, then Nashville. Unfortunately, Nashville doesn't have a train station, nor are there any others in central Tennessee. Imagine my disappointment when I found out I couldn't take the train west, as in the olden days. "Go west, young man". Or something.

However. Boston has not one, but several train stations. I signed on for Amtrak Guest Rewards, so by buying tickets within three months of joining, I get extra points (very like frequent flyer miles).

Probably most people have seen that commercial for the national railways, where they say one train can go 423 miles or so on one gallon of gas? Well, that's one reason I'm taking the train north. Also, it might be cheaper than flying, especially because I'm a last-minute planner. Not to mention the rising gas prices and extra costs and fees being placed on airlines (and thus customers). I just hope the scenery makes the nine hour trip enjoyable.

Lobster dinners, here I come!!

Strange Encounters - Shaving in the Streets?

My morning commute consists of a 30-minute ride on the Metro, and then a 20-minute walk through DC. This is the case for a variety of reasons, including, a) I don't have a car, b) I like the exercise, considering how hard it is for me to find time to really exercise, c) traffic makes me get ugly, and d) I hate buses. Not to mention the 'green' advantage.

Yesterday, I crossed the street earlier than I usually do. As I was waiting for the light to change at a busy one-way intersection, I noticed (on the same corner I'd seen a woman in scandalously high yet currently trendy Roman sandals, twice in two days) a man holding a mirror... and a razor! I can now definitively say that I have seen a man shaving on a street corner.

DIY Back-to-School

"Brightly colored string, an empty cereal box, a thick stack of scrap paper, and a little creativity..." is all you'll need to create personalized notebooks, binders, datebooks, etc. Not to mention scissors, glue and pens and pencils. But those are easy to find.

Check out the New American Dream website for an article on skipping back-to-school shopping by New American Dream's resident DIY guru.

For Starters

Recently, I've done quite a few things a little bit differently, and a little bit greener. The most exciting one is probably shopping.

I enjoy fashion, so was initially hesitant for that reason about buying 'green' clothing. With so few companies that make them, and mainstream companies not necessarily buying into organic clothing, how fashionable and chic can they be? My first thoughts included hemp tunics and shapeless tie-dyed dresses. Not true, anymore. Although green clothing is becoming more popular, and more fashionable as a result, there's then the cost factor - my Green Guides magazine priced some beautiful pieces of organic cotton, etc - at about $100 a piece!! That may be affordable for some, but probably not many, and certainly not me.

So I needed an alternative. Remembering a few trips to thrift stores in my poor, unemployed childhood, I buy used, instead! This weekend I took a shopping trip to a consignment shop I'd never been to before, and spent a couple hours trying on designer jeans, dresses, tops and bags, which were very affordable at their 1/3 off original price. Thrift stores have cheaper items, but consignment stores are good for brand names and designer labels, with slightly more expensive price tags. I can look good knowing that the clothes I bought have been rescued from the landfills, and are being re-used at least once more. The other advantage is I would still pay more to buy new clothes at the mall.

The other side of that coin is donating used clothing, which is something on my List of Things To Do. I have piles of acceptable, clean clothing at home that can be sold at a yard sale (initiative permitting) or donated to the local Goodwill.

To find thrift stores and consignment shops in your area, google 'best thrift store' with your zip code.