Trevor

Tammy and I were at the pier by 8am, at Dunkin Donut (for a 24ounce coffee, only) at 8:15 and waiting to board the Odyssey for a whale watching excursion. The crew (with Captain Fred running the boat) got us underway on time. They announced that we might experience “mild to moderate chop” when we clear the harbor.  I wondered what they meant by “mild to moderate chop.”

Have you seen the George Clooney movie “The Perfect Storm”? Where he tries to power his fishing trawler up a vertical wall of water?

It was almost like that. I’m glad I had a bagel and cream cheese, yogurt, an orange and a lot of coffee for breakfast. (No, I didn’t lose it over the stern, but I was considering it for the first 2.5 hours of the excursion.)

Eventually, the waters calmed, and I started feeling like maybe I’d eat food again sometime later this year.

The whale watching was as successful as last night’s fishing trip. (Seriously, if I needed to live off my fishing and hunting abilities, I would be a very skinny vegetarian.)

The crepes put me over the top in terms of calories, but it was so worth it!

Life is for the living. And life is meant to be enjoyed. That does not mean eating with abandon and completely ignoring the consequences of over-indulging. But vacations like this do not happen all the time. And both Tammy and I are staying very active. We are also logging everything. And we are still making choices. We know that all the fried food is an indulgence. We also know that when we return home, we will return to a tightly controlled intake until we return to our goal weights. But we are having a helluva good time. We are eating foods that we simply can’t get at home, especially the fresh seafood, being served less than a day from harvest.

Tomorrow we drive to Cooperstown, New York to tour the Ommegang Brewing Company and a meal at their brewpub, and then on to Niagara Falls.

We arrived in Portland at around 2 pm. The traffic out of Boston was not bad. Our bed and breakfast, the Inn at St. John, is very nice.

We went to the Portland Lobster Company, and the feast began! I went a little nuts, and ordered the Down East Feast. Mine was a 1.25 pound lobster, a dozen steamed oysters, clam chowder, french fries, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and drawn butter. (Tammy’s was the same, but without the steamed oysters, clam chowder.) I also ordered a local beer (Peepers Ale.)

(Disclaimer: Yesterday, my Fitbit showed huge numbers. I took them at face value, but I has some doubts. This morning, on my ride into town, I realized what happened. The roads throughout the city are rough and the trolleys have terrible suspensions. My Fitbit registered all the bumps as walking, and all the hills as climbing the equivalent in flights of stairs. Oh well.)

And the Boston vacation continues …

Another beautiful day in Boston began as all the others, with a hearty breakfast and a ride on the Beantown Trolley to start the day.

We decided to spend the day not riding the trolley. We wanted to walk the Freedom Trail, as well as take in a few other sites. So we hit the trail at about 9am. We planned to be at Fanueil Hall for lunch by noon. (Remember how my plans turn out?)

I’m not going to inflict upon you all the pictures that I took. I try to not be excessively cruel. But I had fun wandering the area and finding really nice scenery. The wonderful architecture, both classic and modern, is impressive as is the almost constant use of flowers and plants everywhere. And if you are interested in cemertaries, Boston has some great ones. With a few big names, too.

Okay, so I earned my merit badge in “Corny Tourist”, but who cares? It was a delicious beer, and how often am I on Boston?  It was fun. And seriously, I was hot, tired and thirsty at that point of the day. Why was I so hot, tired and thirsty?

We were only on the trolley from our motel to drop-off point. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking. Today, my Fitbit numbers are accurate: Steps: 23,614  Miles: 10.45  Flights: 53

Half of the 53 flights came from climbing the Bunker Hill Monument.

My plan for lunch was not met exactly. (Surprise!) By the time we got to Faneuil Hall, it was 2pm, and we were hungry.

Later, while waiting for the shuttle back to the motel, we found a fruit vendor for a quick snack of plums and oranges.

We returned to the motel and decided to find seafood (again) but not from a restaurant in the tourist district and not from a chain. We looked for a shop that only locals would know about. And we found one: “K Seafood.” They don’t have a web presence. They don’t have flashy advertising. They don’t have a fancy building. They don’t serve on china plates. They just serve really good fried seafood. To go, only.

And at Faneuil Hall, a statue of Samuel Adams stands where he made several speeches encouraging independence from England. (Apparently he did more than make beer. Who knew?)

It was a long day. Tomorrow, we leave Boston and head to Portland, Maine. And more lobster. (Do you sense a food theme?)

The morning started a bit early, up by 6am and eating breakfast at 7am. Our motel, the Comfort Inn in Randolph, MA offers a nice complimentary breakfast, much more than the usual pastries, coffee and juices. I know that we will be doing a fair amount of walking, and I like to start my days with a big breakfast. This place allows that. Yesterday and today I ate two hard boiled eggs, a whole wheat bagel with two tablespoons peanut butter, a banana, Dannon Light and Fit blueberry yogurt with 1/4 cup Fiber All cereal and coffee. We planned to grab a meal somewhere along our tour at noonish, so this would be a great start to the day. (It’s good to have plans. It’s better if they work out. Which is never guaranteed.)
We bought two day passes to the Beantown Trolley tour. This is a guided tour of Boston,with trolleys running at half hour intervals. This allows riders to get off at any location for greater exploration at specific sites and then climb back aboard the next trolley and continue the tour. If you are visiting Boston, this is a great way to learn about the city. Buying a two-day pass is very efficient because it gives you a chance to see the whole tour, and then spend the remaining day and all the next day on adventures visiting sights that are of special interest.

The trolley picked us up at our motel and we started the tour. At the end of the first circuit, we exited the trolley and took our first adventure on foot. Yesterday, Alyssa with Bites Of Boston Food Tours told us about an art and food outdoor market, located in the Art District (near the theater district and Chinatown), an area known as SoWa (South of Washington Avenue.) Since the Beantown trolley stopped near that area, we decided to check it out.

The first layer of this adventure was completely out of our control. It was hot (90F) and humid (64%). That is not a terrible thing, but the second layer of the adventure was that we were not completely sure of how to get where we wanted. Boston’s city streets are not laid out in a normal straight grid pattern. We first walked a few blocks one way, then realized that we were going in the wrong direction and backtracked several (many?) blocks. Then, we found out that we were headed in the correct direction initially and turned around. Eventually, we decided to go “that way” and hope for the best. We got where we wanted to go.

It was a nice market, focused on artwork of every type. (Alyssa, thanks for mentioning that while we were on the food tour.) Painting, sculpture, fabrics and repurposed materials shared space with food trucks, a pet snack bakery, and organic food vendors.

By the time the henna tattoo was completed on Tammy’s foot, we needed to get back to our pickup point. I wanted to visit the U.S.S. Constitution and since that is not open on Mondays, I needed to do that today. We didn’t stay at the market to eat, because I didn’t get in line early enough. Everyone wanted the same thing I wanted (Lobster Roll). Oh well, we’ll get some food soon. (Riiiiiight.)

We walked back to the drop off place turning the corner just as the trolley drove off. Sigh. Another one will arrive in 30 minutes. That will still give us time to grab some food and do the U.S.S. Constitution. Probably. Eventually, the trolley arrived and all was fine, except that this driver took us on slightly different routes, and took several long stops (15 minutes at one for no apparent reason, 10 minutes at another stop for a bathroom break) and then stopped to take his lunch break two stops later. At that stop, we were told that the next trolley would be there to pick us up in 20 minutes.

Okay.We will just see the ship. We will find some food when we get to the motel. (Gotta love it when plans fall into place!)

We finished that tour and waited for the final trolley ride back to the starting point, for the shuttle back to the motel. And food! We arrived back, and were told that our shuttle wouldn’t be ready for 75  minutes. So, that gave us time for food!

It was Italian time! Just down the street was a nice Italian place, Vapiano. We ordered a mixed antipasti platter to eat there, and then a small pizza to go. We didn’t know how long it would take to prepare the food, and I really didn’t want to miss the shuttle back to the motel.

Very good food. A rustic bread with chopped tomatoes, some marinated artichoke hearts, shaved parmesan, slice tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, giardiniere of veggies and some Kalamata olives. It tastes even better that it looks!

The pizza arrived right away, so we ate it there instead of taking it to go. Such a good pizza! We waited a lot longer than planned for our meal, but I can say it was worth it. (And this meal kicked the butt of the Mexican meal yesterday.)

Dessert was at the motel. Our first night, we had stopped at a Godiva shop in the mall the held the Legal Seafood restaurant. Tonight we enjoyed two truffles each. We each had a tiramisu truffle, and Tammy had a dark chocolate shell, while I had an extra-dark chocolate truffle.

Tomorrow’s plan? The Beantown Trolley to start, then a 3.5 mile walk on the Freedom Trail, ending back at the U.S.S Constitution. Then we will ride back to Fanueil Hall for some shopping and snacking. From there we will wander to the Boston Aquarium, followed by a seafood restaurant.

Those are the plans. I wonder what will really happen?

FYI: Boston has quite a few hills and we climbed up and down the streetswhile trying to find our way to the market. That, combined all the other stairs we climbed made for some impressive numbers on my Fitbit. We walked 8.31 miles, 18,570 steps and climbed the equivalent of 101 flights of stairs.

Today was our first full day in Boston and we made the most of it. The weather was beautiful (mid-upper 80s, with a nice breeze, low humidity) and made for a perfect walking exploration of Boston’s South End.

But first we needed to get to the starting point of our tour. So we added an adventure that we had not anticipated. We thought our inn offered a shuttle for us. And they do, but only to the nearest train station. So my wife and I took the train in to the city. A first for us! (Hey, don’t laugh. Mass rapid transit doesn’t exist in Wisconsin.)

We survived our first encounter with a large city mass transit system (it was actually fun) and walked a few blocks to meet the rest of our tour. We were taking a strolling tour of Boston’s South End, focusing on local eateries and regional architecture. And before I start talking about some really excellent food, let me tell you about the tour.  Alyssa Daigle is a director for Bites of Boston Food Tours and it turned out to be one of the most satisfying events my wife and I have ever joined. We had 10 other guests in the party and we covered about two miles in just over three hours. Along the way we sampled great foods from six unique eateries, learned about the history of the city, looked at some wonderful architecture and enjoyed a simply beautiful city.

Our first restaurant, The Parish Cafe was also our meeting point, sitting on the corner of Tremont Street and Massechusettes Avenue (When we asked for directions how to find it, we displayed our Wisconsin ignorance. Tremont is not pronounced “TREE-mont”, and the other is simply “Mass Ave.” Oh well. It’s nearly impossible for a tourist to hide that fact. And I don’t even try anymore.)

The theme of this restaurant is that all the meals are the unique creation of regional master chefs. That results in a menu that simply sings with creativity and wonder. We were treated to a sampling of one of the restaurant’s signature dish, Sean’s Meatloaf Club. A slice of chipotle meatloaf, bacon, chipolte aioli, lettuce and tomato with a side of mashed red skin potatoes and gravy. THIS is a meatloaf sandwich to write about! It is a creation from chef/owner Sean Simmons, and if a meatloaf sandwich can be this good, I can’t imagine how good everything else is.

Our next stop was a smaller restaurant, Orinoco, a Venezuelan cafe located on the ground floor of a brownstone first built in 1912.  With old painted ceiling tiles, and seating for about 20, it is a small and comfortable place to enjoy a unique meal.

We were given datiles, bacon-wrapped almond-filled dates.

Okay. It was a long day.We walked over 12,000 steps according to my Fitbit, with 15 flights of stairs climbed. It also included a LOT of food (I blew my daily budget, and I don’t care!) We both had a fun, relaxing and educational day. I want to again thank Alyssa Daigle and Bites of Boston Food Tours for providing one of the best vacation days in recent memory. If you and your plans take you near Boston from April to November, and your plans will allow you three hours of free time in the afternoon, I really encourage you to consider adding this event to your plans. Just wear comfortable shoes and bring an empty stomach.

We ate at Legal Seafood. Nice food, but in my opinion, probably only a bump up from Red Lobster. (If anyone objects to that characterization, I am sorry, but that was our assessment.) I’m glad we ate there, because I have heard a lot about it, and I enjoyed the meal, but it did not live up to the my expectations based on listening/reading others.

I had two raw oysters for my starter. I offered to share with Tammy (hah!) but she politely declined my offer.

Two sauces were served with the oysters, a traditional tomato-horseradish cocktail sauce and a delicious vinegar-garlic-pepper dip. The starter was the best part of my meal. (I should have simply ordered a dozen oysters.)

The main course was a simple fried seafood platter, with shrimp, clams and scallops. For sides, I ordered jalapeno-cheese polenta and a seaweed salad. (The salad was excellent. In fact, the sides were the second best part of the meal, after the oysters.) Tammy just ordered a platter of fried clams with the seaweed salad and mashed potatoes.

I don’t have nutritional data for the meals. LoseIt does not have Legal Seafood in their database. I know it will be sodium heavy, and I knew that when I ordered the food, so that really isn’t a problem, especially since the only thing we’ve eaten in the past 24 hours was fruit, vegetables, hard boiled eggs, dark chocolate, almonds and a lot of coffee while driving here.

When I was bartending in Milwaukee, I worked with a 70ish bartender who told me about this liquid dessert. Take a sip of the liqueur, and then while holding the Sambuca in your mouth, take in some hot coffee. The flavors are excellent and contrasting!

Tomorrow’s big event is the Bites of Boston.  We are taking a guided tour, walking three hours through Boston’s South End and sampling food from six local eateries. After that, depending on the weather, we might walk the Freedom Trail. (If it is brutally hot, we will postpone the Freedom Trail.) Watch for the foods that we will be tasting!