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Boston Beans:
Baseball Team: Red Sox
Basketball Team: Celtics
Hockey Team: Bruins
Subway System: The 'T'
University: Harvard
Pronounced: Haavid
Claim to Fame:
Baked Beans, that Tea Party and not being able to win a World Series.
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"Get away from her, you BITCH!"
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How to make Boston Baked Beans:
Ingredients:
1 Pkg. navy or pea Beans
1/4 pound salt pork
1 small whole onion, peeled
1 tsp. dry mustard
6 cups water
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup molasses
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Directions
1. Soak beans overnight in a large sauce pan in 6 cups of water. Add baking soda. Heat to boiling and simmer 10 minutes. Drain in colander over a large bowl. Save liquid.
2. Place beans, salt pork, and onion in a bean pot or casserole. Add molasses, salt, sugar, dry mustard, pepper and a cup of liquid. Stir thoroughly. Add enough liquid to cover the beans. Cover bean pot or casserole.
3. Bake 2 hours at 300 degrees. Add the rest of the liquid and stir again. Bake an additional 1-1/2 hours (or until beans are tender). Uncover last 1/2 hour.
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Where Everybody Knows Your Name, If It's Lenny
Sept 7 -
Our first major city! Not only that... a major city with the nicest people you've ever met. In New York, you need to push
someone into a wall to ask for the time because they think you're begging for money. Here in Boston, they might even give
you their watch. They're so nice! Even the walruses are nice! Would you deny him a sardine? Not a chance.
The day started with a brief ride on the "T" with the funniest, no-nonsense train conductors
we'd ever met. These guys knew their patrons, and would announce "Next stop: Rockport.
Lenny, wake up, dis is you." This was a treat after prolonged exposure to NYC Subways.
Just outside North Station, we were greeted by a group of kids drawing inspiring messages
on the sidewalk, led by Sidewalk Sam. Sam used to create art that went into galleries
or displays, but gave that up, because he decided that if you had a message you wanted
everyone to see, the sidewalk was the best place to put it. The sidewalk had messages like:
"Nice people rule!" and "Smile!" and our favourite, "Boston... Be nice to your mother!"
Great start to the day.
We wandered around the aquarium gift shop for a bit (if you don't want to pay the admission,
take a walk around the gift shop!), then asked ourselves what we really wanted to
be doing... looking for weird stuff! And who better to ask than the Ghosts and Gargoyles
Tour Guides of Boston? Very friendly, very helpful, and very weird.
They related a few ghost stories, but they were the kind of things you needed to hop a
bus to. What did they have in walking distance? Here's what they pointed out on our little
tour map...
First stop (after getting our bearings... it's not a simple numbers-go-up numbers-go-down
system like NYC) was America's Largest Tea Kettle. Yawn. Sure, it held something like 277
gallons, but we wanted something collosal. When someone says "America's Biggest", it
should be the size of one of those new Ford Excursions. Like the Mona Lisa, it's smaller
than you might expect. (Though unlike the Mona Lisa, you can get a bagel nearby.)
John Hancock's grave was a... er... an interesting stop. See for yourself, but you know
what they say about a guy with a big signature.
Ahem, yes, well, nevertheless, this was a lot of walking, so we decided to cool off our
feet at Frog Pond. Sadly, there were no frogs. No lifeguards on duty either. The water
was 8 inches deep all the way across, but they still felt the need to post signs about the
lifeguards. Americans. Sigh.
A few more stops on the eccentric tour... there was the bar that inspired Cheers, supposedly
the actual show, not the chain of restaurants. It was called The Bull's Ass or something
equally Irish pubby. I couldn't see the resemblance. Except I think it had a bar in it.
Then we saw the building that they show in the opening credits of Ally McBeal, not that
either of us liked the show, or had a television for that matter. Also saw the Paramount
Cafe, where one of the victims of the Boston Strangler was murdered. So they say. But
he wasn't working alone. Oh no. There was a second strangler at the grassy knoll.
Now, all joking aside, we found the best bargain in Boston for a buck apiece. If you're
ever in Boston on a Friday, skip the bar, skip the restaurants, skip the largest tea
kettle, and get your ass over to the Children's Museum. If you think the people in Boston
are nice, just wait until you meet their kids! Friday nights, 5pm until 9pm closing time,
everyone gets in for a buck. A buck! That's only a penny more than a McChicken!
Four floors of pure unadulterated entertainment. You don't even need kids! The kids are
already there! Within 10 minutes of arriving, we were in a water fight with a couple of
parentless kids at the "How Does A Current Affect Your Boat" display. We learned that if
you jam your styrofoam boat into one of the water jets, it sprays a good seven or eight
feet.
We wove a Native carpet, played a game of giant chess, put out a boat fire, built a
geodesic space dome, had a backyard campout with Arthur, and painted bubblewrap
masterpieces (Aimee's can be seen to your upper left, entitled "The Dissatisfaction of
America". We donated it to the museum). You can't find better value than this for a
dollar. Except, of course, that McChicken I mentioned earlier.
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 Today's Weather:
HOT.
| Sleeping Quarters |
Winter Island of Crap
 
Site 56. Let us reinterate again: never stay here.
Cost: $15.00
www.dontgohere.com
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Bkfast:
  | Campground
Salem |
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| Shared: | Tortillas with Jam |
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Lunch:
 | Quincy Market
Boston |
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| K's Order: | Ribs Special |
| A's Order: | Aegean Salad Bagel |
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| Cost: | $9.51 |
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Dinner:
| Durgin Park
Boston |
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| K's Order: | Yankee Pot Roast
Coke |
| A's Order: | Baked Beans
Onion Rings
Really Bad Coffee |
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| Cost: | $18.00 |
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