Our Summer Adventure 2011

States visited - Massachusetts (which I realized I cannot pronounce!), Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. We were going to try to make it to New Hampshire and Maine too but ran out of time and energy.
Where we stayed - 2 nights in Beacon Hill area of Boston, 4 nights on Long Island, 2 nights in New London, CT, 1 night in Peabody, MA and 1 night at a Boston airport hotel.
Things we did and saw - Boston Commons, Cheers, New England Aquarium, Harvard, Jones Beach, Penn Station, Empire State Building, Long Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center site, the Charging Bull, Central Park, Times Square, Mystic (CT-home of movie Mystic Pizza), Tanger Outlet Mall, Ocean Beach Park (CT), Salem (MA), and Fenway Park.
Beaches - Jones Beach on Long Island and Ocean Beach in Connecticut. It was really hot the day we went to Jones Beach but the water was frigid. The boys still got in but not for very long. Sitting on the beach was nice. There was a nice cool breeze blowing off the cold water. Ocean Beach was near our hotel in New London, CT. It was nice. The day we went was a gorgeous day. The water was bit cold there too but not near as cold as Jones Beach. I even got in this time. I really enjoyed just relaxing on the beach. The boys were actually ready to go before Brad and I were. That does not happen very often at the beach.
Modes of Transportation we took - Plane, Shuttle bus, Long Island Railroad train, NY subway, Ferry boat, Boston subway and our feet (lots of this one!).
Weather - Record breaking temperatures in Boston and New York for the first part of the trip. The Saturday we spent in NYC was crazy hot. By Monday in Mystic though - the temp was a wonderful 71 at 2:30 in the afternoon. Only rained once and only a little bit. Temp at the start of the Red Sox game (1:35pm) was 79 lovely degrees.
Some of the places we ate - Dunkin Donuts in Boston (they were everywhere!) Whole Foods Market in Boston, Legal Seafood on Long Island, Five Guys Burgers and Fries somewhere in CT, The Fat Cactus in Lynnfield, MA
Funny memories - An older Asian lady sitting behind us on the Statue of Liberty ferry started stroking Alec's hair. She just had a big smile on her face and thought his hair was nice, I guess. It was a bit creepy but also funny. He did not even know it had happened until I told him. He thought it was me.
Brad picked up a New England map at one of the hotels. I picked it up to look at later and started laughing uncontrollably. It was a map to the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) friendly sites in New England. I asked him if he needed to share something with us?
I spoke with a nice man from Long Island one night while we were at the pool. Alec swears he was hitting on me. I said "oh he is not - he's just nice." Alec says " did he act frustrated when he found out you had a husband? - if he did - he was hitting on you". That kid cracks me up.
Timing - We got pretty lucky with timing on the trip. We made it to the Statue of Liberty ferry just minutes before the last ferry for the day. We made it back to Penn Station just minutes before our train - otherwise we would have had to wait another hour. The Royals just happened to be in Boston while we were there. We were able to get tickets and see the Royals beat the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Walking and more walking - Our first stop in NYC was the Empire State Building. They have 8 elevators to take everyone to the 80th floor - but only 2 elevators to take everyone the last 6 floors to 86. They give you the option to walk the last 6 floors - so of course Brad wanted to. It wasn't too bad - walking that 6 flights - however if I had known what the rest of the day would bring - we should have conserved our energy. We walked a LOT the rest of the day and got lost a few times. By the end of the day we had walked several miles in the record breaking heat. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We were gone about 11 hours in all that day. Alec and I also developed a heat/walking rash on our legs. Alec's wasn't bad but mine was ugly looking and hurt. It lasted a few days but then just went away. Were gone so long and used my phone GPS so much that my phone died as did my camera battery.
Getting Lost - GPS was a blessing and a curse. We walked much more than necessary due to going the wrong way several times. We also made many wrong turns while driving - but the GPS also helped us tremendously in finding our way around.
Things I learned -
People in Boston pay very little attention to the walk/don't walk signals.
It is illegal to turn right on red in NYC.
People in the Boston and NY areas don't seem very happy.
Camera and video cameras are illegal at toll booths. That one still has me baffled - so if you know WHY - please tell me.
The Staten Island Ferry is free
The Staten Island Ferry does not go to the Statue of Liberty. It goes to Staten Island! Go figure!