Boston Day 1

3:45am came pretty quickly this morning after going to sleep about 10:45pm. Jude actually did really well waking and getting up so early, probably because we already primed him for the plane ride. The first thing he said when he woke up was "Plane!" We got to the airport, car unloaded, baggage checked, through security in time to grab some coffee and pastries before boarding the plane. Jude was supper excited, especially once in the air and he could look out the window and see the land below and wing to the side.



Of course his excitement didn't last the entire flight from San Diego to Chicago, where we had a layover. Fortunately, there was a kind teacher sitting in front of Jude who lent him his iPad, which was chock full of games. Jude also learned how to say Chicago, which was really cute.

Our brief stay in Chicago was really more like a moment. With only an hour between landing and take off, we barely had time to use the rest room, change Jude's diaper and grab a to-go sandwich.



The flight from Chicago to Boston was nicer. It was shorter (3 hours SD to Chi, 1 1/2 Chi to Bos), and both Jude and Nichole fell asleep for majority of the flight.

With the quieter flight, I was able to get a good section read of Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. It is the story of Christopher McCandless, the young man found dead in the Alaskan wilderness after spending a couple years roaming the U.S from Atlanta. I really like it so far. Into the Wild is one of books from the Art of Manliness list of 100 books every man should read.

After landing, getting our baggage, waiting for our shuttle, and driving through Boston, we finally checked into our hotel, The Constitution Inn.

It is operated by the YMCA and is located in the Charlestown area of Boston. This is from Wikipedia:
Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States,[1] and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. While it has had a substantial Irish American population since the migration of Irish during the Irish famine of the 1840s, since the late 1980s the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of its proximity to downtown and its colonial architecture.
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlestown,_Boston



(not our hotel)

Once we got settled in our room we met up with Pat and Wendy walked to a near by tavern/restaurant, Tavern on the Water. There we met up with everyone else: Pat's Aunt Terri and Uncle Bob; their 3 kids: Chris, Cindy and Greg; Chris's husband, Tom, two of her kids: Courtney and Will (both older); two of Cindy's kids; Greg's wife Sue (who is running the marathon) and their 4 kids (all young, one just 3 months older than Jude); finally, Sue's father David. So, at the Tavern, I ordered fish and chips and Sam Adams Boston lager. All of it was delicious, I'll take New England fish and chips over that from the west coast any time.

Tomorrow is the marathon and I have no idea what we are doing for it or what else we will be doing.


So, let's see what happens.

W.E.