June 2008 - Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Taxies, Buses, Ferries, & Ships (East Coast) - Days 12 -16 (Red Sox Game in Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire to Bar Harbor Maine, Fenway Park Tour, Pawsox Game & Hall of Fame in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Tour of Boston, Massachusetts then home)
In June of 2008, I took the 1st part of my “bucket-list” (going up both US coasts before I turned 30 years old) trips starting from Florida to Maine.
The third part of this trip (pics posted below) started off at Atlantic Union College, where we spent the night after coming back from Niagara Falls and Toronto, Canada the previous day. We hung around the college until around noon before heading to the Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park! We had amazing seats from my friends who work for the Red Sox…since I work their West Coast Jimmy Fund Charities every year since 2004. We got to sit on the first baseline about 4 rows up and closer than the Pesky Pole! When we got to the game, it was a little stormy, but I was prepared with my “Maid of the Mist” rain-gear still with me from the day before. Of course we got there early and got to shop on Yawkey Way and walked around the entire stadium before we took our seats.
Even though my cousin Desi is an Angels fan, she was an Ellsbury fan, and wad VERY EXCITED to see him play that day! I, of course, was a Varitek fan and got a couple great shots of him warming up. I don’t remember much about the game except for singing “Sweet Caroline” and that we won!! I did, however, after the game was over…ask the security guy watching 1st baseline if I could lean over and get some of the dirt from the warning track. He looked around to see if anyone was watching and got some of the dirt for me in my mini-baseball helmet that I brought with me (I still have that dirt hanging on a bulletin board in my home).
After the game, we did what EVERYONE else did…and went over to Cask & Flagon to keep the party going. We walked around the North Bay and grabbed dinner and stayed out as late as we could before walking back to the car and heading back to AUC that night.
We heard that Desi had other cousins in Maine and decided to take a drive up there and see Bar Harbor. The drive brought on a couple thunderstorms, but all-in-all, the scenery and spending time with extended-family watching all the sailboats was such a relaxing way to spend our time. We had a great home-cooked meal (which I hadn’t had in a week) and played some games! We decided to spend the night at their place and head back to Boston the next morning.
The next morning, we headed back into Boston and took our tour of Fenway Park. It was such a fantastic tour and we got to go into the media room and some of the “not for tours” locations that I’m not supposed to talk about. Sad thing was that we weren’t able to get on the field, but that experience was gonna happen in 2015 when I went back to Fenway Park. After having lunch on the Green Monster and sitting in Ted Williams’ red chair, we headed out to go to a Pawsox game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
On our way there, we stopped to get one of the best “white-mashed-potato-pizza” that I’ve ever had!! I had to introduce this splendor to my sister and cousin. When we got to Pawtucket, we took our seats behind home plate to see who from the DL of the Red Sox would be playing that night! To our surprise, we got to see David “Papi” Ortiz as well as Clay Buchholz (who had his no-hitter game the year before in September). We were talking about all the players and their ERA’s when the gentlemen in front of us kept turning around and then started talking to each other about our conversations. We found out later that they had an “in” with the Pawsox and asked if wanted to go into the Hall of Fame and the Clubhouse after the game! We were so excited…and Desi and I ended up taking a photo with them (below) before we headed in. All the memorabilia was SPECTACULAR!! I took SO MANY photos of everything they had and then my phone died….right when I saw Buccholz walking out of the Clubhouse towards us! We chatted with him about his pitching and congratulated him on his no-hitter and then continued on the tour.
When we got back in the car to head home….we were so elated and exhausted that we mostly drove back in silence.
The last day we were in Boston, we decided to do a walking-tour of the city and spent a lot of time in Boston Common feeding the ducks and Desi fed a squirrel. We hung out in “Cheers” and then headed over to the USS Constitution to see some reenactments on the ship.
We left to fly home late that night…
