Vacation - Day 1 (en route Boston)

Our first day ended up being almost exclusively a travel day. That's a fact for which I feel a little sheepish: Sherry had been pushing to get an early start and I wasn't able to get the lead out. I kept thinking that Google says Boston is a 5-hr. trip with no traffic. But it was naive to expect something other than the gummy conditions we experienced as we drove. We therefore didn't arrive in Boston until nearly 5 pm.

Of course, an arrival around 5 pm meant we still had time to find ice cream near our home.

The drive up was pleasant, though somewhat slow going. The drive through Connecticut from New York through to Hartford is quite attractive. Then again, that shouldn't come as a surprise given how smitten I can get with old highways like the Merritt Parkway.

Reference map at the rest stop we paused at after crossing the border.

I'm telling this tale out of order, aren't I? I'm saving the best part of day 1 for the end. Here it is: The home we rented in Boston is much nicer than I anticipated. 

In earlier posts I've admitted that I often get an uneasy feeling just as we are about to arrive at the place we have rented. Sure enough that happened again. Just blocks away I'm worried about the condition, neighborhood, the distance from what we want to see. But there's a chance this might be the nicest rental we've found in our years using Homeaway and VRBO. 

The home is a craftsman style home, approximately 100 or 120 years old. We're renting the first floor: three bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen, a dining room, and living room. The owner lives upstairs. (We've met her already: she's a wonderful woman.)

Entryway of our home.

Living room.

Dining Room.

A pretty private backyard.

We're situated in the Jamaica Plains neighborhood of Boston. Near us is a relatively large pond that used to be a retreat for wealthy Bostonians in the summer, or so says our landlord. That pone is part of a series of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. And one of these parks is less than a block away. 

The neighborhood itself is quite nice, though it's not pretentious. Right near the lake are some massive homes. And about a block the other direction are some properties that look a little run-down. But the block we're on . . . I'd raise a family here. 

Unfortunately, our late start yesterday prevented us from doing much more than seeing the neighborhood that will be our home until Wednesday. I need to better apply that lesson Wednesday when it's time to lift our tent stakes and move to Bar Harbor. At this point I don't know if we'll choose to leave early and make it a Bar Harbor Day or stay late and steal one more day out of Boston.