Boston is one of my favorite cities.  And one of my favorite places to stay hands down is Constitution Marina which is right downtown.  The marina is wildly convenient and it’s an easy walk to my regular visits. A Whole Foods Grocery store is a mile up the road as is a Hardware Store.  And just a short walk in the other direction takes you to Boston’s North Station which is a subway hub and the hub for the commuter rail trains that run north and the Amtrak Downeaster Train that runs to Maine.  Not to mention the Airport is just a 20-minute boat taxi ride away from where you can pickup guests or rent a car

As much as I love Boston and could see myself there long term we were on a mission.  Liam needed to be in Maine in person to take his Junior Year State Science Assessment.  No online or distance options.  So we figured Boston was the perfect spot.  We thought we were going to be assigned to take the test in Portland and had planned to take that train up, do the test, then ride back on the train.  Sadly that was not the case and he was scheduled to take the test at a spot in Saco Maine that wasn’t exactly conducive to public transportation.  SO a car rental was in order

As I already mentioned, the best spot in Boston to pick up a rental is hands down Logan Airport.  So we hopped onto the water taxi and went to the airport.  Once there we went up to the car rental spot where we had reserved a “Standard Car” through Enterprise.  Through the counters and then out to where we’d pick up a car.  I was chatting with the guy about our adventures and how Liam just needed to run to Maine for about 3 hours.  The guy then said “Since it’s a special day, why don’t you take this one as a free upgrade”  All the while pointing at a Chevy Camaro.  I was stunned, but this is not the first time we’ve rented a car to make a one-day run to Maine, and the guys assigning cars give us something dramatically nicer than we paid for as a bonus for being nice.  When we went up for Ryan’s wisdom teeth last fall the guy upgraded us to a BMW SUV because he thought it would be the most comfortable for Ryan on the way back to Boston.

We left the next morning from the marina and headed north, our run to Maine was uneventful.  Although I was glad that I had brought my laptop with me to do work from the parking lot of the hotel Liam’s school had rented space from to do their testing.  I was there about 30 seconds, sitting in the parking lot, looking at the hotel pool when it hit me.  Talk about a missed opportunity.  We could have come up the night before, rented a room, and then I could have slept in and waited for Liam from the pool.  Talk about a missed opportunity, and one I will be remembering the next time there is something we need to run a distance for.

After Liam’s test, we made our way to my parents’ house where we had some mail sent.  One of the things that I kinda regret was that when we moved out of our Portland Apartment I had set our forwarding address to their house and manually changed the address on things such as banks and cards and whatnot to the SBI Mailing Service.  Unfortunately, the influx of mail has turned out to stress my parents out a bit.  If I had to do it over again I’d have forwarded everything to SBI.  Out of all of the mail options, St. Brendan’s Isle in Florida is hands down the best.  And really the only way to go for anyone who is roaming via boat.Back in Boston though we had two weeks to enjoy the city.  Lots of walks, trips to local cafes, and just a few restaurants as we were trying to cut back.  But cafes don’t count.  

Boston is also a great place to get some boat work done.  The marina can connect you with service folks from around the city, many of who show up via skiff from the water.  Last fall we had an electrician come over to help us with a wiring issue.  This year luckily we didn’t need help and just pushed through some of our projects.  Unfortunately, the big one, replacing the holding tank’s vent hose, had to wait since we couldn’t find a hose locally and didn’t want to risk ordering one just to have it back ordered or show up late.

We did however leverage the marina’s dumpster and removed the plastic sliders from our main cabin which covered come cabinets into bookshelves.  They’re a bit more open and it really helps us remember what is there, keep things from collecting moisture, and of course, the books fit better.  I might just need to pick up some books from my parents’ house since I have a bunch stored in a few containers in their basement.

Another job was making a run across town to pick up a big powerful eBike for Ryan to use when he departed.  He is going to need the bike essentially as a car substitute until he is able to save for a car so we made sure to get a large capacity with a 1,000-watt motor.  His new bike is nicer than my old bike and really flies.  We didn’t get much use of it in Boston but it’s all you’d need in the city to pretty much do anything.  Although if I were to live in the city full time I’d probably just have a subscription to the Blue Bike service which lets you have unlimited 45-minute rides on the blue bikes for $120/year or $26 for a single month.  I might actually pay the next time we are there it’s such a good deal.

Then of course there was lots of job-related work to do.  Which for me means finding a good cafe to hide in while I do my work.  Just a few doors down from the marina is Tatte Bakery & Cafe where I’d have tea and a croissant to power my work.  Not to mention of course all of the amazing places in Boston’s North End which is their “Little Italy” where ironically my favorite cafe for getting work done is Caffe Lil Italy on Salem Street.  The secret to getting work done is to go up the stairs in the back and park yourself on a table out of the way.

I’m thinking that this next fall and probably next spring we’re going to have to skip Boston. Mostly to save money but also to save time. We’ll be trying to save money, yes, but also next spring will be Liam’s high school graduation so we’ll want to point to Maine a bit earlier than we’d otherwise plan for.