Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Thursday, September 24, 2026

{Travel} A Few Days in Boston

 We took a very last minute trip to Boston last month.  It worked out that we had 3 days during the week to get out of town.  We picked Boston because we haven't been there since City Girl #2 graduated from college and we've been wanting to make the trip back.
We left late morning and got to Boston in time for a late lunch/early dinner  at Eva. I think my entree was an avocado salad.  

After dinner we strolled around Newbury Street and stopped in some shops. We also hit up Trader Joe's for some snacks.  

The next morning I enjoyed my hotel coffee in the room. We stayed at our old favorite, Hilton Back Bay for the nostalgia of it all (and we love the location!).

It was going to be a hot day and we planned to spend most of it outside so here was my OOTD.
We walked through town and the Public Garden.
It's still just as stunning!
We wanted to go to the Quincy Market area.
We like walking around and going in the shops.  
I had to put my feet on The Freedom Trail. We didn't do the whole trail this trip but have in the past.
We took the subway back toward our hotel area to have lunch at Pressed Cafe.
  The menu is still overwhelming and huge but everything sounds amazing.  
After lunch we tooled around the Back Bay area.
and visited City Girl's college, hitting up the book store too. We needed some new merch.

The neighborhoods were looking so pretty.
We stopped in at Bukowski's Tavern for a beer before taking an uber to the North End for dinner.
We tried Little Sage and really liked it.  Of course I had to get some pasta.
We walked around the North End and figured we should check out Bova's Bakery since we hadn't been there before.    The line was out the door and as you made your way to the front, you had a little time to decide what to get.


Decisions, decisions!


A blurry shot of what we got but it was good! The next morning we checked out and started on our way home.
{rainy day}
We made a stop in Canterbury Connecticut to go to the Prudence Crandall Museum.  It was always closed (or under reno)when CG2 was at school so we finally got to see it.
We had tickets for the 11am tour and we got a private tour.
It was fascinating to learn about Prudence Crandall.  From the museum's website.
 
"What Happened Here in the 1830s?
In 1832, Crandall, the white principal of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, was approached by a young Black woman named Sarah Harris asking to attend the school. Encouraged by conversations with both Harris and Maria Davis, a Black woman who worked for Crandall and shared copies of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator with her, Crandall agreed to admit Harris. When residents protested the school’s integration and parents threatened to withdraw their students, Crandall closed her school and reopened in 1833 for Black and Brown students. Students traveled from several states to attend the school. Connecticut responded by passing the “Black Law,” which prevented out-of-state Black and Brown people from attending school in Connecticut towns without local town approval. Crandall was arrested, spent one night in jail, and faced three court trials before the case was dismissed. In September 1834, a nighttime mob attack closed the school. These events made national and international news in the 1830s and galvanized the burgeoning abolitionist movement. Many of the students, such as Julia Williams, Mary Miles, and Mary Harris, went on to become educators, reformers, and leaders in their communities. Crandall v. Connecticut impacted two U.S. Supreme Court decisions: Dred Scott v. Sandford and Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka and laid the framework for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."

About the Museum

"Located in the Town of Canterbury, Connecticut, the Prudence Crandall Museum is an International Site of Conscience, a National Historic Landmark, and an Archaeological Preserve.  The museum is part of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, in the northeast part of the state, known as the "Quiet Corner."  Prudence Crandall is Connecticut’s Official State Heroine."


{Prudence Crandall}

About the Tour

"The Prudence Crandall Museum is not decorated as a traditional historic house museum or historic school. Teachers, students, and supporters left few primary sources on how rooms were used during the time the Canterbury Female Boarding School was in operation, and few artifacts connected to the school have survived. 

The exhibit Canterbury Female Boarding School: Courage, Conscience, & Continuance shares the stories of the school's teachers and students and demonstrates expressions of support and opposition at the town, state, national, and global levels during the tumultuous seventeen months the school remained open.

Tours are conversational. Dialogue between guides and visitors show how the legal expansion of education opportunities connects the Canterbury Female Boarding School to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka U.S. Supreme Court case. We hope visitors leave inspired to continue the mission of Sarah Harris and Prudence Crandall by addressing current barriers to education."

The museum has received a Bench By The Road from the Toni Morrison Society and this plaque sits on a rock beside the bench.
You can see the bench and rock with the plaque. I loved the sentiment on the pole.  
After the tour, we stopped for brunch at this cute diner in town then got back on the road to HOME!

That was a quick few days but we packed a lot in!

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Friday, August 7, 2026

{Travel} Upstate New York: Work, Family, Music & Sightseeing

 Mr. Click had a work event in Troy, New York which also happened to be the day before a concert we had booked in Bethel, New York. 
We made it into a little getaway weekend.  We stayed on the waterfront in Troy.
When we got to the hotel, we walked around a little and along the Hudson River.  We walked around River Street Market that had quite a few restaurants.  We also checked out the area around the hotel.
I thought this was an interesting use of space in our room.  That night was Mr. Click's work event so I ordered dinner at the Bistro in the hotel (delicious Mediterranean bowl!).  When he got back, we hung out at the bar in the hotel with some of the other event attendees. We also met two make up artists from the show The Gilded Age! That was pretty exciting. The show films in Troy for some of the scenes. I love that show!
The next morning we headed into what I think is the downtown Troy area. We had coffee at a cute coffee shop Alias Coffee before heading to our next destination.
The scenery was so beautiful on our drive.
In another serendipitous turn of events, we were able to visit our niece and her husband at their lovely home on our way to Bethel.
We got to meet their kitties (one was too shy for a photo).
They gave us a tour of their amazing home and property.  It was our first time visiting them so it was quite exciting.    We went out to lunch with them in their super cute hometown.  It was a great meal and a beautiful day.
Then we were back on the road to Bethel...more gorgeous scenery along the way. We stopped once for a call and got some really good cappuccinos at a Greek restaurant.   We made it to our next hotel in the afternoon.
We stayed in the town of Monticello, outside of Bethel.  This was my look for the concert.
It was about a 15 minute drive to the venue.  
It is on the site of Woodstock and a historical landmark.
We didn't know what to expect and we were blown away by how beautiful (how many times can I say beautiful?!) views and grounds.
Everyone working there was so friendly and helpful.  There were so many food and drink vendors and zero lines.  
We had some great seats!
We were there to see J J Grey and The Mofros  and he was the second act on the bill.  Mr. Click is a big fan of his music which can be described as swamp rock,Southern soul blues and funk.  He put on an amazing show and left us wanting more!
The venue is pretty incredible and looked even more magical at night.

The headliner was Joe Bonamossa and we stayed for a few of his songs before heading back to our hotel.
The next morning we headed out to Beacon, New York.

City Girl #1 had told us about this quaint town and it sounded like a good place to visit.
We had a delicious brunch at Beacon Bread Company.  The lemonade was top tier as well.
The rest of the morning we walked around town, stopping in shops and window shopping at others.  This cat cafe was tempting but I just said hi to the kitties.  
It started raining and we figured that was our cue to start our drive home.  It was an easy drive and we were happy to be home after a wonderful getaway.






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