Family of 4-New England trip
Jan 25th, 2006, 08:31 AM
#21
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If you decide to base in Boston, (a great idea, IMHO) another fun day outing could be to the North Shore/Cape Ann area, places like Rockport and Gloucester, Essex/ Crane's Beach. If it's nice weather, just a chance to see the ocean and get a glimpse of a small New England fishing town. Oh, and great lobster and fried clams at Woodman's in Essex!
Jan 27th, 2006, 10:20 AM
#22
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Ok, if I mainly want to stay in the Boston area. What'd be a good hotel, location-wise? I want nice but don't need top-end but it looks like at the time, we'll be there, they're all pricey. Walking distance to most popular sites and easy access to mass transit.
Jan 27th, 2006, 11:02 AM
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My major recommendation is to visit Plimoth Plantation. I know you said the rest of your family isn't crazy about history. But I suspect they'd still enjoy it.
We went three years ago when ours were 17 and 13. I had to push a bit. I'd read such good things about it but the others weren't convinced. However, we stayed at the Pilgrim Sands Motel (which I also really recommend, especially for a family) which is just across the street. So I won! And they all wound up loving it. Our 17 year old daughter said if she lived nearby, she'd definitely want a membership!
My husband even enjoyed it. And he's not big on any staged sort of recreations of history. Too often things like that have an amusement park feel to them. Plimoth Plantation definitely does not! It's amazingly well done.
Their website is plimothplantation.com
We went three years ago when ours were 17 and 13. I had to push a bit. I'd read such good things about it but the others weren't convinced. However, we stayed at the Pilgrim Sands Motel (which I also really recommend, especially for a family) which is just across the street. So I won! And they all wound up loving it. Our 17 year old daughter said if she lived nearby, she'd definitely want a membership!
My husband even enjoyed it. And he's not big on any staged sort of recreations of history. Too often things like that have an amusement park feel to them. Plimoth Plantation definitely does not! It's amazingly well done.
Their website is plimothplantation.com
Jan 31st, 2006, 10:41 AM
#24
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if you stay in boston check out the Go Boston card - www.gobostoncard.com, even if it won't work for you good ideas on what to see, where to go. offers some free admission to museums, trolley, discounts at stores and restaurants, etc.
Jan 31st, 2006, 10:18 PM
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boston park plaza hotel is right in the thick of it all, great location, and right near an excellent dessert restaurant too...
high end shopping: newbury street, copley plaza, both right next to the boston park plaza hotel
funky, eclectic shopping: harvard square, The Garment District is a great vintage store in Cambridge, they sell clothes by the pound so you can find neat things
other shopping ideas: quincy market/fanueil hall (go here anyway for the amazing food options) if you do venture from boston, Salem NH is only 45 minutes or so north on rt 93 and there's no sales tax in NH. big mall right off the highway.
gilmore girls: Cohasset MA is right on the ocean, 30 min south of boston, very small new england town and very very pretty. a couple movies have been filmed in the town center because it's very "typical new england" gilmore girl fans might will it.
restaurant: for a unique one try fire and ice in harvard square. stephanie's on newbury street is great too. definitely absolutely HAVE to go to Mike's pastry shop in the north end and get a Cannoli. a boston must.
high end shopping: newbury street, copley plaza, both right next to the boston park plaza hotel
funky, eclectic shopping: harvard square, The Garment District is a great vintage store in Cambridge, they sell clothes by the pound so you can find neat things
other shopping ideas: quincy market/fanueil hall (go here anyway for the amazing food options) if you do venture from boston, Salem NH is only 45 minutes or so north on rt 93 and there's no sales tax in NH. big mall right off the highway.
gilmore girls: Cohasset MA is right on the ocean, 30 min south of boston, very small new england town and very very pretty. a couple movies have been filmed in the town center because it's very "typical new england" gilmore girl fans might will it.
restaurant: for a unique one try fire and ice in harvard square. stephanie's on newbury street is great too. definitely absolutely HAVE to go to Mike's pastry shop in the north end and get a Cannoli. a boston must.
Feb 1st, 2006, 08:15 AM
#26
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where you are flying and not renting a car, I would suggest skipping cohasset since I think, (operative word here is think) that you can train to a nice small new england town like concord, lincoln, etc that has charm and a town common, green, old new england houses and history for you and gilmore girls feel for the daughters.
Poster suggestion about garment district is a good one - my daughter when she was in high school used to find vintage designer sun dresses, etc for les than 10 or 15 dollars - or a few t shirts, but a great stop when she was looking for 'costume' stuff - they sell by pound and I believe by price on other floors. At most, it's an interesting experience - they are online garmentdistrict.com
there are also other second hand clothes that can be fun if they are into that that the kids around here enjoy:
on Newbury St (#176) is "Second Time Around" - my 15 yr old niece loves this place -
Also haunts of my daughers used to be (she is now living in nyc, so shops there - talk about fun 2nd hand stores!)
Oona's - 120 mass Ave, Cambridge (lots of 80's stuff, fun jewelry)
Urban renewals (122 Brighton Ave, Allston) and Carlos Cucina, small italian restaurant, not too far)
Boomerangs, 298 Washington St, Brighton
most of htese are easily accessible by the T and a short walk. Some have retro, vintage, 80's, and some good newer finds, and fun jewelery, wigs.
Very cool too if they are looking for fun costume things for parties/halloween outfits.
Maybe you can get your girls to mix it up with Newbury/Copley Place/Prudential/Boylston St/Faneuil Hall shops and restaurants/ and some second hand finds to fill in the shopping ! You might want to google some of htese and see if they have web site to even see if the type of stuff they carry would interest them -
basically, the areas surrounding the colleges, harvard, Bu, etc usually have some small/2nd hand/boutique type stores as well as chains.
Poster suggestion about garment district is a good one - my daughter when she was in high school used to find vintage designer sun dresses, etc for les than 10 or 15 dollars - or a few t shirts, but a great stop when she was looking for 'costume' stuff - they sell by pound and I believe by price on other floors. At most, it's an interesting experience - they are online garmentdistrict.com
there are also other second hand clothes that can be fun if they are into that that the kids around here enjoy:
on Newbury St (#176) is "Second Time Around" - my 15 yr old niece loves this place -
Also haunts of my daughers used to be (she is now living in nyc, so shops there - talk about fun 2nd hand stores!)
Oona's - 120 mass Ave, Cambridge (lots of 80's stuff, fun jewelry)
Urban renewals (122 Brighton Ave, Allston) and Carlos Cucina, small italian restaurant, not too far)
Boomerangs, 298 Washington St, Brighton
most of htese are easily accessible by the T and a short walk. Some have retro, vintage, 80's, and some good newer finds, and fun jewelery, wigs.
Very cool too if they are looking for fun costume things for parties/halloween outfits.
Maybe you can get your girls to mix it up with Newbury/Copley Place/Prudential/Boylston St/Faneuil Hall shops and restaurants/ and some second hand finds to fill in the shopping ! You might want to google some of htese and see if they have web site to even see if the type of stuff they carry would interest them -
basically, the areas surrounding the colleges, harvard, Bu, etc usually have some small/2nd hand/boutique type stores as well as chains.
Feb 2nd, 2006, 02:02 AM
#27
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Ooh, I hate it when I accidentally lose a post when I'm almost finished. I hope this isn't a repeat.
Salem is a lovely underappreciated town. I agree with gail that the witch stuff is dire; do skip it. But there are some quaint cobbled streets, and the House Of Seven Gables tour is fascinating. Can't get any more New England writerly than Nathaniel Hawthorne! You can get to Salem on the train. Concord is cool too, of course.
Take your girls walking down Newbury Street. You can notice the progression of the architecture while they notice the progression of the shops from posh at the Gardens end getting progressively funkier as you head west. Don't go further than Mass Ave. On the way back, check out Commonwealth Ave (grand) and Beacon (quaint).
Walk around the North End. Narrow, twisting streets, many surprises around corners, lots of great Italian places to eat. I once had a tourist lean out of his car there (mistake #1) and ask if there was anyplace to eat around here -- if you go there you will see how funny this is, as there are a HUNDRED. Go by (and in) the Old North Church, see the Revolutionary-era bulletmarks on the headstones in Copps Hill Cemetery, see "Boston's narrowest house" in Hull St.
Be sure to take the T. The kids' eyes will bug out if they're from a newer city. The stretch from Boyston station to Park is the oldest subway in the US. Get out at Park, walk around the Common, walk up past the Old Granary Burying Ground, up the hill and then back down Mt. Vernon Street to Louisburg Square -- Beacon Hill houses are wonderful. Charles Street is another lively shopping street.
Follow the Freedom Trail at least part way; you should definitely have a look at the Old South Meeting House (as much for the contrast with the steel and glass skyscrapers as anything) and the Blackstone Block by Faneuil Hall. If you go by City Hall, take a moment to mourn for the twenty-odd blocks of lively city they demolished in order to build its ugliness, and take out a penny and notice the resemblance of the place to an upside-down Lincoln Memorial (on the back of the coin).
The thing about the history in Boston is that you can take it as far as you want -- the actual in depth history is great but if all you want is atmosphere they've got that like no other city in the US. In Beacon Hill you can see houses with the original purplish window glass, some of the oldest glass in the USA (and no, it's not wavy because it's really a liquid). Get your girls to look for it. Really, you can just feel it.
Salem is a lovely underappreciated town. I agree with gail that the witch stuff is dire; do skip it. But there are some quaint cobbled streets, and the House Of Seven Gables tour is fascinating. Can't get any more New England writerly than Nathaniel Hawthorne! You can get to Salem on the train. Concord is cool too, of course.
Take your girls walking down Newbury Street. You can notice the progression of the architecture while they notice the progression of the shops from posh at the Gardens end getting progressively funkier as you head west. Don't go further than Mass Ave. On the way back, check out Commonwealth Ave (grand) and Beacon (quaint).
Walk around the North End. Narrow, twisting streets, many surprises around corners, lots of great Italian places to eat. I once had a tourist lean out of his car there (mistake #1) and ask if there was anyplace to eat around here -- if you go there you will see how funny this is, as there are a HUNDRED. Go by (and in) the Old North Church, see the Revolutionary-era bulletmarks on the headstones in Copps Hill Cemetery, see "Boston's narrowest house" in Hull St.
Be sure to take the T. The kids' eyes will bug out if they're from a newer city. The stretch from Boyston station to Park is the oldest subway in the US. Get out at Park, walk around the Common, walk up past the Old Granary Burying Ground, up the hill and then back down Mt. Vernon Street to Louisburg Square -- Beacon Hill houses are wonderful. Charles Street is another lively shopping street.
Follow the Freedom Trail at least part way; you should definitely have a look at the Old South Meeting House (as much for the contrast with the steel and glass skyscrapers as anything) and the Blackstone Block by Faneuil Hall. If you go by City Hall, take a moment to mourn for the twenty-odd blocks of lively city they demolished in order to build its ugliness, and take out a penny and notice the resemblance of the place to an upside-down Lincoln Memorial (on the back of the coin).
The thing about the history in Boston is that you can take it as far as you want -- the actual in depth history is great but if all you want is atmosphere they've got that like no other city in the US. In Beacon Hill you can see houses with the original purplish window glass, some of the oldest glass in the USA (and no, it's not wavy because it's really a liquid). Get your girls to look for it. Really, you can just feel it.
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