taking a hockey team to framingham staying at sheraton need some ideas for down time to keep 16 yr olds out of boring zone for last week of aug. will be playing around boston, also some of the parents mentioned going to Martha's Vineyard for a day but I seem to remember that you had to book the ferry months ahead any help is greatly appreciated

Day trip to MV from Framingham is not something I would recommend. Ferry is only booked up if you want to take your car, though.

Not much exciting in Framingham area except some malls. If the group is boys, they will not care about that. If girls, they spend enough time at the mall at home.

Take the train into Boston (unless you have access to team bus), being careful of limited return times on weekends and at night. Do a search here - lots of recent posts on what to do in Boston.

What places "around Boston" - there may be something to do in some of those cities or towns.

Ahh, a hockey tournament in Framingham! In August! Been there.

What Gail said. Forget MV, and there is not much around. Here are some ideas:

The New England Revolution (professional soccer) plays in Gillette Stadium in Foxborough -- you might get lucky with the schedule.

If you have a day to kill, shoot up the Mass Pike into Boston. If the Red Sox are not in town, you can take a tour of the ballpark; or walk the Freedom Trail; or take a Duck Tour; or see the science museum. Lexington/Concord is another possibility.

There is an enormous `village' of outlet stores in Wrentham.

If it about killing time between games: go swimming (hotel, public pool, public lake); have a cookout/picnic in a state park; find a bowling alley; play pickup football in a park or hotel grounds; go see a movie at the mall.

Oh. Reading more carefully ... just the parents want the day trip, not the whole team?

Consider Newport, RI, or the Foxwoods Casino/Resort. Block Island might be easier to get to (ferry from Narraganset) than MV.

You could go further west to sturbridge Village or Lenox MA. There's an armory museum in Worcester which may or may not be of interest to 16 yos.

Agree MV too much for a day trip - you could get on as a passenger as mentioned, but not likely w/ a car and what a drill from Framingham -

but if you want to be on the water and see some islands - you might want to consider one of the Boston Island tours - the harbor is lovely and George's Island is great, and Spectacle Island is now also open to the public - you can get off the boats, swim (spectacle is nice for that) walk the islands, see some history, there's snack bars on some of them or bring picnic lunch - you can check ideas out on bostonislands.org or bostonharborcruises.com

there is a fast ferry from Boston to Provincetown that includes tix to the pirate museum and you could wak around, lunch, etc - I think the boat trip itself is about 90 minutes each way.

It really is a treat for visitors to see Boston from the harbor and to visit some of the islands which are often overlooked and less time than the Provincetown trip.

Don't know about the Framingham area but there are some fun bowling alleys in Boston (one at the Jasper Whites Summer Shack, Jillians) or chekc out on Red Sox homepage info on the Fenway Park Tours -

Even just going into town and walking thru Boston Common, Public Gardens, part of the Freedom Trail and down to faneuil hall area or instead over to Charles River area. Of course, there are always the popular duck tours in Boston which would give them a fun overview of the city and get them on the Charles River too.