Boston
Enjoying some pastries from Mike's.
Samuel Adams' Grave.
Paul Revere's House.
The weather was looking good for Saturday so we thought we would gamble and do some whale watching. Everyone loaded on this boat in Boston Harbor and we relaxed for a 45 minute ride to where they had last seen the whales. When we got to the whales, there were several other large boats in the area so we knew we were in the right spot. The first whale we saw, a Minke whale, was far away and hard to see, but excitement didn't take long because two Humpback whales surfaced within 50-100 feet of our boat several times over a period of 30 minutes. There was always a scurry to the best view when they first surface but I was able to get some decent pictures. After this, we relaxed again inside the boat and made our way back to Boston Harbor for dinner at the Salty Dog. It wasn't too hot out so we ate outside, and a good thing because the inside of the Salty Dog was packed. After a couple drinks at a rooftop bar downtown and at a local Harvard bar, we crashed feeling very tired but satisfied.
On our way back to Boston Harbor on the whale watching cruise.
On Sunday, the boys and girls split up so they could do some shopping and we could hit up the local Harpoon Brewery. I would highly recommend it since it's only $5 and you get plenty of free beer and the end of the tour. These guys are seriously passionate about their beer and those who drink it. We stopped for a quick drink before saying our goodbyes and heading for the airport. There wasn't anything exciting about the trip home, which I guess is a good thing. Great trip and a special thanks to our hosts Katie and Justin!
-Update-
Now that we are close to the 11th hour, everything in our lives is trip, work, test, house, and domino-related. We have made a "To Do List" with everything we can think of, hoping that this gives these last couple weeks a glimpse of sanity. One of the items on the list to get this blog under control so we'll hopefully be posting a bit more often in the coming month.
We have almost all of our gear purchased and gathered, with the few remaining items coming in the mail this week. What we have packed so far is giving us a total of around 72 lbs with another 3 lbs or so to go. I plan to carry about 10 lbs more than Erin so this puts us around a 43 lb pack for me and 32 lb pack for Erin. This will probably change as Erin gets her "axe" out and starts cutting things out (Our goals were 30 lbs and 40 lbs).
Erin's big exam is in a couple weeks so almost all of her time is devoted to studying at this point. I have gotten lazy the last couple weeks, but I'll start hitting the books hard again soon.
The visas and other documentation we need have given us some trouble, mainly the Brazil visa, but we have our Uganda and Kenya visas already. We'll get our Tanzania visa while volunteering in Kenya the month before and we'll hopefully get the Brazil visa in Argentina the day before at Iguazu Falls.
We have each gotten the first bits of nervousness about the trip, but we are each SO excited. We hope we'll have everything ready in time, but there's a certain point when we'll just have to roll with the punches!
Sam (and Erin)
Now that we are close to the 11th hour, everything in our lives is trip, work, test, house, and domino-related. We have made a "To Do List" with everything we can think of, hoping that this gives these last couple weeks a glimpse of sanity. One of the items on the list to get this blog under control so we'll hopefully be posting a bit more often in the coming month.
We have almost all of our gear purchased and gathered, with the few remaining items coming in the mail this week. What we have packed so far is giving us a total of around 72 lbs with another 3 lbs or so to go. I plan to carry about 10 lbs more than Erin so this puts us around a 43 lb pack for me and 32 lb pack for Erin. This will probably change as Erin gets her "axe" out and starts cutting things out (Our goals were 30 lbs and 40 lbs).Erin's big exam is in a couple weeks so almost all of her time is devoted to studying at this point. I have gotten lazy the last couple weeks, but I'll start hitting the books hard again soon.
The visas and other documentation we need have given us some trouble, mainly the Brazil visa, but we have our Uganda and Kenya visas already. We'll get our Tanzania visa while volunteering in Kenya the month before and we'll hopefully get the Brazil visa in Argentina the day before at Iguazu Falls.
We have each gotten the first bits of nervousness about the trip, but we are each SO excited. We hope we'll have everything ready in time, but there's a certain point when we'll just have to roll with the punches!
Sam (and Erin)
