measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Evening in New England Yesterday afternoon was beautiful. I'm glad I got to enjoy the day, even if it did require playing hooky from work for a couple hours. I had a late lunch and then went by the new Kohl's store near my house. Bought a couple new shirts and pants since everything's on the 50% off sale for the store's Grand Opening. I relaxed at home for a couple hours-- I kept all of the windows and glass door open to allow the breeze to clean the stale air from the house. The cats were in heaven-- all of them collapsed in sprawled out heaps of fur on the floor, allowing wind to tickle their bellies as they napped. At some point earlier in the day, I realized how BAD the idea of driving up to Boston would be-- but also how frustrating getting the T into the city would be. Halfway through the afternoon, one of the reporters catching up on the Red Sox-Yankees highlights mentioned the Bruins game at the Fleet Center in the evening, and it sealed any decision about going into the city. The craziness that would have been centered around Copley Square was going to quickly amass downtown, where we'd be. No thanks. So Erich took the train to Braintree, and I picked him up. We decided to enjoy the beautiful evening and did a "let's see where we end up" drive. Erich's sole request was that we end up somewhere on the water to eat. So we started driving East. Now, in theory, we don't live that far inland from the ocean... should be a relatively short drive, right? Well, not really. Route 3 (the main highway to Cape Cod) is inland a bit until you get further south, so it's deceiving. We also took kind of a weird way and ended up driving from Braintree around the horn through Hingham and Cohasset. At some point I saw the sign pointing to Hull and remarked that we really couldn't get much more water than was in Hull (given that it's nearly surrounded by it). But instead we headed south and eventually ended up in Scituate Harbor. By the time we got there, the sun was setting and the breezes were beginning to shift. We ended up eating at a sports bar that had a deck right over the harbor. When we got there, it was a bit chilly to be out on the deck, but by the time we were done eating the winds had shifted and it was extremely pleasant outside. We also planned food well by having coffee drinks (with liquors in them... yummy!) and clam chowder to warm us from inside. Scituate Harbor was a lovely little area of the town that is what I identify as "classic New England." Active fishing boat docks surrounded by a seaside main street-- the buildings have an old, weathered look about them (due to reality, not intentional design) and several of the storefronts have been turned into one of three types of stores: antiques, trinkets, or real estate offices. We didn't stay long afterwards, but I mentioned to Erich that I definitely wanted to come back this way during the summer when it's a bit warmer-- I wouldn't mind having a couple beers on the deck, watching the boats come in for the day. It's classic New England at it's best. Time-forgotten fishing towns that have kept a routine for decades, if not centuries. There's something intimately romantic about them, and reminds me why I fell in love with the area in the first place. 11:03 a.m. - 20 April 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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