Boston Mini-Vacation

We spent a few days last week in Boston at The Westin Boston Waterfront which is adjacent to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center at which we attended the Yankee Dental Congress 34. Mrs had a couple continuing education classes to attend, and I went along for the ride.

We arrived on Wednesday the 28th in a nasty rain storm after a morning of snow. After a small, accidental detour through the South Station parking garage, we quickly found our way to the Westin, left the 4Runner with the valet, and headed inside to get our room keys.


The Westin Boston Waterfront




We went to the room to settle in and unpack. After that we took a walk around to check things out, spending a little time to walk over to the convention center which was still in the process of being set up. An amazing feat.

That evening we decided to eat at MJ O'Connors, which is attached to the lobby of The Westin. Good food and service. I enjoyed a couple Guiness and Mrs had some wine.

On Thursday, Mrs had a class to take that morning so I slept in. Once I finally got up I went down to the Starbucks in the hotel lobby. I got the biggest coffee possible and a muffin, and went back to the room to watch some TV and lounge some more.

I finally made my way over to the convention center and met Mrs outside of the classroom for lunch. Unfortunately, we decided to eat at the convention food court. It was not too bad, just cold and flavorless. We both had the chicken sandwich and fries. Not great, but it served the purpose.

Above, one of the welcome signs. Below, the exhibit floor, in part.



That night, we had reservations for supper at Legal Test Kitchen (LTK) Bar and Kitchen. We walked from the hotel. It was cold, but nice to be outside. The place was jammed but luckily we had reservations and were seated before 7 pm. Both of us had a fish dinner. Mrs had her fish baked, with spinach and rice. Mine was lightly breaded, with steamed spinach and polenta fries. Fantastic!

Later, we met up with a couple friends at MJ's for drinks...

On Friday morning, Mrs had another class until 11:30. I repeated the day before and had Starbucks in the room for breakfast.

That afternoon we walked from the hotel over to the Institute Of Contemporary Art. I took the below shot of Mrs in front of World Trade Center Boston on the way.



A majority of the exhibit areas were closed for preparation, so we were given tickets to return in February. I'm not an artist, and don't really have the patience for the whole viewing thing, but it's a neat place. Mrs was more interested in the architecture of the building itself. Below is a shot of me looking out over Anthony's Pier 4 and Boston Harbor.


After the museum, we stopped into a restaurant that we had walked past on the way called Atlantic Beer Garden. Really, not much to look at from the front, but the food and views were great. I had the Black & Bleu Burger and Mrs had a Chicken Sandwich. No complaints at all. We left there completely stuffed.

After a stop at the room, we headed back to the convention center floor. Harpoon Brewery was putting on a small beer festival and tasting. We made our way to the center court on the convention floor and picked up our commemorative glasses which were to be used at five different brew sample stations. At the main area they offered an India Pale Ale which I have had before. At this point we had not really walked around the exhibit floor all that much, so we took our time walking amongst the displays of dental operatories, drill bits, implants, bridges, digital image technology, hygiene hand pieces, and much, much more. At each corner of the vast exhibit floor was another harpoon station set up. I got to sample the UFO Hefeweizen, a UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen and a really good hard cider. They also offered some tasty snackie items to help soak up the alcohol.

We had reservations at another restaurant Friday night, but blew them off and opted for MJ O'Connors again. More fantastic food (I had fish & chips and Mrs had curry chicken). I had a Harpoon IPA, and got a free one when the waiter was walking around with an extra one that no one was claiming. Good deal!

Another restful night of sleep. No breakfast other than coffee and after check out we headed back to the Cape.

We stopped in Plymouth along the way to see if the Ivory Gull was still around. It had apparently not been seen at all that day, and has not been seen since Friday 1/30 at 3:00 pm.