24 Hours in Boston

Earlier in the year, my mother-in-law approached me about meeting her and my father-in-law in Martha’s Vineyard for Labor Day. Martha’s Vineyard (and Cape Cod in general) is one of those places that I’ve always wanted to visit. But somehow never quite made the cut when planning vacations. We finally had the excuse we needed to make it happen.

BUT we decided to take advantage and squeeze in an extra day to explore Boston.

We loved it! It was a very quick trip, but it was enough for us to decide we want to go back.

We woke up really early and made some bagel sandwiches for the road. Then, we set off on our 4+ hour drive to Beantown, hoping to avoid much of the rush hour traffic around NYC. Success!

Not only did Le Meridien in Cambridge let us check in early; we were also greeted with freshly popped popcorn and fresh cucumber water.

The room itself was pretty standard, with two queen beds and a small sitting area. But the modern details (lights, headboard, etc.) made it seem special. Plus, we had a great view of the hotel’s roof garden. With scents like cilantro, peppermint, and sage, I wasn’t sure about the toiletries. However, the various Malin + Goetz products were actually quite lovely.

Since we were lucky and the weather was great, we decided to spend our afternoon walking – through Cambridge including lunch at Mainely Burgers, around the Harvard campus, and along the Charles River. We even lucked upon a firehouse that let Miles explore one of their trucks!

After a long day of driving and walking, we called it a night pretty early in anticipation of the main event: THE FREEDOM TRAIL. The next morning we grabbed breakfast at Brookline Lunch, a teeny hole-in-the-wall just a few blocks from our hotel that was SO good, and we were off.

Boston is such a unique town, where old and new seem to meet more seamlessly than I’ve ever seen. Sure, they have modern buildings, but somehow down the street is the Paul Revere House built in 1680, and it works.

I’ll let you guess which of these pictures were taken by my budding photographer…

We really only had a few hours, but we made it from Boston Common all the way to the Paul Revere House before we had to rush to the airport and head down to Martha’s Vineyard. It was again a lovely day, and I look forward to finishing the trail in the spring.

Have you ever been to Boston? Anything we shouldn’t miss next time we’re in town? Restaurants or under-the-radar attractions? I’d love to hear from you!