Charlestown and the Freedom Trail

Amy and her boyfriend Adam came to visit for the week. On Friday evening, we walked part of the freedom trail through Charlestown, including Bunker Hill and Old Ironsides. April also exhibited her fearless nature by looking into a cannon.
After our extended walk, Ehrin made a sun dried tomato fondue for eeryone. It was a big hit, especially the broiled asparagus and portabella mushrooms (thanks, Mom!)

Cape Cod

After sleeping in the Hyannis Econo Lodge for the night and shaking off a mojito martini headache, we jetted up the cape to Provincetown, where we peered at some art galleries and generally felt dehydrated. I think Nardo was also deflated that the Wydah pirate excavation wasn't nearly as cool as he had imagined -- he had clearly been thinking about it for a few months.

Our spirits quickly lifted as we ate a big lunch at Moby Dick's seafood haven and then hit the beach on the national seashore. The waves were surprisingly large, and we had a lot of fun bodysurfing.

Martha's Vineyard

On Monday and Tuesday, Ehrin went on a road trip with Nardo, Kristin, and Ellen (Kristin's friend from residency). We left early Monday morning and took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. MV is a large island, approximately 20 miles long, so we tackled it town by town. In Vineyard haven, we strolled down roads lined with the colonial homes of old sea captains. We then enjoyed a tasty lunch that Black Dog Tavern. Interestingly, Vineyard Haven is a dry town - so the tavern doesn't serve alcohol.
After lunch, we utilized the vineyard transit authority (i.e., bus) to travel to the other end of the island. This area is alternately known as Gay Head or Aquinnah. It features beautiful sandstone cliffs and a scenic beach. Ehrin tried out the water, which was surprisingly warm.

After the beach, we traveled to Edgartown and then towards Oak Bluffs, but found out the ferry was no longer leaving from Oak Bluffs, so we had to skip the latter town in order to make it back to Vineyard Haven.

Dim Sum and Caribbean Festival

An interesting combination -- dim sum followed by Salsa and sugar cane. At dim sum, we were joined by a number of Kristin's friends from college, medical school, and residency. We spent almost three hours eating multiple rounds of dim sum -- it was the most full I have ever been from dim sum.



After dim sum, Kristin went over to Sonia's for a few hours, while we took Nardo to a Caribbean festival in Cambridge, where we ate sugar cane, practiced salsa dancing, and played the steel drums.

Nardo and Kristin Come to Town

Nardo and Kristin came to visit for an extended weekend prior to Kristin's brother's wedding in Maine. We all met up at Boston Beerworks on Saturday night, where it seemed like a reunion of all of Nardo's college friends - minus Metz. We had a rollicking good time of conversation, blueberry beer, and watching snippets of the world's strongest man competition.

Bridge of Flowers 10K

We spent a beautiful Sunday morning in Shelburne Falls, home of the 29th annual Bridge of Flowers 10K, voted the best 10K in New England. We woke at 4:30 am for the 2 hour drive westward, into the far northwestern reaches of Massachusetts. Shelburne Falls is a bucolic town nestled in the mountains, and is famous for its bridge of flowers, an abandoned trolley bridge that was converted into a flowery walkway. (These photos are after the race, so please excuse the sheen of dried sweat.)


The morning started off with a 2 mile fun run. It was mostly kids, but there were some spedsters out to win the prize. And, a 93 year old woman decided to race as well.

The 10K, like the 2 mile race, started on an iron bridge that runs parallel to the bridge of flowers. There were two short but painful uphills in the first mile, but it was possible to get into the right stride by mile 2. Unfortunately, mile 2 is where Crittenden Hill starts. Any hill with a specific name is bad news (in Boston, we have the aptly named "Summit Ave" and "Heartbreak Hill"). But this hill was especially painful -- 3/4 of a mile UP UP UP, to the point where most people started walking. The downhills after the hill were nice, but never really made up for the painful ascent. We both finished with respectable times, and April finished so quickly that Ehrin barely had time to get the camera ready.

After the race, we cooled off, toured the town a bit, and ended the excursion in classice New England style -- with lobster.

Yankee Homecoming

What better time to run a race than a Tuesday night on the last day of July? Ehrin and his friend Colin went up to Newburyport to run the Yankee Homecoming this week. A surprising;y large (and fast) crowd turned out, with over 1200 people running the 10 mile event. Local support was strong, with multiple sidewalk sprinklers, water every half mile or so, and a lot of yelling. We were mostly huffing and puffing, as we pulled through in 1:09:19, good enough for a sub-7:00 pace. Not bad for a sweltering July night. Ehrin initially thought he didn't run hard enough because he didn't feel like dying, but he paid for it the next day with borderline ability to walk up stairs. Gotta love the muscle breakdown.