Vacation’s All I Ever Wanted
We just got back from a two week family vacation to the East Coast. We experienced a little turbulence on the plane and a lot more trying to deal with each other 24 hours a day. The family that plays together dismays together.
We touched down in DC after a direct flight out of SFO. We were supposed to do a stop over in Vegas but that flight somehow got canceled, unbeknownst to us. They put us on an Austin/Denver/DC flight that would have consumed about a 25% of our vacation time so my wife sprung into action and got us on standby. She can be assertive when necessary, like when we started going out. I was shy 28 year old back then. Now I’m a self-confident family man. At least that’s what she tells me.
Our first stop was at my brother-in-law’s house in Maryland. We were only there for a couple days but visited Georgetown University. I wanted to my son to see a few good schools so he at least knew what they looked like, since he won’t be getting into any. After that both families drove up to the Jersey shore for a few days relaxation at their newly purchased beach house. They had some construction going on so no tenants were in it that week. That saved us a pile of dough so I bought the brother-in-law a bottle of his favorite vodka, Popov in a plastic jug. The cousins had a lot of fun playing together. I almost beat the seven year old in mini golf. We spent every day on the beach, where you can go into the water without a wetsuit. We caught the full force of the East Coast heat wave so the beach was a good place to be.
We also had a mini family reunion with many Philly cousins on my mother’s side, some I had not seen for 25 years. It was great to see everybody and I’m sure they really enjoyed seeing me. I don’t know how so much time passed. That stretch I did at Lompoc with Boesky only explains a couple years.
After the shore we headed up the Garden State Parkway to lovely Summit, NJ. My college buddy Wig lives there with his wife and four kids in a gorgeous turn of the century house, replete with carriage house. California’s equivalent is an Eichler with a carport. We interrupted the normal flow of family life at the Wig household but they all handled it with consummate aplomb. We had some great meals and spent a day at the pool during one of those 100 degree, 100% humidity days. We said our goodbyes on Wig’s birthday and headed off to the palatial Newark train station. The Wigs will also shortly be saying goodbye to son #2, who’s heading off to the University of Wisconsin this month. Bring your parka J!
We took the train up to Boston, where the record temperatures continued. It was a good day to spend four hours in an air-conditioned train. Our apartment was a short hop from the station and in the middle of a great neighborhood. There was a Starbucks right downstairs. I think that was one of the criteria for my wife when she planned lodging. She’s gotta have ready access to those quad lattes. We were on Boylston and the next street down was Newbury. Newbury St. has tons of restaurants as well as cute little shops where you can buy stuff that you don’t need. One thing that I did need was a screwdriver to fix my kid’s toy so I went down to Restoration Hardware on Boylston and Exeter. They couldn’t help me with the screwdriver but I did come out of there with some really nice Meyer Lemon hand soap with matching hand cream.
All the kids were troopers on the next day’s walking tour. It was still hot but we all did pretty well. We went to Boston Common, the scene of the children’s story “Make Way for Ducklings”. My mom used to read me that story every night until I was about three, which is when I requested some Dostoevsky. We took pictures by the duckling statues and then headed off to a nearby pub for lunch. That was an adventure. I went into the bathroom and found that the stall was occupied. In the crack of the door I noticed a leg propped up in a non-standard position for such a place. And it wasn’t moving. I politely explained to the bartender that perhaps one of the employees was taking an extended break. On our way out we saw two rubber gloved Boston PD officers coming in to address the issue.
The heat broke the next day, dropping 25 degrees or so, just right for a bunch of spoiled Californians. We took son #1 up to Boston College to take another look at what he ain’t getting. It was a very impressive school and the presentation and tours were student led. They all demonstrated a level of maturity I finally achieved in my late 30’s. We then hopped on the T and headed back to our temporary abode. My wife took the kids out in the afternoon, either to let me get some rest or to get the hell away from me.
Our last day there I got a chance to see my good bud The Wolverine. We have so much in common, which is disturbing. I suggested a nearby tapas restaurant. He was very enthusiastic. But then I had to explain, “Tapas, not Topless”. We had a good time nonetheless. The service was a little spotty. I had to haughtily send my martini back since it had an olive instead of a twist. The food was very good though. Gambas al Ajillo is the right stuff. That’s garlic shrimp in case you didn’t major in Spanish.
The next day we headed off to an airport hotel since we had a 6am flight the next day. I like to refer to this phase of the trip as “Intrigue at The Hilton”. We’re a family of five and you can only have four in a room. So my wife took the twins in to register while son #1 and I came in later. We saw the twins still waiting for my wife but we couldn’t make eye contact. We grabbed a seat in a different part of the lobby and communicated via cell phone. Once they were safely ensconced in the room, they called us with the room number. When we got up there I took off my trench coat and fedora and took a nap. Intrigue always makes me sleepy.
We touched down in DC after a direct flight out of SFO. We were supposed to do a stop over in Vegas but that flight somehow got canceled, unbeknownst to us. They put us on an Austin/Denver/DC flight that would have consumed about a 25% of our vacation time so my wife sprung into action and got us on standby. She can be assertive when necessary, like when we started going out. I was shy 28 year old back then. Now I’m a self-confident family man. At least that’s what she tells me.
Our first stop was at my brother-in-law’s house in Maryland. We were only there for a couple days but visited Georgetown University. I wanted to my son to see a few good schools so he at least knew what they looked like, since he won’t be getting into any. After that both families drove up to the Jersey shore for a few days relaxation at their newly purchased beach house. They had some construction going on so no tenants were in it that week. That saved us a pile of dough so I bought the brother-in-law a bottle of his favorite vodka, Popov in a plastic jug. The cousins had a lot of fun playing together. I almost beat the seven year old in mini golf. We spent every day on the beach, where you can go into the water without a wetsuit. We caught the full force of the East Coast heat wave so the beach was a good place to be.
We also had a mini family reunion with many Philly cousins on my mother’s side, some I had not seen for 25 years. It was great to see everybody and I’m sure they really enjoyed seeing me. I don’t know how so much time passed. That stretch I did at Lompoc with Boesky only explains a couple years.
After the shore we headed up the Garden State Parkway to lovely Summit, NJ. My college buddy Wig lives there with his wife and four kids in a gorgeous turn of the century house, replete with carriage house. California’s equivalent is an Eichler with a carport. We interrupted the normal flow of family life at the Wig household but they all handled it with consummate aplomb. We had some great meals and spent a day at the pool during one of those 100 degree, 100% humidity days. We said our goodbyes on Wig’s birthday and headed off to the palatial Newark train station. The Wigs will also shortly be saying goodbye to son #2, who’s heading off to the University of Wisconsin this month. Bring your parka J!
We took the train up to Boston, where the record temperatures continued. It was a good day to spend four hours in an air-conditioned train. Our apartment was a short hop from the station and in the middle of a great neighborhood. There was a Starbucks right downstairs. I think that was one of the criteria for my wife when she planned lodging. She’s gotta have ready access to those quad lattes. We were on Boylston and the next street down was Newbury. Newbury St. has tons of restaurants as well as cute little shops where you can buy stuff that you don’t need. One thing that I did need was a screwdriver to fix my kid’s toy so I went down to Restoration Hardware on Boylston and Exeter. They couldn’t help me with the screwdriver but I did come out of there with some really nice Meyer Lemon hand soap with matching hand cream.
All the kids were troopers on the next day’s walking tour. It was still hot but we all did pretty well. We went to Boston Common, the scene of the children’s story “Make Way for Ducklings”. My mom used to read me that story every night until I was about three, which is when I requested some Dostoevsky. We took pictures by the duckling statues and then headed off to a nearby pub for lunch. That was an adventure. I went into the bathroom and found that the stall was occupied. In the crack of the door I noticed a leg propped up in a non-standard position for such a place. And it wasn’t moving. I politely explained to the bartender that perhaps one of the employees was taking an extended break. On our way out we saw two rubber gloved Boston PD officers coming in to address the issue.
The heat broke the next day, dropping 25 degrees or so, just right for a bunch of spoiled Californians. We took son #1 up to Boston College to take another look at what he ain’t getting. It was a very impressive school and the presentation and tours were student led. They all demonstrated a level of maturity I finally achieved in my late 30’s. We then hopped on the T and headed back to our temporary abode. My wife took the kids out in the afternoon, either to let me get some rest or to get the hell away from me.
Our last day there I got a chance to see my good bud The Wolverine. We have so much in common, which is disturbing. I suggested a nearby tapas restaurant. He was very enthusiastic. But then I had to explain, “Tapas, not Topless”. We had a good time nonetheless. The service was a little spotty. I had to haughtily send my martini back since it had an olive instead of a twist. The food was very good though. Gambas al Ajillo is the right stuff. That’s garlic shrimp in case you didn’t major in Spanish.
The next day we headed off to an airport hotel since we had a 6am flight the next day. I like to refer to this phase of the trip as “Intrigue at The Hilton”. We’re a family of five and you can only have four in a room. So my wife took the twins in to register while son #1 and I came in later. We saw the twins still waiting for my wife but we couldn’t make eye contact. We grabbed a seat in a different part of the lobby and communicated via cell phone. Once they were safely ensconced in the room, they called us with the room number. When we got up there I took off my trench coat and fedora and took a nap. Intrigue always makes me sleepy.
posted by DJ @ 1:46 PM
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