Boston & Cape Cod

We flew to Boston on 6/2, the Brazilian National Footbol (Soccer) team were also no the flight. The trip was business for me to attend the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. My wife got to play tourist while I attended the meeting. We stayed at the Lenox Hotel which was a nice old hotel w/ all the modern updates. It was across town from the Boston Convention Ctr but I was only a couple of blocks from one of the meeting shuttle bus stops. Monday evening we attend a customer Appreciation Night at Fenway Park hosted by bioMerieux (a microbiology systems company). The Sox were out of town so we got to see lots of the park. A tour took use to the seats above the Green Monster and into the Press Box. Dinner was catered by the park concessions so we got everything from hot dogs, brauts, BBQ & tri tips. Out tour guide told us even tho tickets are officially sold out for every game, tickets returned from season ticket holders can often be purchased at the Ticket Office the morning of the game. My wife got us tickets to the Wed night game on the 1st base line out in right field.  The energy of the fans in the small ball park was amazing. That capped off my big day at the ASM meeting where I presented a session on MRSA detection at 06:30. Yep, I was up at 04:45 to catch the 05:30 shuttle over to the convention center so I could have the presentation ready on the computer system and handouts in place for over 150 attendees. I decided there was nothing real interesting on the last half day session on Thursday so we took a Duck Tour of Boston. It was both informative and entertaining. 

We rented a car Thursday afternoon and headed out to Mystic, Connecticut. We stayed at the  Pequot Hotel Bed & Breakfast which was originally a stage coach stop. Lots of history and very friendly and informative hosts. We visited the Maritime Museum and the Aquarium, had lunch at Mystic Pizza made famous by the movie 20 yrs ago, had a great dinner at the D&H Oyster House on the water by the cool old drawbridge and had some tastey home made ice cream at a couple of shops. 

Next we headed to Wood's Hole to catch the ferry to Martha's Vineyard.  We stayed at the Hanover House B&B in Vineyard Haven.  Nice place but not as quaint or personal as many B&B's.  We spent a couple of days exploring the island, enjoying the beaches w/ seals looking back at us from beyond the surf line and sampling the good eats the Vineyard has to offer. 

We left the Vineyard on Tuesday and headed out Cape Cod to Dennis, Mass for a couple night stay at the Scargo Manor B&B. Nice old house on Scargo Lake and a few minutes drive to the beach. Our hosts directed us to a great seafood shack at the local marina where we had some tastey 'lobsta'. We shared an outside table w/ a couple of local school teachers who gove us some tips on what to see on the Cape the next day. We headed out the Cape to Provincetown. Had a fun tour of the sand dunes w/ Art's Dune Tours, informative and entertaining.  Our last day we headed to Plymouth. Didn't see the rock since it was under construction...... actually the portico surrounding it was being overhauled so the rock was under plywood for protection.  We headed back to Boston and flew home out of Logan back the the left coast.

 

Boston & Cape Cod

We flew to Boston on 6/2 for a business trip/vacation. The General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology was there from 6/2-5.  We checked into the Lenox Hotel Sunday evening. We got a great room rate (relative to the usual room rate of $300-400) thru the Boston Travel Bureau. Small rooms but nice and impeccable service. My wife, Patty, checked out the tourist attractions while I attended the meeting. She bought a City Pass online before our trip which gave her admission to a number of museums and tours which ended up being a great bargain. We attended a Customer Appreciation event at Fenway Park on Monday evening hosted by bioMerieux (microbiology lab products company). The Sox were out of town so it was a great way to see lots of the park. We took a tour and got to sit in the seats above the Green Monster and in the Press Box. Our tour guide informed us of ticket availability so we were able to get tickets to Wednesday nights game by being at the ticket office at 10am the day of the game. Patty got us tickets in the old seats on the 1st base line for $30! Wednesday was a long day for me as I had to get up at 4:45am in order to catch the 5:30am bus shuttle to the convention center for my 6:30am presentation on MRSA detection methods. It was drizzling on the way to the convention center and rained later in the morning and was wet most of the rest of the day. It let up late afternoon so it was dry for the Red Sox game that evening. The energy in Fenway Park is amazing when it is full of fans. I had to get myself a Sox hat and tee shirt even tho I remain a Mariner's fan (even now that they are playing the worst ever!!).