I’m very nearly recovered from Christmas so I can finally write a catch-up post about our trip to the USA. Rock God’s virus abated enough to allow us to get on a plane to Boston. Fecklet’s excitement knew no bounds. He was jumping around all over the place as we packed and couldn’t wait to get on a plane. Our Christmas crackers were confiscated at the airport (explosives, apparently) and then Fecklet was so hyped up about flying that he couldn’t get to sleep the entire night flight and so we arrived in Boston distinctly bleary-eyed.
But Boston was fun. We went to the aquarium and the science museum. Fecklet took over the replica space capsule there and whenever anyone else came in, he gave them guided tours: “These are the buttons that you press, and this is a TV, and this is where you sleep!” We did some shopping and some eating out, and on the Saturday a blizzard struck the east coast and we got something like a foot of snow overnight. (It might have been more, I didn’t measure it.) We were just settling down for a nice cosy evening in our hotel room (on the 15th floor) when the fire alarm went off. We pulled on our winter clothes over our pyjamas and debated whether to evacuate down the stairs with toddler in arms, or stay put in our room and wait. The front desk advised us to wait, but I found it a long tense time before the fire department arrived and checked out all the alarms before shutting them off so we could go to bed.
Then the alarm went off again.
Anyway, morning came without us being burnt to toast in our beds. We’d already booked business class seats on the Downeaster, which is the train that runs up the coast of New England from Boston to Portland, Maine. The Rock God, used to the British transport system, noted the rather large drifts of snow outside and asked the concierge if the trains would be running. The concierge merely snorted at his doubt. Trains in Massachusetts are not little wimpy things like British trains. They are behemoths and they cut through snow as if it were a very small pat of butter.
The ride on the Downeaster was great—in cushy seats, quietly through coastal towns and forests filling up with snow, the engine blowing its whistle whenever we crossed one of the many roads.
And then to snowy Maine for Christmas. We went sliding, built a snowman, and of course then I got sick and had to spend three days in bed, so I missed seeing many of the friends I’d hoped to meet with. Despite my mother’s wonderful cooking, I think I am possibly the only person I know who hasn’t gained weight over Christmas because I spent three days with my throat too swollen to swallow much of anything except for iced orange juice. Fecklet spent happy days playing with Grandma and Grandpa and chasing their shy cat all over the house.
And then we flew back home and I got to open all the Christmas cards that had come while we were gone!
happy new year to you all
Happy New Year, Julie. Glad you are better.
Happy new year to you too, Carol!
Wow.
Can we have some of those Massachusetts trains, please?
I also spent a chunk of the festive period in bed, cursing whoever invented the cold virus and really damning the person who figured it’d be a good idea to hook up ears, nose and throat so that infection can spread really, really easily.
Lemsip is my bestest friend.
Happy new year – glad you’re better – and the science museum sounds fantastic
)
Welcome back, Julie! Sounds like a great trip (except for the sickness part.)
I could actually use that illness now — a few too many Christmas goodies showing on my thighs at the moment… sigh.
Happy New Year Julie! Really pleased you had such a great holiday (minus the illness).
I love the sound of your train journey, very romantic and downright efficient. I’m already worried school might be shut as soon it starts next week due to forecasted snow.
Sorry you got sick, Julie. But it sounds, otherwise, like a great time was had by all. And I’m sure Fecklet enjoyed every bit of it — and no doubt Grandma and Grandpa did, too. (Though the cat might have reservations about him coming again anytime soon!) Happy New Year!
You’ve got to watch those Christmas crackers… I’ll admit the idea of a confiscated Christmas crackers pile at the airport just tickles me
Happy new year to you too, Jan! I missed you before, sorry.
K8, I’m glad you’re better. You know, they don’t have Lemsip in the US. They have Dayquil, which is a liquid you take in a little cup. It works, but it doesn’t have the comfort qualities of a hot drink. That is something that is purely British I think.
Happy new year Kate! You would love the science museum in Boston, as would your kids. A big chunk of it is interactive with mini-experiments to do. Fecklet also liked the part where you could create your own digital fish to swim around on the giant aquarium screens mounted on the wall, basically to see how long it could survive before it got eaten.
My favourite was a whole exhibition about optical illusions in art.
Kim, I refuse to believe that anything sticks to those thighs of yours.
Happy new year Carol! You would have really liked the train. Fecklet could lie right down on his seat and go to sleep. And there was a dining car, with a couple of guys drinking beer and playing cards at one of the tables.
Anne, I think the cat liked being chased! My parents have two formerly feral cats who they rescued, and over the past three years they’ve become more sociable with my parents, though wary of other people. One of them always hides when anyone else is in the house, and we barely saw her in ten days.
The other is more curious, and though she won’t let strangers touch her, she’ll sit and look at you. She played a game with Fecklet—he’d be playing on the floor and the cat would sit about a metre away, watching intently. Then he’d notice her, shout joyously, “Cat!” and jump up. She’d hide, and then he’d go back to playing, and five minutes later, she’d be back watching him. She’d find him all over the house to do this. Same routine every time.
So I think it was fun for both of them.
Lacey, the airline worker said that they bid for the confiscated crackers and give the money to charity. I pictured a big party at the airport!