Beantown

We are at the Elks lodge in Medford, Massachusetts (map), in keeping with our current Elks-supported theme. The lodge turns out to be just a few short blocks from our (absent) friend's house; it would have been an easy walk. We stopped by on our way in to pick up our waiting mail.

We had a nice drive Thursday, mostly along the coast. We elected to drive around Cape Ann on route 127 on our way to Gloucester, thinking we'd have some nice views, but mostly it was a narrow and twisty road with no real sight lines. It's a truck route, so at least we could breathe easy about the overhead clearance. The truck route just skirts the outside of Rockport, so we had to be satisfied with a few quick cityscapes.

Gloucester was just as I remembered, a busy seaport with endless whale watching tours, B&B's, and nautically themed restaurants crammed in between commercial fish processors, chandleries, and fishermen working on their boats. The streets are old and narrow, but an endless stream of 53' trailers manages to make it to and from the enormous Gorton's facility, so we had no trouble maneuvering.

Working our way down the coast from there was something of a slog, between some roads not being established truck routes, and the increasing amount of congestion as we drew closer to Boston. Eventually we made it to Revere, where MA-16, the Revere Beach Parkway, brought us inland here to Medford, a close-in north suburb of Boston.

We've both done the whole Boston tourist thing in years past, and I'd been there a dozen or so times for business meetings, so on this visit, where a cold snap has had the temperatures in the 40s, we've pretty much stayed in the bus except for two trips downtown on the scooters for dinner. Thursday night we ate at the Boston College Club atop the Bank of American building, and last night at the University of Massachusetts Club atop 225 Franklin. Both clubs afforded sweeping views out over Boston Harbor and the Charles River, and 225 Franklin has a wonderful view of the Customs Tower. We froze our buns, of course, on the 6-mile ride each way, but we got to pass many Boston landmarks including Faneuil Hall, the Museum of Science, and Boston Garden.

This afternoon we have plans to visit friends in Concord, so we are packing up the coach and will be moving to the Concord Elks Lodge in just a few minutes.