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Travelogue: Taiwan 2025, pt 4 – Grand Hotel, Shilin, and Home

And then we went home

The next day, we took the bullet train back to Taipei for our last full day in Taiwan.

The Firecracker’s kid is into trains, so we stopped off at a train museum for him first and then headed back to our hotel to crash.

Unfortunately, this was our first dud hotel outta the four we stayed at because they were doing construction on the floor above us.

Me: Welp, I guess we should go check out the Grand Hotel then.

The Grand Hotel Was the one tourist attraction that the Firecracker really wanted to see before we left, so we grabbed a car there.

She was not disappointed.

It’s the showcase hotel of Taiwan, built in 1952 to resemble a Chinese palace and meant to impress foreign dignitaries.

It certainly impressed us.

I’d actually gone to a summer program in the valley below it in my 20s but never went inside myself.

Afterward, we went to the night market that I was most looking forward to seeing, the Shilin Night Market, which is the one that I spent the most time at in my 20s.

In a stroke of good luck and coincidence, my other cousins on my mom’s side just happened to be in town with my aunt.

They’re the kids of my uncle that passed from COVID a few years back in Jersey, so it was doubly good to see everyone.

We met up with them at a bar there and my aunt gave us all red envelopes to celebrate both our being there and our getting married.

Me: That’s so generous of you, thanks so much!
Her: Of course, we’re just glad we can all be here.

We ate pretty much everything in sight.

I ended up having to use the facilities and went into the mall area where a scantily clad woman called out to me in English, “Hi, Mister – are you feeling lucky!?”

I’m fairly confident this was in reference to some carnival games she was hawking.

Firecracker: She said what?!
Me: “Hi, Mister – are you feeling lucky!?” Now the thing is, why would she say that to me in English? Like, you weren’t there, how did she know that I wasn’t Chinese-Chinese?
Her: Did you talk to her?!
Me: I’m not crazy, baby!
Her: Smart man, smart man…

Do have to say, found that interesting throughout the whole trip: People would automatically try to speak English to me, even if the kids and the Firecracker weren’t with me.

I have to think it was how I was dressed?

Never did figure that out.

In any case, after we couldn’t possibly eat anything else, we all went our separate ways; we just hit our hotel and crashed hard.

The next morning, after filling up on brekkie – we made our way to the airport.

It was actually the first time I took the new railway from Taipei to the airport.

It was great because I got to see more parts of Taipei/Taiwan that I’d not seen before.

This pic really does capture the place – so much development, all happening at once, with urbanization creeping into the mountains and natures I’m familiar with.

The trip back was much better than the trip there.

Once again, we stopped off in Korea, but this time, I remembered a lot more of it.

And the kid finally got to see a 3D billboard – something he’d been wanting to see the entire trip.

Everyone managed to fall asleep on the plane ride back.

Everyone but me that is.

Actually, I might’ve as well but I’m not completely sure. My mind gets fuzzy when I travel.

The kid just tossed a sheet over his head and called it a night – he takes after his mom and my dad and can sleep anywhere.

Once we landed in NYC, the Firecracker had to bring her kid to her ex’s, so my kid and I took a cab home.

It was an even C-note to get back to our pad from JFK, which was both surprising and also, not.

Me: Welp, it looks like we’re home. What are you in the mood for?
Him: Pizza?
Me: Done. Welcome back home, kiddo.
Him: Welcome back home, papa. That was fun. But it’s nice to be home.
Me: Yeah, kid. There’s no place like home.

Location: a holiday party, next door
Mood: brrrrrrrrrrrr
Music: my own dreams and the city won’t save me (Spotify)
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Travelogue: Taiwan 2025, pt 1

A Taipei photoshoot

Actually, the driver was even nicer than what I previously wrote in that, before he left, he stuck around to make sure we entered into our AirBnB.

All-in-all, a great way to start our trip.

The hot foods station at a 7-11. No nachos but every single one of the has a bubbling caldron of tea eggs, which are pretty good, I gotta say.

Now, I suppose there are three major things you need to know about Taiwan in general – it:

    • is a nighttime society in many ways and the reason is the same as in Spain, which is that, prior to the advent of air conditioning, it was hot as balls around here. This is something that I didn’t truly realize as a kid.
    • has the second largest concentration of convenience stores after South Korea – this video will explain why.
    • is still a very cash-based society.

These three things shaped how we and tourists in general have to interact with it.

I mean, you can even buy hard liquor at the local 7-11, but that’s neither here nor there.

Didn’t realize how much I didn’t use cash in my day-to-day until I had to use cash pretty much everywhere in Taiwan.

In any case, there was one right across the street so that was the first stop, where I picked up supplies that we needed for the week and then we all crashed.

The next morning, the kid and I woke up bright and early and got food for everyone.

Because this was the second marriage for both the Firecracker and myself, we didn’t really want a big to-do, wedding-wise, but she did want nice photos.

I’m not really one for pomp-and-circumstance but it was a completely reasonable ask so I said yes.

She found an Instagram photographer and I had my reservations, but I did like the photographs she showed me so I agreed.

After months of chatting online with him (and thinking he was a she for a solid month, initially) he showed up at our hotel in the morning with a driver and we spent our first day in Taiwan taking photos with the boys.

Honestly – and I say this after having dozens, if not hundreds of professional photos taken with the Scenic Fights guys – these were some of the best photos of myself (and her) that I’ve ever seen.

This is one of the pics he took. Now, before anyone yells “cultural appropriation,” the red qipao was my idea as it’s a traditional Chinese wedding dress.

To say I was impressed is a colossal understatement.

The other cool thing about the photoshoot was that I got a chance to see parts of Taipei that I never really got to see before.

Another one of his.

We also took the opportunity to take some family photos as well.

The kids were absolute troopers about it, so we promised them a dinner at – what we called – the Poop Restaurant which…well, I’ll let the following video explain.

Honestly, the food wasn’t bad…once you got over how it was served.

The kids were all about it and it was one of the things they were really looking forward to, so it had to be done.

The people there were actually super cool…

Waitress: You ordered two of the shaved ice?
Me: (puzzled) Yes, we have two kids.
Her: (leaning over) Just so you know, four adults generally can’t finish one of those. There’s literally no way either one of those kids will finish one of these.
Me: Oh man, thanks! So, just order the chocolate one?
Her: (nodding) Good idea.

She wasn’t kidding. We had a ton left over.

We ended the first day with a walk through the Ximen district, which was like Times Square, before we headed back.

I’ll post more tomorrow – this jetlag is no joke, and this is a pretty picture heavy post as it is.

All the crappy pics with my watermark on them are mine, all the good ones without watermarks are – of course – our killer photographer’s.

Location: the rainy UWS trying to deal with this jetlag
Mood: off-kilter
Music: Well, a nice day for a white wedding day (Spotify)
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Travelogue: Korea 2025 and Taiwan 2025 (kinda)

Welcome back, Mr. Lo.

It was still dark when we left our little pad in the UWS, our bellies fulla heart attack sammies.

With my awful back, I was dreading the 16-hour trip but my buddy Ricky suggested that I get this blow-up seat cushion and god did it help; it, plus using my jacket as a lumbar pillow helped tremendously.

I’ve not slept on a plane in 44 years.

Every time I get on one, I think: This time will be it.

I took one-and-a-half pills of Ambien, one pot gummy, two OTC sleep meds and…nuthin. Was awake for the entire 16 hours it took to get Korea.

In fact, I was awake since the morning the Firecracker and I got hitched: 45.5 hours in total.

So, I was feeling dull and vicious when we arrived but that too is a story for another day.

Her: You’re not making any sense!
Me: OK, that happens after 35 hours. (turning to my son) From now on, ignore what I say and listen to her. I’m not thinking straight.

The plane ride was, thankfully, uneventful.

Whenever I travel internationally, I try to have an extended layover; this time, it was in Korea.

I’d never been.

So, after the Firecracker navigated us out – because I was completely nonfunctional – we crashed overnight in a huge hotel room in the boonies where I finally got some sleep after 45.5 hours.

Some, being the operative word here.

Just a rando set of statues we saw in the Uber coming back to the airport.

Right before I left town, I dropped my old German tutor and buddy KG Betty a line and she said she would love to meet up.

So, bright and early on Saturday morning, she picked us up outside the Seoul station and brought us to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, which the Firecracker was dying to see.

We just happened to make the changing of the guard.

The kids were only so interested.

Afterward, we went to try to get noodles at the knife-cut noodle lady’s stall at Gwangjang Market, Seoul from the Netflix series but it was – of course – closed that day.

It was still super cool, and packed for an early Saturday morning.

She brought us to a local joint where we had some authentic Korean food before she gave the Uber driver some clear directions to get us back to the airport in time to head to Taiwan to continue our journey.

But not before giving me a hug and a little gift because she knows me so well.

After the 16-hour flight from NYC to Seoul, the trip from Seoul to Taipei seemed like nuthin.

When we arrived in Taiwan, I walked out of the airport customs area in the Arrivals Hall – something I’d done a dozen times in my youth – I was just overwhelmed with emotions.

It was the smell and sight of the place that took me back to the very first time I’d arrived there as a little kid.

I had a memory – real or imagined, I’m not sure – of my grandmother and youngest uncle, rushing to give my mother a hug.

It felt real.

And there was a little part of me that kept thinking that maybe my grandmother might possibly show up, the fevered dream of sleep-deprived old man.

My son started asking me all of these inane questions and I barked at him.

Not my finest moment (I later apologized).

The Firecracker took him away and left me alone with my thoughts.

I literally stood there for the first time in 25 years and wept.

Thought of all those people I loved and lost and would never see again except in pictures and in my cloudy head.

And I have so many, from the memorable to the mundane, they all mattered to me in one way or another.

Like when my uncle brought me out a night market to have a sizzling plate of steak and the wonderment of all the game and clothes hawkers.

 

So many random memories came at me, one after another.

Everyone was quiet while we waited for our car to arrive and my son was the first to break the silence.

Papa. I’ve never seen you cry before.

It’s funny.

I cry all the time because that grief button’s always being hit.

Suppose I hid it well up until then.

It was just too much to take at that moment, I guess.

I was just slamming that goddamn button.

I couldn’t handle the cacophony in my head.

Too many old ghosts came rushing up to greet me all at once, but after a bit, I realized the car’d arrived, so we all piled in and were on our way.

The driver spoke to me in broken in English and I turned to him and all this Chinese started coming out, as if I were a fat 10-year-old kid again.

Chatted with him the whole ride to the AirBnb.

Me: (in Chinese) I’ve not been here in 25 years.
Cab driver: 25 years! Why so long?
Me: (thinking) Lots of things. Life. I don’t recognize this place anymore.
Him: (nodding) A lot’s changed in 25 years. This place was all empty 25 years ago. The city’s grown, the population’s shrunk.
Me: Shrunk? I would have thought the opposite.
Him: (shaking head) No. (laughs) People are getting married later. They don’t want to have kids.
Me: Yeah, it’s like that in a lotta places.
Him: (tells me more about Taipei and Taiwan in general, I translate for the Firecracker and the kids as best I can) Here we are, Mr. Lo. (exits the car and starts taking the luggage out) It’s NT$1650 but just give me NT$1,600.
Me: What? Why?
Him: It’s 25 years! Welcome back. (smiles, holds out his hand to shake mine) Welcome back, Mr. Lo.

Location: back in rainy NYC
Mood: crazy jetlagged
Music: Memories come rushing up to meet me now (Spotify)
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Returning to My Hometown

And soon I will as well

Pretty much everything advanced in the world has a semiconductor chip in it.

And the world’s largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is headquartered in – what used to be a sleepy little town called – Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Pretty much spent every other summer there as a kid.

The day after the Firecracker and I got hitched, I immediately took a plane ride to Taiwan.

By the time you read this entry, we would already be starting our trip back home to America so it’s gonna be a bit outta order, but I wanted to tell you this little story first to set the whole thing up.

The last time I was in Taiwan was Monday, May 8, 2000, for a business trip, 25 years ago.

Purely by coincidence, my dad was there for the first time in 30 years because it was his turn to sweep the family grave – which is a Chinese tradition.

That meant that the last time he had been home was 1970.

I’d not gone home to Taiwan for a host of reasons, which we don’t need to get into right now.

Before you knew it, a quarter-of-a-century passed.

That’s my dad next to me and my uncle. Both are gone now. Yes, I age. Just very slowly. Dunno what I was thinking with my hair.

In any case, I know exactly two Chinese poems by heart.

One of them was written by a fella named He Zhizhang, sometime between 659 and 744 CE, called Returning to My Hometown.

You can look up the Chinese version, but the translation roughly goes something like this:

I was young when I left, old when I returned.
My accent’s the same but my hair’s thinned and grayed.
Kids from my old hometown don’t know who I am.
They laugh and ask, “Stranger, where’re you come from?”

It’s a lot more poignant in the original Chinese (and rhymes, to boot).

But – at least the way my dad explained it to me – the poem tells a story of a fella that left his hometown to make his fortune and returns home only to find that his home isn’t his home anymore.

Yeah, it kinda looks like his home but it also kinda doesn’t.

Just like him, he kinda looks the same but also kinda doesn’t.

And when he was there as a kid, everyone knew his name.

Now, he’s a stranger in the town that he knew like the back of his hand – to the point that the little kids now run up to him and laugh and point, “Check out this weird stranger who’s not from around here.”

And the town is a stranger to him.

That’s how I felt when I came home to the little town that I used to spend every other summer at growing up.

Except it’s not a little town at all. It was kinda the same but really not.

It’s all modern and high tech, nothing like I remember.

While the town I last saw in 2000 was pretty close to the one I remember from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, this one I just left is almost nothing like I know.

Legit, nothing like the town I last saw in 2000.

Nothing like the home I knew and loved.

I’m gonna tell you all about my Taiwan trip but I wanted to tell you that, during the whole trip, I saw old ghosts everywhere I went.

The sleepy town I knew so well is a bustling tech hub that’s home to the most powerful and advanced tech manufacturing factory on the planet.

To me, it was just where my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins lived.

Where I slept above a garage that my grandma converted into a tiny little convenience store.

I was the grandson of a shop-owner who lived in town all her life and told of her daughter that lived far away in New York City.

Everywhere I looked, I saw glimpses of people and places I loved so very deeply, long gone that I’ll never see again.

You see that old lady in that picture up there? I loved her more than you can imagine.

For the first time in my life, I’ve come home and she isn’t here to greet me and I can barely type these words, that’s how much I loved – and still love – those two women you see above in that convenience store in a converted garage that no longer exists and never will again.

Just like so many things that I have loved and will always love.

I’m grateful for my son and the Firecracker. Truly.

Their being here with me made bearable the unbearable.

I realize may not look like an old man but I’m certainly not a young man.

And even if I age slowly, those around me do not and that is, in many ways, worse.

Now all the people and things I loved and love still are aging and disappearing.

And, if this trip has made me realize anything, I will soon as well.

Don’t know how much more loss I can bear.

Him: Aren’t you happy to be back?
Me: I am…I just…I am. (nodding) I am.

Location: on a hard wooden chair by a hard wooden table at a train museum
Mood: alone
Music: Someday, I’ll go (Spotify)
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A short trip north

Cornell Chicken

Both the Firecracker’s kid and my kid are back for a little bit.

My kid came back first, so he and I had a little lunch together just so we could chat and catch up.

Me: So, how was it with your cousins?
Him: Good!
Me: (nodding) Anything else?

And then once the Firecracker’s kid came back, I took them both out to eat, since we’ve not really had a chance to hang out over the summer.

Me: So, how has your summer been, kiddo?
FCSon: Good!
Me: (nodding) These are good talks we’re all having.

An actual good I had recently was with my old buddy Buckley regarding the entry I wrote the other day, and he invited us to go see him.

Him: The weather is finally getting better. My offer to visit our hood remains open! From now through November will be prime weather.
Me: 100%! Hey, both boys are here this Sunday if you’re around? No pressure if you’re not but I wanted to ask.
Him: That could work!

So, that weekend, we took the train up to their neck of the state.

Buckley actually made Cornell Chicken, which is something I’ve always wanted to try.

Ironically, the day after, I came across this article from my old company that wrote about the history of it and why it’s so good.

Him: It was actually invented by the same food scientist that invent chicken nuggets.
Me: (laughing) Perfect because FCSon is like 79% chicken nuggets by volume.

While the adults were catching up, the kids were playing on a zipline that Buckley installed for his kids.

Me: Buckley is the only person I would trust to put up a zipline (he was an engineer in college).
Buckley’s Wife: Oh yeah, he did everything the right way.
Me: (nodding) Having lived with him alla these years, I believe that.

Told his kids that I’d known their father longer than I’d NOT known him, which is a kick in the head.

The zipline was a nice distraction from the screens…albeit short-lived.

We hung out a bit longer before we took the train home as the dark clouds were looming.

Her: Just think about it, Logan. If we lived in a house, the boys could have a zipline and you could have a grill.
Me: Compelling arguments. But let’s see after the boys head off to college.

Location: Please don’t tell…
Mood: fatty-fat-fat
Music: We’d play pretend in the suburbs (Spotify)
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Boston 2025: A Wig Shop and Home

A Burger before home

At The Wig Shop, we ended up sitting across from a male-and-female set of cousins checking out the town.

The drinks had some hilarious names, but I had to have The Traveler’s Chosen, which had both (a) a 23 year old Ron Zacapa rum and (b) sour sop, which is in the same family as pawpaws.

Her: How is it?
Me: Unbelievably delicious. Try some.

She got the Channing Ta-yum, which was made with black pepper, a nice touch that we could taste – but not quite place – in terms of where the heat was coming from.

Luckily, our hotel was pretty close by, so we didn’t have to stumble back too far.

The next day we didn’t have too much planned except I wanted a Boston Tasty Burger before we left.

Her: Wait, there’s one right at the station.
Me: Perfect, we’ll grab one right before we have to leave.

Which is exactly what we did.

Turns out that it was good we ate so heavily because our train back was delayed.

They expected it to be at least 30 minutes late, but we heard from some train staff that it was gonna be much later.

We camped at a mall as we figured things out.

The Firecracker got busy and found out that there was a much faster (and more expensive) train leaving at 2:05.

It’d actually get us home a solid hour earlier if we caught it.

BUT, because of timing, the clerk could only offer it to us for free if our old reservation was 30 min late.

Our original train was supposed to leave at 1:30 so we had to wait until 2PM to get it for free otherwise it was gonna be an extra $300.

So, we waited and hoped.

At 2PM, the clerk told us to run to the train because she was able to get us tickets (!)

So, we ended up getting home on a faster train in business class for the same cost.

A great ending to a great trip.

Me: That was fun. You’re a good travel partner.
Her: Thanks, Logan! Same.

Location: earlier today, Omega, downtown
Mood: full and a bit tipsy
Music: Send me on my way, on my way (Spotify)
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Boston 2025: Dinner with Yvonne

Biking around Boston

The next day, we both woke up at a reasonable time and did a quickie little bike tour around Boston.

One of the perks of the hotel we were staying at was that they had bikes and helmets you could borrow so we took advantage.

One fun thing we found out was that there are alleyways in Boston that span several blocks, if not miles, and are a great way to get around while checking out fancy townhouses.

That was an unexpectedly fun little distraction.

Afterward, we took the train out to check out the Charles River Boat Tour.

Despite the heat, humidity, and the rando rainstorms that appeared outta nowhere and disappeared just as quickly, it was pretty comfortable and cool.

Her: I’ve been to Boston a few times before, but this is my first time seeing it from the river.
Me: Same!

This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to Harvard – both physically and metaphysically.

Afterward, we took the train home, but our plans were thrown off a bit because there was an almost 30-minute train delay.

So, we barely had any time at the hotel before we had to dash off for dinner.

She’d made some reservations at Yvonne, a pretty well-known restaurant on the same block as our hotel, that we had to move back a bit.

It was worth the wait, though.

Both for the absolutely delish food…

…and the amazing atmosphere.

Waiter: …and the bar is the original bar that was created in the 1700s.
Me: Get outta here.
Him: It’s true.

They ended up mixing up some stuff and comping us an additional entree…

…which – shockingly – I couldn’t finish.

It happens from time-to-time.

So, we brought that back to the hotel room before heading back out to check out a speakeasy called The Wig Shop that the Firecracker picked out.

But this is getting long, so I’ll wrap up our Boston trip in the next entry.

Location: home, dealing with flood aftermath
Mood: humid and wet
Music: If this world’s a circle, I got no time for them squares (Spotify)
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Boston 2025: Chinatown

And a Bánh Mì

In my last entry, my buddy CoB posted the following on FB:

What’s funny is that I got no less than three comments that day about my shirt while in Boston and regularly get a couple here and there in NYC.

It’s funny how certain things have a universality to them.

After we got up from our quickie nap, we got ourselves together and walked a few blocks to Boston’s Chinatown, where we first stopped off to get some soup dumplings…

…before we tried to crash a buncha older Chinese people playing cards.

Her: They’re playing Big Two!
Me: We should ask them if you can play.
Her: I’m down!

We ended up not doing that, although I do think it’d be hilarious if we actually did try to crash as the Firecracker plays to win.

I was still hungry though, of course, so we picked up some absolutely killer bahn mi’s from a local joint and some Thai iced tea and brought it all back to our hotel lobby…

…where we got some drinks at the bar and played some Scrabble.

The wild nights of Logan and The Firecracker know no bounds.

In any case, she won.

Like I said, she plays to win.

There was more but we can end this entry here.

Location: home, icing my ankled
Mood: irritated
Music: We were in love and lovin’ it (Spotify)
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Boston 2025: The pub crawl

Lobster Roll Quest

The next morning, the Firecracker woke up bright and early to check out the city while I slept in.

After she got back, I got dressed and we headed out to Faneuil Hall Square for our Independence Pub Crawl, something else that was part of the Boston package we booked.

Gotta say, it was far more interesting that I thought it was gonna be and 2.5 hours went by pretty quickly.

The weirdest thing was I ran into my buddy Kar’s husband and three kiddos there.

Me: Frenchie! What are you doing here?!
Him: I was just telling [the kids], “Hey, I think that’s Logan.”

Wild.

Me: Isn’t that nuts?
Firecracker: (shrugging) Not really. You know a lotta people.

We caught up for just a few minutes before we had to return to our tour group.

We ended up hitting up four historical pubs and drinking at each of them…

…even ordering some oysters at one of them.

Another traveler: You two got food?
Firecracker: We figured they didn’t have to cook them and we could just down them.
Him: Smart.

After we left the group, we ended up checking out the Boston Public Market…

…where we had a little snack of Boston clam chowder…

Her: Normally, I’d consider hot clam chowder in the summertime crazy, but we’re in Boston.
Me: Yup, I get it. Let’s do it.

…before heading off to Faneuil Hall.

Her: I really want a lobster roll, now.
Me: I don’t have a problem with that, but I wanna sit.

We had originally planned to get her a lobster roll over at the Boston Sail Loft, but the wait was too long, so we headed off to Joe’s Waterfront instead.

Her: Finally, lobster roll!
Me: I need a salad because I feel like a fatty-fat-fat, what with alla that drinking we’ve been doing.

It was only a mile walk back to our hotel and, despite the heat and humidity, I figured the walk would be good for my back, so off we went.

After alla the sun, food, and booze, we both needed a quickie nap before exploring Chinatown at night.

I’ll tell you about that in the next entry.

Location: my superheated room
Mood: sweaty
Music: Forever and not at all, with a boathouse (Spotify)
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Boston 2025: A Tasting by the Harbor

The Godfrey Hotel and Boston Harbor Distillery

A few months back, the kid’s school had a fundraiser that I wanted to support but there was nuthin that really caught my attention.

Was running outta time, so I just bid on a buncha things to do in Boston in the next year.

Welp, I ended up winning that and, this past weekend, the Firecracker boarded the train at Penn Station to head there.

I had some unexpected things to contend with that morning, so she made us sammies for the trip.

Her: Hungry? We could eat the wraps I made.
Me: Great! Did you put some sriracha on mine?
Her: Yup.
Me: (three minutes later and coughing) How… how..much siracha did you put on?
Her: Too much?
Me: (between coughs) You’re trying to kill me!

She got us business class seats, so it was a pretty nice ride there.

All these years decades, I thought that the trains went north on the west side of Manhattan to get to the Bronx.

But it was only this day that I learned that the trains first go east into Long Island/Queens and then make a sharp left to head north.

The trip was fairly uneventful, and before we knew it, we were in a train station in Boston.

Me: Man, this town is just…empty.
Her: It’s amazing.
Me: Glorious, really.

When we arrived, we checked into our room at the Godfrey Hotel, which she picked out…

Her: This is one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever been to.
Me: Agreed – good choice!

…and, because I was starving, immediately stopped by a sushi joint for some cheap eats.

She ate like six pieces, and I ate the rest.

But we barely had time to finish everything before we had to head to the first of our planned activities – a tasting at the Boston Harbor Distillery.

When we arrived, we were checked in by the tour guide.

Her: There will be a LOT of spirits to sample so if you toss some, I won’t be offended.

She wasn’t kidding.

This was batch 1…

…this was batch 2…

…this was batch 3.

I think we ended up getting a half-a-shot of about 18 different spirits each.

As if that wasn’t enough, we got another drink for ourselves, which was actually mixed for us by the company owner, Rhonda Kallman, who was both a sweetheart and a legend.

The place was gorgeous, so we hung around for a bit…

…then grabbed an Uber back to our hotel where we had some drinks at the bar…

…before we took a little nighttime stroll around the city, where we ran into a party just outside the Boston Commons.

After a spell, we headed back to our room to rest up for the rest of our trip.

I’ll tell you more about it in our next entry.

Location: home
Mood: beat
Music: The last hurrah? Nah! I’d do it again (Spotify)
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