Welcome To Boston!!!

It’s about a 7 hour car drive from Upstate-New York to Boston. We’re trying to avoid NYC on the weekend with all the madness that NYC already brings, so we decided to add Boston to the Route late last night.
My morning started at about 7:30 am, where I felt Milo pawing at me, which is not something he ever does, because when I am sleeping so are the puppies. He was playing puppet, as my friend was playing puppet master. Right, the SAME friend who snoooooooored all night, and I didn’t bother to wake him up. So after a brief “snap” at him..if you will I was able to rest until about 10:30, where a text comes in and wakes me up.
Friend of mine registered my cars for me in Florida while I was in Colorado handling legal things; she needed the money by the end of the month since it was through her work. I went over to her boyfriend’s house on Tuesday, gave her a check, and told her that it wouldn’t be available until Thursday-due to the bank hold on the new account. She understood and wouldn’t deposit it until then. I had to give it to her on Tuesday since I was leaving on Wednesday for over a week. Well, don’t you know this morning I get a texts that says, the check was returned and now her account is negative. Ugh, I HATE dealing with issues on vacation. She told me she deposited it on Tuesday (now, Tuesday is not Thursday is it? NO) and when? I left at 10pm they were going to bed, did she really run out and deposit it that night in the ATM? Which would make the bank get it Wednesday and process it, and then they returned it Friday? No bank clears a check in a day! They just told her this morning, on a Saturday? I just can’t get the pieces to add up. Her account she says is negative the amount of the check, which makes me believe that her account had a $0 balance + amount of check – cash = $0 balance right? Now it’s – amount of check, the only way that math works is if I added in the –cash! Who has $0 in their account? She makes very good money, and I find myself wondering where it goes? Not that it is my concern what so ever, just in this situation I don’t understand it! On top of that, the bank is to present the check twice, I informed her of this info (I worked at a bank, I know how it works) she said, she was told they sent the check back to me. What? How would they know where I live? It’s a temporary check, without an address on it. They wouldn’t send it back to me- they would give it back to her, or redeposit it. She said she knows it’s not my fault (which I agree, I told her PRIOR to this, to wait till Thursday when the funds are OFF hold) the day goes on from here…
It’s now time to get the ball rolling, get the dogs together and pack the car back up! I started getting the back seat ready, yesterday I bought 2 Niagara shot glasses and a Buffalo one as well and put them on the floor of the back seat. I couldn’t seem to find them, so I asked my friend; He told me he threw them away, thinking it was the bag of trash in the back. The dumpster was about ten feet away, he went to retrieve them. Funny thing is, the bag of trash was still in the exact same place he had put it earlier yesterday. Who throws away something heavy without looking in it? Thank god he retrieved it; I didn’t have to whoop his ass!
We took bumpy toll road after bumpy toll road, welcome to the North East-where you pay to drive on every damn road, and you have to take one toll road to another, just to get to another! It’s a little bit insane.
Along the way, we stopped at lunch there was a rest-stop with an Arby’s and a Tim Horton’s, which I’ve never heard of. Apparently its some sort of bakery joint. My friend got doughnuts, and I picked up an “all fruit” muffin. I had no idea what the hell, “all fruit” entails, but never the less, it had to be good. There was a gift shop in the rest-stop as well with all sorts of NY gifts. I picked up 2 I <3 NY shot glasses. One for myself, one for Amy, who I’ve told from the get-go of these travels I’d get her a set of shot glasses from every state I stop in. What a good friend I am J they also had another tie-die blanket. When I saw it, I knew I had to get it, despite the previous blog where I talked myself out of this purchase, this time, there wasn’t an option. The other one said “Maid of the Mist” not “Niagara” so that was my reason to avoid it, oh, and it was $35 to boot. They did however have two colors there, blue tie-dye and the traditional tie-die. This place in Rochester, only had one, traditional-it was also $29, so I talked myself into having it. I now am the proud owner of a NY tie-dye blanket! I get back in the car, put the muffin in the door for later and we head out.
We’ve gotta stop for a break and get something to drink a few hours later, leave the kiddos in the car, it’s a quick run in, I grab a sweet tea, and my friend goes to the gift shop and picks up some I <3 NY shirts. We get back to the car, to discover Milo (the little terror) has located the muffin, taken a bite out of the paper and the top of the muffin, which happens to be the best part. He’s also chewed the lid off my root beer cup. I’ve noticed him do this the last month or so with trips, but for some reason I forget to remove the cup from the drink stealer situation. He is smart and sneaky, little shit!
We got into town about 8ish and decided to stay in Worcester, MA which is about 20 minutes outside of Boston where it’s cheaper, and clearly a little less “secure.” The hotel has a one dog per room rule; and you’re not supposed to leave the “one” dog unattended. I stayed in the car while my friend checked us in. This hotel doesn’t have individual entry doors like the last one did, which I prefer, especially with dogs. There is a back entrance we used since the lady didn’t ask about dogs, he didn’t volunteer that information. We park in the back, grab all of our crap, which seems like less when you have to walk five feet to the door versus inside and up an elevator! I grab the munchkins and head in after him; I walk through the entry way, and realize the elevator is right in plain view of the front desk. Not only that, but, the front desk sits a whole hellva lot lower than the platform the elevator is on. The woman looks at me, smiles and tells me how cute my dogs are. I’m trying to get into the elevator with all of my crap over my shoulders and two leashes in my over stuffed hands. It didn’t occur to me until that second, the dogs haven’t ever been in an elevator. They didn’t want to come in, I’m trying to pull them in so they don’t get caught in the door- Success! They got in and did just fine for the one flight we were on the elevator.
Its about 8:30 and time to find out what to do, where to go, and what is good to eat in Boston. We get online find some Pizza joint downtown grab the address, put the dogs in the bathroom with their bed and roll out. Its cold out, about 52 degrees but it feels a lot colder, plus Boston is on the water. We have to get on the MassPike to get to Boston, the GPS isn’t very clear on directions. It’s a Magellion (I prefer my Garmin) it tells you a lot of “slight” rights and “slight” lefts at the last second or sometimes way after the fact. We had to turn around once, which was more like 3 times since it involved so many different highways and what not. Very odd place! We get downtown, get to the spot just to find it closed. We google some more spots to grab some Pizza and end up driving around this odd city. Now the GPS has incorporated “diagonal” rights and lefts! WTF is that? It is confusing that is exactly what it is! The city is hard to get around in, the way the streets are angled, the lack of signs at intersections I don’t find it “tourist-friendly.” It does share some of the same driving skills we’ve seen in NY, within one second-not even kidding, ONE second after a light has changed from red to green if you are not flooring it, the people behind you will honk! I have to giggle when it happens because; it is amazing how inpatient the northerners are! at Boston House of Pizza. The sign says “Voted Best Pizza 07-08” The place was pretty busy, you order at the front and its like cafeteria seating through the rest of the place. We order a pepperoni pizza. Takes about ten mineunts to cook, We grab a seat by the window and just watch the people. It’s a college town, or so it seems. The Berklee College of Music is just up the street, which explains most of the crowd. Pizza is done, we get it, bite into it, and its..meh! I’ve had better sorry to say! It was alright at best but a little disappointing after reading it was “THE BEST” in the city.
Its time for the night life, at least a taste! We headed over to the Fenway area there is a row of bars alongside the park. We park and head into an Irish Bar, Has a big sign that it was voted #2 as the Best Baseball Bar. With Boston being Irish, and myself as well, it was only fitting to order beers. I grabbed a Blue Moon and my friend had White Castle (Hey I didn’t say I felt the need to drink Irish beer, just beer to show the spirit) After a beer, I switched back to my drink of “comfort” Amaretto Sour. The bar is pretty busy, there is of course, Red Sox memorabilia over the walls. Now, being a Yanks fan you’d think I would be there to start a fight; I secretly like both teams, so it was cool to see it all. This is about where I start picking up on the “fashion” of Boston. The trend is skinny jeans, no matter who you are, you wear skinny jeans. Man, woman, gay, straight-all of them in skinny jeans. Most of the chicks are wearing slouch boots, and if you’re not wearing skinny jeans, you are definitely wearing leggings, an over sized sweater, and some trendy hat or scarf. To substitute your slouch boots with your skinny jeans, you’re wearing some sort of open toed three-inch-heel-minimum-shoe. There are of course the few “riskay” chicks in the bars wearing a micro mini with some sort of fabric that looks like it is attempting to make a comeback from the 80’s era, same sort of heels of course. If that doesn’t strike you, then you’re wearing a Boston College or other alma motto screen print tee, your hair is in some sort of a messy possibly dirty pony tail and make up, it’s a hit or miss at that point. What would a night out be without at least one guy in plaid shorts who can’t find a matching tee to go with it to save his life? Oh yes, there was one of those yahoo’s at the bar as well. I am entertained by Boston.
There are 2 chicks that sit next to me at the bar, well, one sits and the other stands inbetween her friend and I. I am watching the highlights of the College Football games & Baseball Scores, same as you would do in anyother sports bar right? The girl who is standing keeps getting closer and closer to me, Mind you, on the diagonal side of the bar, its completely open. She has to know shes that close to me, one would think. I scoot my chair over and continue to converstate with my friend, and catch the ESPN highlights.
A guy comes over, starts talking to these two chicks, who moments earlier were devising a plan to text some guy back, what to say, how to say it..you know the typical chick thing. A Guy strike up a conversation gets their names, brings his friend back over, introduces him to them and backs away. Chick #1 is still consumed by the previous text issue it seems. Chick #2 was given the rundown on the guy she was introduced to prior to him walking over. Chick #2 is the entertaining of the two, here is how
Chick #2: So, you’re going into the Marines?
Guy: Yes I am
Chick #2: What Branch?
Guy: Uh, The Marines
Chick #2: I know, Never mind, I know Military I am from Rhode Island. So, how old are you?
Guy: 24, you?
Chick #2: 22
Guy: You’re a little young
Chick #2: I said 22, that’s not that young. So why are you going into the marines
Guy: Its just something I’ve always wanted to do.
Chick #2: So, like, did you go to college, and get a 4 year degree or?
Guy: No, the ASVAB is hard.
There is some other small talk that happens after this, I stopped listening, mostly because I am still cracking up that she knew he was going into the Marines, then asked what branch, then tries to tell him she knows Military? Wow. Blonde!
While her friend is still consumed by the text saga, some other tool comes over and puts his arm around Chick #1, kisses her, about this time Marine is starting to back off a little bit, and move to the left. I turn back to check the score of another game, and see tool now kissing Chick #2. He seems totally gay, I could be off, but wtf? Marine hangs out for a little while longer, trying to jump into the conversation and eventually leaves. It was very entertaining!
We finish our drinks, close the tab and I picked up two shirts from the bar, and they look cool! $20 each, but hey, I am on vacation. We head back 25 miles to the hotel, able to find our way this time with the GPS oddly enough, pay all the tolls and head up to the room. We get in the dogs are screaming for me, I open the door and its again, like they haven’t seen me in months. I look in the bathroom, which is TINY TINY by the way the last bathroom in NY rocked. Milo has managed to unroll ALL of the toilet paper, and even somehow shredded the cardboard at the end of the roll. I had to laugh! Then I see in the tub again, that Bella has gone potty in there. What a good girl! Two days in a row!!
That wraps up the first night in Boston, sightseeing in the morning, switching hotels since this one sucks, and staying another night in B-town!

The Travel Chronicles of The Road

After a random text and a brief talk...I am off to New York. Just like that! I'm one of those people that all you have to do is say "Hey, do you want to go to...." and more than likely I'm like "Yup..lets do it" Maybe its my new outlook on life..I just want to live it, do it, see it and be able to say, I did all of these things, instead of wanting to do all of these things.
Random Texts came in Sunday night while watching football and we left late on Wednesday-with dogs in tow and whoa, right out of the gate seemed to be issue after issue. The initial plan was to leave at 9am. Which almost never happens as you plan, I hate life sometimes for that, but whatever! I was feeling sick the night before. You know, when it starts to kind of get harder to swallow, and you're like shit..its coming. I poured myself into bed and ohhhh, 4:30am, woke up about 10 texted my friend to see what our departure time was and what not. Well, his a/c went out in his house, which is the WORST freaking feeling in Florida, ever! He was waiting on the a/c guy to come out. I popped in "He's just not that into you" and passed out on my couch for what felt like a life time. The plan was to go to Tampa and get my new Canon 50D camera, but since I was McSicky that didn't happen. The other issue was, I was waiting on a check to clear my bank so I had access to my new bank account. Damn you 7 day bank hold!
So, I get to his house at 4, we head into Tampa in the middle of rush hour so I can get this Bad-Boy camera, I go in, get the camera, get the accessories and dart for the check out, gal rings it up gives me the speech about the extended warranty (which I was already sold on) and I proceed to write a check. I'm excited, I am mentally already taking pictures with this camera in New York, and then she tells me they don't take "starter checks" WTF? Its not like its a BAD account its just NEW and might I add its good! So, I have to leave the store with out this amazing camera, I am sad! I get out to the car, no bags, and forgot the coupon! Hey I am not much of a coupon person, but it was 10% off and that bad-boy camera was costing a pretty penny. So I went back in, got my coupon, looked at the bag of happiness that held my camera and had to leave again, with out it. Walk back to the car and get a new game plan. We'll just get it in Delaware, no sales tax there? Schweeet! Deal!
So, by the time we get some food, gas and get the F out of traffic its about 6pm on Wednesday. We drive from Florida to Georgia, which, felt like forever on 95! Then up to South Carolina and of course North Carolina, which took us till the middle of the night. Which at that point I passed the hell out. The deal was, I would go if I didn't have to drive, since I've driven across country already this summer, I'm driven out! I woke up to the car alarm going off at 5am in a rest stop. Which was like the loudest alarm ever. Apparently we pulled off so my friend could get some z's and when he reached for the key he hit the wrong button, I think we woke everyone at the rest stop up, whoops! I went back to sleep and when I got up again we were in West Virginia, which was all foggy. It felt like 7:30 am. Really, I woke up, and thought, whoa, its foggy, feels like 7:30 am. I asked what time it was, it was 7:30 am, How did my body know that? The trip thus far was okay, I'm getting more sick before I'm getting better so the more I can rest the better off I am. Of course my poor friend has been driving all night.
In WV we stopped for breakfast and to get shot glasses, my new collection includes shot glasses from states I'm driving thru, we stopped at Walmart, cuz they always have tourist stuff, after walking around for some 20 minuets, no-go! A lady as we were leaving pulled us aside to tell us about the store she works in and all of the souvenir stuff they had. She said "It's called Dove-like the bird" and she really flapped her arms so we understood that its a "bird" reference, It was pretty comical!
WV lead us into Pennsylvania which takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get across, its annoying how long it is, I thought Kansas was bad, this is WORSE! As we enter into the Northern-Snow states the quality of the roads goes to shit. Its a rough ride, no matter what kinda car you're driving. At this point we're on to Thursday, which is money day I called it, The day the check finally cleared the bank. So, we've gotta hit up the bank since Chase takes it sweet ass time to send me a damn Debit card. Life would have been TOO easy if it came on Wednesday right? Pfft. Didn't happen! So you'd think there would be a Chase bank in Pittsburgh right? WRONG! The closest one is in Ohio, which is totally out of the way, oh and not to mention, since we decided to go to the Falls first, then NYC Delaware was out of the question, so getting Bad-boy camera would have to be done in Buffalo NY.
We head out to the "detour" so I can have some cash, its about an hour out of the way, whatever, we hit the road, get into Ohio to Chase, I'm expecting some sort of delay with the bank, and thankfully the stars aligned that day, all went smoothly. We passed Sharron, PA and they happened to have a Quaker Steak & Lube Restaurant. Which I happen to love, and they're voted best wings, USA. So it has to be good right? I was already sold, I go to the one in Clearwater back in Florida. So we head into PA to get on track, stop at Sharron, PA and it felt dirty. Run down city, old-which I love old cities, this one was old and poorly maintained, it gave you a grimey, gringy feeling to it. The people didn't change your mind of the town either. We have lunch, take it all in, and hightail it out of that shithole!
From PA, we head into NY and its pretty smooth from there, we get into Buffalo/Niagara about 7pm. Its time to hit up Best buy, at this point we've been traveling for 24 hours, its about 21 hours to get from FL to Upstate-NY so we're doing well. I check online for best buy and who has the camera, and head out to the one in Buffalo, or so I thought. We had already crossed the 2 big bridges and tolls on the Niagara side, the Buffalo store is behind us, so we cross the two bridges, again, and tolls, and back-track about 15 miles. Oops.
I get into the store, its about 7:45 march over to the Digi-Cam sign, tell the 19 year old what I want, he tells me he sold the only one they had about four hours ago. I gasped, and now I'm just tires, sick and cranky. He checks inventory to see who has it, and I'm thinking...Great its going to be in Albany or NYC which is a good 8 hours away. We're scheduled to go to the falls in the morning and I REALLY wanted to shoot with the new camera. Why take the shitty Nikon when I can have crisp amazing pictures from a Canon? Not that my Nikon is a POS, its just not as bad-ass as my "potential" new camera! He checks, there is one about 10 miles away. I get in the car, tell my friend the bad news, oh and to top it off, when he called the store to verify if they have it, and hold it, some biaaatch told him they wont hold it because they're closing in an hour. WTF? There is only ONE..ONE of them and she wont hold it till I can get there? So I have a mini panic-attack. You know when you're set on something and you're under a time line, and its that anxiety of are you going to make it or not? Well add that, plus we needed to get gas, plus I wasn't in control of the car, so everything just felt so slow to me. We get to Best buy about 8:30 and I RUN in there, right to the Digi Cam place and see a guy, I tell him I need to buy a camera. he looks at me and said, hold on let me get someone who works in this department, WHAT? You're just standing here and you don't work in this department, UGH! I am secretly crossing my fingers and HOPING that they have this cam! Guy unlocks the door, and Viola..its there. I get it, get the goods, check out and head back into the car.
Just to hear my friend tell me that Bella got sick and threw up all over my blanket, the dog bed,and the sheet in the back seat. I feel so bad for her. I know its because she hasn't had anything today. Milo ate and drank and Bella didn't want to. We get a hotel that takes pets and wont charge us extra..sweet! I clean up all of the mess and charge the batteries to the Camera and head to bed! It's been a LONG day!

Waiting isn't fun..Watching can be!

Well, Now that I live here, I've converted all three of my vehicles to Florida Tags, got my drivers licence so it was only a matter of time till I actually would NEED to have a Florida bank, While I love both my Bank and my Credit Union, they're both local to Colorado, or atleas the Bank is more a West Coast bank. Although-they are taking over Wachovia-apparently not soon enough.
There is a bank right as you turn in to head to my apartment entrance, Bank of America. I decided that would be the bank of choice, it's close and that was pretty much the reason for my choice, logical I thought. I walk in with a check in my hand, ready to open an account. I go to the "new accounts" sign and ask to open a new account. The lady tells me to sign in, I look at the ledger, and above the blankness that would soon be my name, the name prior had been crossed off, so I am thinking, Wooo! I will be next, how easy. I started my journey purposley at 2pm to avoid the "rush" after all, it is a Wednesday, its not the end of the month, I should be in and out right? WRONG.
The lady then tells me to have a seat, I walk through the entry way just to see about ten people sitting there, I take a seat, attempt to pull out the current book I am reading "My Horizontal Life-A Collection of One Night Stands" By Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Lately) Now, Living in Florida I'm used to the "older people" no big deal, But instead of waiting and reading I get a little irritated. I am bringing MY money and business to this bank, why should I have to wait on them? I know you have to wait, but at 2pm and there are only maybe 2 new account reps working and the rest of the people are standing around doing who knows what? I wait about ten minuets, and decide that Bank of America is not fit for my "needs" and venture on to the next bank! But not before first scratching my name off the list! While I wasn't investing a fortune, I believe that it was important that I received more of a personal approach since I do have a choice of who holds my money.
While I was sitting at a stop light patiently waiting to turn into the chase parking lot I was watching traffic and what else was going on out side, and officer had pulled into the parking lot I was waiting to turn into, he had stopped and talked to a man walking along who looked like he might work for a cell phone carrier. I guessed this by what he was wearing, very "cell phone" like attire. The man was carrying a half of a gallon of what I can only guess was Tea, and here, it would have HAD to be sweet tea, which I thought would be odd to carry around, granted it was hot. But would a gallon of whatever-it-was really stay cold enough to make it to where he was going? I know this isn't the point of the story, but it still crossed my mind.
After watching that mini series unfold, I see a man walking across the street and I kind of studied him, what he was wearing and all..
There are a few things a man can wear that will make me melt on the spot, One of course is a Military uniform, soooo hot. Whoa. The second, however, is a business suit. I love a man in a nice tailored jacket, matching slacks, a bold shirt and tie, and of course coordinating shoes. Now, if worn together can bring me weak in the knees. There is usually only ONE flaw that I come across and it happened JUST as my eyes followed him down the cross walk. WHITE SOCKS! Ugh, White socks? Really? I wondered if he always wore white socks with dress pants? This couldn't be his laundry day! I'm sure he was a white sock guy, which is perfectly fine. UNLESS you are wearing a suit, then you need to conform to the black sock dress guy! This guy had to be single, I know when I dated a "suit" (well "slacks" is better cuz there wasn't an entire outfit worn with it) I know I gave him a rashion of shit about it, I think it looks tacky. I had to assume, that this guy didn't have the "help" in the fashion department, and of course made me realise how much socks can really ruin the "suit" look for me.

I proceeded on to Chase to open an account. Walked in, there is a desk, where someone should greet you and ask you how they can help you right? Well, there is the desk, and no one is there to greet me. I have to go to the teller's line, there are 2 tellers, and both are helping other people. Now, I'm already on edge, aside from white-sock entertainment, I am still a little sour at the Bank of America waiting issue. Teller #1 is helping what I can only describe as Joe Dirt. Seems like a hardworking man, who is a little more hillbilly than the rest of us, and that's fine. But I grew a tad annoyed with him going over "pending" transactions and what he spent at Home Depot and why his Daughter needed this or that, and how he needed to make sure what was in his account before he took another trip to-I stopped listening at this point and just started getting a little annoyed. Now, When you walk into the "teller" line there are 3 desks, and a separate office/area over to the back left for drive up customers. There were already a few tellers back there working the drive thru, now why teller #2 felt the need to run back and forth as she was working the drive thru is beyond me. But every second that goes on, the more impatient I am getting. Finally #2 asks if she can help me. I tell her I need to open a new account. She THEN directs me back to the "ghost desk" to again sign in and the lady that does new accounts will be "Right There" she says. I go to the "ghost desk" a little upset again, no one is there, sign in, and wait. It feels like a good five minuets, which I'm sure isn't horrible, but there is NO ONE in this bank, why do I need to wait? I tell my self a few more moments and I am flying out of this bank and off to whatever is next! The woman comes out, starts talking to me about the checking accounts they offer and the rewards on their debit cards. I'm going to spend my money on a debit card no matter what, I might as well get points and rewards for it. I look into the options. Start opening my account, hand over the check, and while I knew they would put a hold on it, its a 5 business day hold, which holds all but $500 until Thursday the 24th. Which I'm sure is standard, I just wanted them to allow a little more than that. Oh well. On to the perks and the reward cards..

They offer a Travel card. I got excited. Travel? I LOVE to Travel, I seem to do it all the time, so If I can get points for money I already spend, and THEN use it to Travel..life is starting to sound sweet. So they offer either Continental Airlines, or United, I think I've maybe-maaaaybe flown Continental once? If that, so I check into United. Its 1 point for ever $2 you spend. I think, okay, I can work with that. Then I ask how many points you have to earn to cash in for a ticket. For United its 15,000-20,000 points. I do the math, and quickly think that after spending $10,000 THEN I get a ticket to go somewhere? Really? 10k and then I get magic ticket? What is the benefit of that? I can get a ticket to most of the places I go now for $200 and be done with it, 10k vs $200..yea, I opted for NO travel option. I did however take the "upgraded debit card" and get 4 points for every$1 I spend. Which I can get all sorts of other things with, Sounds like a better deal to me. Oh, and I get 2500 points on any card with the first purchase, which would still sucked to have travel "perks" but, I'm happy with the card I have coming to me...that is until my friend told me Bank of America prints Debit cards on the spot and I could have had a card right then and there. Oh well, I'll wait till Friday and then go shopping!