Any Boston Area BNers Out There?

by bru79 on Jul 22, 2009 10:52 AM PDT

My family and I will be visiting the North Shore (staying in Danvers) the last week of August. Any advice for places to eat, things to do? Any fellow Bruins interested in meeting up?

We have been considering a move to the area since a trip we took in 2007. I have a lot of roots in the area and was amazed to see how many of the old homes of the area are still occupied.

Also, how is the drive up to New Hampshire or Maine from there?

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Boston

Hi bru79,

I used to live in the Boston/Cambridge area and loved it. If you are going to stay in the North Shore area and head northward from there, you might enjoy driving along Route 1A (which is east of I-95 and Route 1) around Lynn, Swampscott, and Marblehead. You will see great old homes and rocky coasts. Farther northeast in Gloucester, the Hammond Castle Museum is a fun place to explore — it’s a stone castle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The roads into Maine and New Hampshire are surrounded by miles and miles of rolling hills and thick forests of trees. If you have the time, visit Lake Winnipesaukee. You might be able to rent a boat or kayak.

If you go into Boston, you can stroll along the Charles River, catch a free concert or movie at the Esplanade along the river (also known as the Hatch Shell), rent a kayak and row along the river, visit Harvard and MIT, walk by the Revolutionary War sites along the Freedom Trail heading east from Park Street, and check out Fenway Park.

I’m not an expert on the restaurants, but Allston-Brighton has lots of tasty Vietnamese and Brazilian places, North End has plenty of Italian restaurants, and Harvard Square has a mixture of Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, and other cuisines. (My favorite Thai place is King of Siam on the Boston side near the Charles/MGH stop.)

The UCLA Club of Boston may have a beach gathering or other outing. (We launched the best UCLA alumni club logo when I was there!)

Enjoy the trip!

by bryanucla on Jul 22, 2009 6:16 PM PDT reply actions

Good stuff

I would definitely recommend the drive up to Maine via NH. Portsmouth by the water (in NH) is beautiful town.

If you go up to Maine … obviously drop by Portland which is beautiful town with cool restaurants, coffeeshops, and bars (Grittys). And there is the lobster thing. It’s cheaper than getting a stake up in Maine.

As far as Boston is concerned for restaurants make sure you guys walk around Newbury St. My apologies for blanking out but there was an awesome tapas restaurant in that place.

If you like desserts make sure you go to Mike’s Pastry after a classic Italian meal in North End.

You guys should definitely make some time to have lunch at Faneuil Hall. If you are into nighlight and pubs, you can always do the pubcrawl near Copley Square on Boylston St (which runs parallel to Newbury St). You can start at Cactus Cantina and work your way up to Rattle Snake.

On the Cambridge side Bows and Arrows is a great place to grab a brew.

Obviously if the Red Sox are in town see if you can get tickets to Fenway (simply an amazing experience and I don’t even care much for the Sox or their fans). So many places to hang out around the park (including Mama Kins).

I can go on and on and on about Boston. Of course nothing will ever match my 4-5 years in Westwood. But I will always have a soft spot for the Hub and New England even though I despise their sports teams. Then again they hated Pete Carroll. So that makes up for it.

Have fun!

by Nestor on Jul 22, 2009 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions

HAHA

That is an epic picture. The lobster looks like a Simpsons character too.

by Tydides on Jul 22, 2009 8:18 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks, N & Bryan

Good advice all around. We’re going to look at some houses up in Essex Co., so I’m not sure how much time we’ll spend in Boston itself. In ‘07 we did get to Faneuil Hall and Square. My daughter, then 3, even got to participate in some street performers’ act there.

Can a quick visit to southern Maine (maybe as far as Portsmouth/York/Cape Neddick) be done as a day trip up I-95 from Danvers, or should we expect to stay overnight?

by bru79 on Jul 23, 2009 10:41 AM PDT reply actions

I would highly recommend

Staying over night for that Southern ME trip.

by Nestor on Jul 23, 2009 5:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks again

My 5-yr-old asked if they speak English there, so I tried to explain the accent. She spent the rest of the morning going “Ah pahked the cah at Hahvahd Yahd.”

Gonna drive her teacher nuts today.

by bru79 on Jul 24, 2009 9:20 AM PDT reply actions

Hey Bru79!

Don’t forget to share some pictures with the rest of us, so we can feel like we took the trip with you.

Hey BryanUCLA: That’s a great shirt! Any possibility there are shirts out there with that logo on it?

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Jul 24, 2009 10:57 AM PDT reply actions

UCLA Club of Boston

All, I’d thought that I’d jump in here as a board member of the UCLA Club of Boston.

Bru79, the club is planning a couple of events when you are in the area. Check out calendar on the link that bryanucla posted (many thanks!!!) We’ll probably have the website updated in the next week or so.

Mexibruin—We’ve been trying to create t-shirts with the logo, but the quotes we get are really high since the design has so many colors. Does anyone know a good graphic designer that could help us amend the design?

PS I’ve been a BN reader for quite some time, but this is the first real comment I’ve made. Hope it helps!

by jatkatbruin45 on Jul 25, 2009 5:16 AM PDT reply actions

Thanks jatkat

When I tried the events calendar, it showed the main alum assoc calendar. Saw the photo scrapbooks for the Boston club, but how do I get to their calendar?

by bru79 on Jul 27, 2009 12:37 PM PDT reply actions