Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
Day 1
Today we set off on another college tour adventure. This time to Boston! There certainly are a lot of colleges in this town. We will be packing in 2 colleges on 2 days (so 4 total) in Boston (Northeastern, Tufts, Boston University, and MIT). Then we will do a day trip down to Yale.
Will’s college admissions consultant we hired has categorized the various schools he’s checking out as Reach, Target and Safety schools. Yale is definitely a reach, but his grandfather and great-grandfather are Yale Alums (both named William Rands), so you never know how they will take seeing an application from another William Rands 
Today started out pretty relaxed. Our flight wasn’t until 11:30am, so not a butt crack of dawn wake up time. However, Will took his shower and fell back asleep 
The dog losing her shit at the driver arriving is what woke him up 
And because we had a reasonable flight time, that meant there were loooooong lines at security. We have TSA pre, but still took a good 30min to get through.
Spent a little time in SkyClub since Will didn’t get any breakfast, so he could get some grub. Then it was off to board our plane! Thelma is my luggage companion this trip and it looked like she made the flight!
Fortunately we had a direct flight (have a layover next week going home 
), and it seemed to be a new plane. Pretty nice. Flight was uneventful and Thelma made it across the country with us! But that is when things became not so fun.
We got our rental and then had to deal with Saturday night Boston traffic. We stayed at the Doubletree downtown and I was regretting it once we pulled up. There was no place to pull up to checkin and there was no parking lot. Only a valet lot (which I would’ve gladly paid for) but it was full and not taking anymore vehicles 
They said to drive over one block and park in a parking garage. But it took a freaking half our because it was next to the theater where John Mellancamp was playing. To say it was a madhouse is an understatement. But after a couple of hours after leaving the airport (which is like a 15 min drive normally) we were in our room. Note-Bill is usually our driver on vacay, so me doing all the driving was NOT my idea of fun 
Will just wanted to go to bed, so I ventured out to get some dinner. I did end up getting to-go food and brought him back some grub too. Then we just passed out.
And since I did all the driving, these are the only photos from the day 
Day 2
Today was a “free” day in Boston, so the only preordained adventure was a duck boat tour where we drove around the city in an amphibian transport and then went for a ride in the Charles River in it. So glad Ben, whom I’ve known since I was 16, drove up from Providence, RI for the day.
While our tour guide did tell us a lot of interesting facts, I fear I may not have captured them all. We did drive by the building where the original reading of the Declaration of Independence took place. And it has since been read from the second story balcony every 4th of July since then.
We also saw many churches in the city. But I can’t tell you the significance of all of them. Loved seeing all the Gay Pride flags hanging at the churches though!! One is the church where the skater Nancy Kerrigan got married. We saw the building that was the first Ritz to open in the US. Also a quick drive by of the Cheers Building 
There was a statue erected on the corner where Edgar Allen Poe was born (I hope there was a home on that corner back in the day 
).
After driving through the city learning all the things, we splashed into the water. All the kiddos on the tour (along with a few adults and a dog) got to “drive” the boat and get photo ops doing it. None of us did it. So I’m sorry there are no photos. We also saw a group of EF sailboats. That is the tour company we had our Italy trip with last year.
Then it was back on dry land and back to where we were picked up. We did learn on our tour that we could catch a ferry from the New England Aquarium (our drop off point for the duck boat tour) to the Navy Yard and see the USS Constitution. So we decided we would take a boat to see the boats. But first we needed to grab some lunch. We went to the Bostonia Public House. Yummy grub 
Then we caught our boat to the boats. There were two ships we saw, the USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young. The Constitution is a 1797 ship that has existed across 4 centuries (but not 400 years old 
). And she still floats in the water!
Then we headed back to the hotel for Will to get some work done. And while laying in bed, my stomach really started cramping up. So bad I couldn’t go anywhere for dinner. We both just crashed out.
Day 3
Today we have 2 college tours: Northeastern and MIT. Fortunately I woke up without the painful stomach cramps of last night. Hopefully they are done with me for good. I suppose I should maybe try to eat a little better We headed downstairs for some breakfast, then back up to our room for showers.
First tour of the day was Northeastern. Will really liked this school. He said it’s #1 (for now) on his list. He really liked their co-op work program, as did I. It sounds like a great way to incorporate working into the college track.
We decided the best option for today was to leave the rental in the parking garage and take Lyft rides where we needed to go. So after the Northeastern tour, we caught a ride over the Charles River to the MIT campus. We were a bit early, so decided to have an “appetizer” lunch. Nothing too heavy, but just enough to tide us over until dinner.
There was definitely a couple of really cool MIT buildings, but it overall did seem a bit more run down than I guess I expected it to be. Maybe because we hear about all the modern advancements that come out of this school, I expected a little more pizzazz from its campus Not dogging on anyone that went there, as you are certainly amazballz if you got in that school. I’m just saying I may have created a larger pedestal for it in my head than it actually sat on.
Then we decided to head back to the hotel for naps. Or rather Will napped and I watched downloaded Netflix shows
My gym rat of a son headed out to pump some iron while I watched more Netflix. Then I got to chat with Bill while he was walking the aisles of Home Depot getting a new toilet for Charlie’s bathroom. Once Will was done at the gym, I headed out to meet him at Maria’s Tanqueria. And oh my! My birria burrito was delish!!!
After a pit stop at CVS, it was a quick walk back to the hotel so Will could update his college spreadsheet and then we crashed.
Day 4
Today was a mini road trip day. Our home base is in Boston, but we worked in a drive down to New Haven, Connecticut to tour Yale. Both Will’s grandfather and great grandfather are Yale Alum. So after a hotel breakfast, we were off to hit the road.
Once again I found myself behind the wheel, which I definitely prefer being a passenger as opposed to the driver. And Will is only 17, so I couldn’t add him to the rental to be my chauffeur.
After about 2.5 hrs on the road, we made it to New Haven! And the siren song of Yale was loud and clear. I had never been to this campus, but I fell under the spell for sure. The buildings were like walking among the Hogwarts campus. Beautiful buildings. Beautiful campus. I can see why my father in law loved it so much. What an honor it is for all the students that get to call Yale their school.
As folks were coming in for the tour, Will started panicking as there were no other young folks. Come to find out he had registered for a visitor tour, not an academic tour Fortunately, our guide did both and as we started the actual tour it was about half filled with prospective students. So that made us feel a little better. And our guide graciously spent a little extra time at the end (with us and another family) going over a few points that she covers in the admissions tour.
After our tour it was back into the car to drive up to Providence, RI to have dinner with Ben, Amy and Anne. It was so good catching up with them. And I’m disappointed in myself as I didn’t take one picture!! I’ll just say I was staying present in the moment and not using my phone. 
That’s not true, I did get Ben’s lights on his Jeep. I called them his mid-life crisis lights!
Then it was back on the road for Will and I as we headed back to the hotel to crash.
Day 5
Another tour packed day today! Today we had Boston University and Tufts on the agenda. With our early 9:30am BU tour, we decided to shower first, then head out to the campus and find breakfast near there. We snagged smoothies before heading over for the tour.
The day definitely started out cooler (maybe because it was an earlier start), but by the end of the tour, the heat was on the rise and I was getting sweaty 
Regardless of the weather, I did like the BU vibe. It’s not a reach school for Will, so an easier contender than the other ones he is looking at. It’s definitely more of a city culture as it’s in Boston proper. While our guide wasn’t the best, we got enough info to know what Will would be getting there.
Before catching a Lyft to our next tour at Tufts, I wanted to skirt over to Fenway and snap a couple of picks. Not that I’m a Red Sox fan or anything, but it’s definitely an iconic ball field.
Since we were about an hour and a half early for the next tour once we got out to Tufts (and it was lunch time), we stopped at Nick’s Pizza for some lunch. And hot damn I had one of the tastiest pizzas!! 
It was a crispy bbq chicken ranch pizza. I slightly died and went to heaven. I told Will if he ended up going to Tufts, that I found my fav place to eat when I visit
This by far was the largest group of people registered for a tour of any of the colleges we’ve visited so far. Easily over 100 people. But we did break out into smaller groups for the walking tour after the general auditorium info session. They had each of the guides say something about themselves and then we could pick which one to go with. Our guide said he was from Colorado, so we picked him. He ended up being from Boulder and 2 other CO families joined our group too haha! He did a really good job and even though the heat was brutal, we did enjoy the campus.
We took what we thought was going to be about a 20-25min Lyft ride back to the hotel. It took an hour 
Which gave us like 5 min at the hotel to refresh from the two sweat inducing tours to meet up with Uncle Ken. By time we were ready to leave, it was going to be faster to walk than get another Lyft. And our timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We got to the Oyster House just as Ken was getting in from parking his car.
This evening we had dinner plans with my Father in law’s best friend, Ken. We started at the iconic Union Oyster House. The longest operational restaurant in the country (at least I think that’s its claim to fame). This was a spot my father in law always went with Ken when he came to town. Followed by another of his favs Il Panino for some Italian dinner. I’m so grateful we got to experience this with Ken and his lady friend. Will loves hearing stories from back in the day. And with both of my husband’s parents gone, we cherish the times with their friends that knew them for what seems like all their lives.
Then Ken graciously offered us a ride back to the hotel. Where I watched very little Netflix before passing out.
Day 6
What a difference sleeping in makes!!! Today is our last full day in Boston, so we didn’t set an alarm. Although I was flopping around for a while, I didn’t actually get up until about 10am. Sadly our ac wasn’t working through the night so it wasn’t the BEST sleep. Ironically it started working once we got up for showers. Go figure
We finally got out of the hotel about noon. Today we planned to walk the Freedom Trail. But before that, we walked to a sandwich place that was nearby for a quick lunch. Then we were off to Boston Commons to start the trail. With a quick pit stop at The Embrace. A sculpture memorializing an embrace of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King.
The Freedom Trail is 2.5 miles long with several historical sites along the way. We also had a few learning curves on which direction to go when it appeared there was a fork in the path, but eventually learned the way.
The first stop was the State House. But we didn’t go inside that one. Then we wound around to Granary Burial Ground where Benjamin Franklin’s parents, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and many others are buried. This cemetery was from the 1600s. That’s pretty darn old for our “young” country!
Next up was the King’s Chapel. A church without a steeple. We also checked out its really old cemetery. Although it also apparently had tombs below the chapel which we did not tour.
We then went in the Old South Meeting House, which was really another church. I guess I didn’t read enough of the stuff to know why it wasn’t just given a church name. The ticket for that was a twofer and also got us in the Old State House (which is the same building I shared about the other day where the Declaration of Independence was and is read every year on the 4th of July).
The trail took us through Quincy Market and eventually to Paul Revere’s home. I snapped a couple of photos before I was told no photos were allowed. Oopsie! But there were no signs anywhere stating pictures weren’t allowed!!
The trail continued on to the Old North Church. We didn’t tour this one, but kept walking the trail instead. Quick little stop at Coop’s Hill Burial Ground before the hot walk across the bridge to Charlestown.
Because we did the USS Constitution the other day, we opted to bypass that stop on the trail and head up to the Monument where the trail ends. So after the 2.5 mile walk, we decided to go to the top of the monument (which looks like a smaller version of the Washington Monument in DC). It’s 294 steps to get to the top. Yes I did it, but dang my legs were jello by time I came back down! I’m certainly getting old
I decided to get a Lyft back to the hotel. Will decided to not only walk back…but to make a pit stop at the gym for an hour and a half and get a workout in OMG I’m old. I’m exhausted just typing about it after the fact while sitting in our air conditioned hotel room 
And for all the pictures I took of the walk, Will took like 3. And one was of a Ferrari parked on the side of the road
Once he returned we chilled a little longer in the hotel before walking a couple of blocks to Rock Bottom Brewery for dinner. Yeah, I know….a CO brewery while in Boston. We were just too tired to make many decisions haha! Then back to the hotel to do some preliminary packing (since we leave tomorrow) before lights out.
Day 7
Well, today we must bid farewell to Boston. We certainly had sweaty fun checking her out! Will has definitely added to his decision making process for choosing a college. And we are just getting started I think he will have toured 18 colleges by time he starts submitting applications. I know it’s way too many, but he also justified it as saying it’s how he could see the country
Thelma did her part and stayed with us the whole time. And although there were storms in Denver (which caused a slight delay), it was surprisingly NOT bumpy coming in. Go figure!
Until next time….
Dianna