Boston

There weren’t many choices for camping near Boston and we were pleasantly surprised at the size and privacy of the sites at Boston Minuteman Campground.

We are here to take Noah to an open house at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The staff at Minuteman were accustomed to people heading into Boston. They provided us with a map to the nearest subway stop with parking spots big enough for the van. The station is Riverside, for the info of any other owners of vehicles that take up more than one standard parking spot.

From the Green Line Subway we emerged into Boston Public Gardens where the Swan Boats are still peddle powered. Those boat operators must be in good shape by the end of the summer! You may remember the gardens as the setting of “Make Way for Ducklings” the children’s book by Robert McCloskey. After walking around there and Boston Common, we ducked back into the subway so we could cross the river to Cambridge for our information session and tour of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We had a little time before the session started, so Noah looked up ice cream shops on his phone. Toscanini’s came up a few blocks away and the ice cream was delicious! Reviewers said it was where Ben and Jerry would go for ice cream when they were in town. Cambridge is very progressive with park benches that have solar phone chargers and trash cans are topped with solar powered compactors.

The information session was the best we’ve sat through stressing that they were looking for students to make the world a better place through the school motto of “Mens et Manus” which translates to “Mind and Hand.” The enthusiastic speaker had been the leader of the MIT a cappella group, “The Logarithms.” Our student tour guide did a great job sharing his experiences, and fun facts about the MIT experience. My favorite was that if you took sailing, fencing, riflery then you could get a “pirate certification” in physical education. The dorms had a great view of the Charles River and each has a unique theme. All of them have professors that live with the students. Our tour guide was lamenting that his resident professor was leaving to be the assistant director of NASA. Tours were cut short by a hail storm that drove us down into the tunnels connecting the buildings. The upside was seeing the metallurgy and glass blowing studios due to the diversion. Noah said it was like a big version of his high school. It would be a wonderful opportunity if he could study there, but admission is extremely competitive.

Jon & Mel Allen, long-time friends from back in Plattsburgh days, live nearby and met us under the main dome. We visited the architecture library while waiting for the storm to end, then walked past lots of restaurants without power to the “Miracle of Science Bar & Grill” which we were happy to see still had their lights on. The menu was written like the periodic table of elements so made ordering unique. After dinner they took us to their favorite ice cream shop for dessert, you guessed it, Toscanini’s! We walked off some of the ice cream enjoying the sights along Massachusetts Avenue eventually reaching Harvard. Mel, being a librarian, pointed out the library (right) and then showed us Harvard Yard and some of the older buildings like Harvard Hall (below).

Pretty much worn out from driving and walking we called it an evening and headed back to the Riverside subway station, stopping to take a photo of Noah for his science teacher at Riverside High School. It was dark by the time we got to the campsite, but Beth helped me back-in without incident.