Boston for the Springtime…Part 1
Where to: Boston, MA & Middletown, RI
When: Memorial Day Weekend 2023
Why?: Attending a weekend wedding for Taylor’s cousin
A quick trip to the New England coast over Memorial Day weekend. This was our first flight together for all four of us…and we were anxious. TSA-Pre was a breeze in Raleigh (RDU). If you have kids under 18, it’s well worth looking into, and most travel rewards cards will issue you a statement credit to cover the cost of TSA-Pre check or the global customs equivalent. The kids understood, for the most part, what we needed from them to get through security quickly.
The flight to Boston was smooth, thanks in large part to the in-seat entertainment provided by Delta. Both kids devoured their snacks, which were supposed to last all weekend, about the time we were passing Long Island. Arrival in Boston was uneventful, which is a great thing when flying with toddlers. Getting to the rental car, on the other hand, was a bit of a headache simply due to the fact of the volume of people all trying to get to the same location via a very limited bus system. Picking up the car, not a big problem (once Enterprise found the car I reserved). Then it turns south. We rented two car seats from the rental car company. Yes, I did read the stories about these seats being flimsy & difficult to install. The actual experience was worse than advertised. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not knocking the car rental company because they don’t make these seats, and I get the liability + cost with maintaining an inventory of higher-end seats. It took over 45 minutes to get two car seats installed in the second row of our rental BMW X7. I requested this specific car in Boston because it’s what I drive at home, and I’m already very familiar with installing car seats in the second row of this full-size SUV. Oh, was I way underestimating the difficulty before me. The tethers securing these seats to their respective anchors simply would not tighten. For over 45 minutes I tightened and pulled and buckled and re-buckled and re-tightened and re-tightened, until finally there was no way to fasten these seats any better. My advice - if you don’t want to travel with your own car seat (and there are plenty of horror stories of expensive seats being damaged or disappearing), then see if there’s a third party company that will deliver a more stable seat to the rental car agency.
Well, once that debacle was wrapped up, we were on our way to….traffic. In all honesty, it wasn’t as bad as I expected for the Friday before Memorial Day. Finally, we made it to our AirBnB. The setup was very interesting - on the property there were three separate structures: the original house at the front, a converted barn-style garage, and a smaller studio apartment behid the converted garage. We dropped our bags and headed to dinner at the Atlantic Grille, a wonderful selection by my in-laws. Maybe it was the all-day travel, maybe it was only grazing on Goldfish, but this dinner was fantastic. The staff were great & patient with our kids as they both wanted to order their own meals. After wrapping dinner, we headed back to get the little ones down for the night and a chance for the two of us to relax.
Saturday was the rehearsal, and with Taylor in the wedding, meant she would step away for a little while. This was supposed to be practice for Sunday, the day of the wedding, when Taylor would be gone all day for make-up & photos. Saturday was honestly a breeze. We got breakfast, again at the Atlantic Grille, which has a fabulous breakfast menu. Then, after Taylor returned from the rehearsal, we were off to find a beach for the kids. Well little did I know that, in Middletown, the beaches are mainly for the locals. Non-residents were charged roughly $40 to park and access a beach that was basically a rock outcropping against the Atlantic ocean. Turning quickly to Google, we found Sachuset Point Wildlife Refuge where parking is free and the walking trail would exhaust the kids ahead of nap time. The promise of a couple hours at a beach fell way short of expectations as we walked a gravel path to more…you guessed it…rock outcroppings at the Atlantic ocean. You have to understanding, we are accustomed to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida beaches. Sand everywhere and normally not a ton of rocks. The exact opposite is what we found. So, a little tantrum was had and we made it back to the car once we discovered there was in fact no beach. After naptime it was up and off to the rehearsal dinner - a traditional lobster bake served family style. Phenomenal food and an outstanding atmosphere awaited us. The highlight of the night, however, was our son befriending a “monster” which was nothing more than an empty lobster head, and singing, “Let it Go,” with a cracked lobster claw. The kid pulled this out of the discard bucket, started opening & closing the claw, and belting out his best rendition from Frozen (which, thanks to his sister, he had seen dozens of times). A little bit of dancing for the kids followed dinner, and then we shuffled them home for bed. We’ll leave you here with this wonderful entertainment of our son & the lobster claw performing their audition for whatever Disney movie this may become…
Traditional New England lobster bake with entertainment…
