Tour de Boston

After the Finger Lakes, we wanted to visit Boston next, and then Rhode Island and Connecticut after that – filling in three more states in our map!  Tom searched campgrounds (not many to choose from close to Boston),and finally settled on one on the south side of the city, about 35 miles out.  It was about 350 miles from our campsite in the Finger Lakes, which we would normally split into a 2-day drive, but we really wanted to be able to take advantage of the full weekend in Boston, which would mean making the entire drive in one day.  Our original thought was to take US-20 across New York and Massachusetts, which would be even further, and slower.  Taking the New York Thruway and Mass Turnpike, though, would keep us at 350 miles and make for an easier drive . . . probably doable in a day.

Since we’re going to be driving through several New England states and spending some extended time in Virginia, we figured it was time to pick up an EZ-pass, anyway, so while we were in New York we ordered the necessary tags for the Jeep and motorhome and got our account set up.

We were hooked up and on the road shortly after 8:30 and, as expected, taking the toll roads made for an easy drive.

We sailed into Massachusetts,

and added another state to our map!

Even with a fuel/lunch stop at a Service Plaza in MA, we were all settled into our site at Canoe River Campground by 3pm.

Next, we had to decide on the best way to explore Boston.  Most blogs we read recommended taking the train into town, but Tom was hesitant to leave the Jeep behind.  He felt that we’d be able to find a place to park.  I wasn’t so sure, and wasn’t crazy about the thought of parking the Jeep at one end of town, walking several miles, and then having to walk back to where the Jeep was parked.

We had good luck last spring exploring Savannah on bikes, so we started researching to see if Boston was bike friendly, and found out that it was.  In fact, there are even several published bike tours of Boston.

We ended up picking the Tour de Boston, which was 12-1/2 miles, mostly on bike paths rather than roads, and hit several of the highlights of the Freedom Trail.

We set out after breakfast, and made our way into the city.  Finding a parking space did prove to be challenging . . . but after some hair-raising navigation and a couple phone calls, we located a small lot in Cambridge for $18 for the day.  We got the bikes off the Jeep and picked up the trail at the Charles River.

The path along the river was really nice, with great views of the city and the river.

We stopped along the river for a snack break, and when we reached downtown Boston we deviated slightly from the tour route to explore a few extra sites.

We rode through Boston Commons, where we saw the Cheers façade from the tv show, and the Massachusetts State House.

From there, we wanted to go to Faneuil Hall . . . and we had a heck of a time locating it!  Tom kept saying, “It’s a big, open marketplace – it shouldn’t be that hard to find!” , but we just kept running into buildings.  And you can’t ask anybody for directions in Boston – everybody is a visitor!

We rode by the Old State House . . . more than once!

We finally found somebody who lived there . . . and he pointed us in the right direction!

We walked through some of the shops and booths, and the food court,

and watched a couple of street performers out on the square.  This was a pretty good drummer,

and this guy was really entertaining.

Jumping rope on a pogo stick,

and then juggling on the extra tall unicycle.

It was a pretty good show, he was talented and funny . . . and surprisingly, he didn’t even get hurt when the chain on his unicycle broke at the end of his performance and he fell to the ground!

Definitely not part of the show, but he handled it well!

When we had seen all we wanted to see there, we made our way back to the tour route which took us past Paul Revere’s house.

and the Old North Church.

Honestly, Paul Revere’s ride didn’t seem all that long!

The north end of town is pretty interesting, although we apparently missed out on a great italian pastry shop!

We were treated to a performance by Boston Opera Man, though . . . he was pretty good!

It was getting late then, so we needed to make some progress on the trail.  We were off the streets and back on the bike trail as we made our way around the locks and under several bridges and the freeway,

and past the marina on the Cambridge side of the Charles River.

Luckily, the bike path was pretty much all flat, so we were able to make good progress . . .even though I kept being tempted by the view!

I had to stop a few times to get pictures of the Boston skyline,

and a couple of college rowing teams.

This pair of swans was a bonus!

So, how did we feel about touring Boston on bikes?  Overall, it was a pretty good way to go!  The ride along the Charles River was very scenic and not too crowded, and many of the bike lanes on the streets were pretty easy to navigate (especially when there was a dedicated bike lane – that was great!).  The most difficult area was around Boston Commons, where there were a LOT of people and not many clearly marked bike lanes – I found the pedestrians harder to navigate around than the vehicles!

The traffic on the way out of town was even worse than the traffic into town, but we eventually made it back to the campground – and all in one piece!!

We were tired, but it was a good day!