Boston, Salem, Maine, New Jersey

Amanda: OOhhhhhhhhhh Boston. Where past is present. Boston is one of my favorite cities, with it's old historical buildings and roads mixed effortlessly into the giant, shiny new buildings of today. But really, it's like they said "Lets keep the original city hall, a couple of court houses, and that cobblestone road over there, but lets add a couple of free-ways, starbucks stores and a statue of Paul Revere." It's pretty cool.
Betsy: Ohhhh Boston. Where the roads have no apparent lane divisions and the intersections involve confusing diagonals. Boston is not one of my favorite cities, but I was excited to go because it meant seeing my brother and sister even though it's not Christmas. We had a Uhler sibling reunion which meant good times and of course, some drinking.

Amanda: We did a little bit of sight-seeing, mostly window shopping and of course, some eating.
Betsy: We went to a club called the Middle East and saw a band called What Made Milwaukee Famous. We made friends with their merch guys, and then they charged Amanda $5 for a free poster. Thanks a lot, guys! Great to meet you!


We did a lot of walking in Boston, but even more spotting of random things on the streets, including: giant slugs, a rabid squirrel, the remains of a stolen bike, and a pogo stick (yes, we pogo-ed).


Amanda: We had a day off while Betsy's sister Lauren worked and her brother Rod had class all day. So we decided that Salem would be an educational place to visit. Until it rained. Of course. What would our trip be without torrential downpours? Is anyone seeing a trend here? Salem is very much an outdoor city. Walking tours proved to be out of the equation due to the weather, so instead we grabbed a slice of pizza, sat down to watch a 27 minute long educational movie about early settlers in Essex County. The best part was the subtitles for the hearing impaired that did everything BUT match the actual dialog on the screen. At least we had a good laugh before we walked around a creepy old cemetery.
Off to Maine.
We drove to Portland (our second Portland ever) which only took about two hours. Portland is this adorable little fishing town with all kinds of shops and pubs and all the lobster you could dream of. Naturally, being the dare devils we are, we sat down to a cold, locally brewed, pumpkin beer and a big old plate of lobster. I've had lobster before, but not when I've had to pull the poor animal apart and Betsy's NEVER had it. There was alot of cringing going on over this poor lil guy. We ate him anyway.

Betsy: Sorry, Bobster!
On our way back from Boston, we decided to stop and see our friend Pelak. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I hate New Jersey because it is a gigantic pile of garbage. There are very few things that would get me to drive into New Jersey. Those things include: Warped Tour circa 2002-2004, New Years 2003, and Pelak.


And now we're off on a 24-hour drive to Florida to fight some hurricanes. Wish us luck!