Only

Well, if taking a trip is the only motivation for me to blog, then so be it.  I can promise to do better, but we know what that really means.  

Duke: In preparation for my boards (June 2 at 7 a.m. in Louisville, Kentucky), I went with the other members of my residency class to a board review course in N.C.  It was an all-day (11 hr) gig for 7 straight days.  Pretty hard core.  It was good.  I learned a lot and became more comfortable with a lot of the material.  Enjoyed hanging out with my group, too.  We went to some restaurants, ate a little and drank a lot.  I also got to spend time with an old high school buddy, Samantha, who is an attorney in Raleigh now.  That was really fun and much-needed; we have spent about 5 minutes together in the last 9 years.

Boston: I flew straight from Raleigh/Durham to Boston last Friday.  I rented an apartment for the week, which was a combined family vacation and radiology meeting.  I ran my bags to the apartment on the T, which was insane on the green line in preparation for a Red Sox/Yankees game, but I made it back to the airport just in time to greet Erica and my boy.  We were all pretty much ecstatic to see each other.  No, really.  7 days was way too long.  So after all that studying, the vacation was going to be awesome no matter what.  

Friday: walked to eat burritos, grabbed some staples, crashed out.

Saturday: lots of walking, Copley Square (where the marathon finish barricades were still up), public gardens, swan boats, ducklings, playground at boston commons, lunch with Ralph and Katy (living here for fellowship), nap!, best Red Sox game ever.  Thanks to stubhub.com for charging me a kabillion dollars for average seats.  It was the best time I've ever had at a sporting event, bar none.

Sunday: New England Aquarium, Quincy, walk to Fan Pier (where there is a big regatta event), walk aimlessly in attempt to find the Tea Party Ship (which, it turns out, is nonexistent now; renovations underway), calm down screaming child who wanted to see the TPS so badly, return to apartment via T, Upper Crust pizza for dinner.

Monday: Prudential Tower skywalk, walk through commons and along Freedom Trail to Quincy (where Ross spilled his pasta all over the floor), Children's Museum (where I climbed to the top of the maze with my 2-yr-old), nap, Cheesecake Factory (where our waitress' name was Meg; "She is my new friend").

Tuesday: Leah to her course for the morning, Erica and Ross to public library and return to public garden, reunite, lunch on Charles Street, walk all the way to Old Ironsides (another request from the boy, who is well-read about Boston and wanted to see each of the sites in his favorite book), cab home, cook dinner.

Wednesday: exit day for E and Ross, Leah to full-time meeting.  I found a local bar and immersed myself in the Red Sox and Summer Wheat.  Then I went to another place just because it was called Daisy Buchanan's, which also turned out to be a good local dive.

Thursday: another day of ARRS meeting, with 7a-4p imaging review course.  Oh, I found a coffee place that gives away free small coffee because they just opened a week ago.  What a deal.  My course is just another good way to study for boards.  I skipped some of the mammo lectures because, honestly, I never plan on reading a mammogram and I can actually say that because I'm going into pediatric radiology.  Never say never.  Dinner was best minestrone ever at Ciao Bella, which is a great place (stocked with Hendricks gin by the way).  Spent some time at Apple's biggest retail store.

Remember:  Record highs on a few of the days here; sunburns; up to 90 on Sunday and Tuesday.  Ross in his BOB stroller, which was like a second home and (thankfully) second bed. Lots of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  The "green house," our Commonwealth Avenue apartment in Back Bay, so named because of a green awning out front.  Loudest window unit air conditioner on the planet.  Laundry in the scary basement. Red Sox mania.  Long freaking walks because we didn't have a great map; I am a good tour guide, but maybe not that interested in details.  City walking by myself (it's what I do).  Erica thinking the Prudential observation was free and telling the worker , who had no response but to disagree politely.