Boston Birthday

We hit the road on Friday and got out of the city fairly quickly. We had a bit of a setback in Connecticut, where we ran into some traffic, decided to take a different road to avoid said traffic, and hit even worse traffic, but once we made it to the right road, it was smooth sailing all the way to Boston.  We got to our hotel around 8PM and stayed in for the night because we were tired after the car ride and Munchkin was almost ready for bed.

We stayed at the Hayatt Place, which was a bit outside the city, and I highly recommend it.  When we got to our room, we found that our TV didn’t work, so they switched our room and gave us a free dinner for our troubles.  I got some yummy French Toast, which I shared with Munchkin who is a big fan of the stuff.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday to head over to the Samuel Adams Brewery to go on the Brewery tour.

I never knew that Sam Adams makes so many different varieties of beer.  They even make the most alcoholic beer in the world called Utopia which was over 27%. We got a walk through of the factory and got to try the different kinds of barley they use to make the different kinds of beer.

The factory in Boston is not where they make the majority of their beer, but it is where they make all of their specialty beers.  After the tour, it was tasting time!

We got to try three kinds of beer, Boston Lager, Oktoberfest and one of their specialty beers, which was a White Ale. After the tour, we took a trolley over to one of Boston’s oldest bars that serves a ton of different Sam Adams beers on tap. Doyle’s was also one of the first places that started serving Sam Adams beer, when they were just a little brewery starting out.

We had some lunch at Doyle’s along with our Sam Adams beers.  We both had clam chowder, but I opted for the bread bowl, which was so delicious that I can’t even describe it.  I think I could eat chowder out of a bread bowl, everyday, for the rest of my life and die happy.

We also shared some potato skins which were very yummy.

After our delicious lunch, we headed over to the zoo so that Munchkin could have some fun.

Munchkin enjoyed running around and looking at all the  different animals in the zoo, but honestly I wasn’t really impressed with it. I may be spoiled because the last two zoos I visited were the San Diego and Bronx zoos which are very impressive.

After the zoo, we were all tuckered out so we headed back to our hotel to rest up a bit and change because it was getting chilly out.

For dinner we decided to do more seafood.  I found a place a bit outside of Boston called Turner’s Seafood Grill.  They had received some of the best rating on Yelp and Urban spoon and we definitely know why.

Turner’s is not only a restaurant, but it is also a seafood market.  If they’re selling fresh seafood, you have to bet that what they’re serving is super fresh.  When we sat down, our server Peggy informed us that they were having Oysterfest.  Tommy and I had never tried oysters before so we decided to go for it.

The taste was interesting and not bad at all.  We did have a good time joking at the description of the oysters. One of ours was supposed to have a coppery finish…whatever that means. We also shared some Cherry Pepper Calamari which was very good, sweet and spicy at the same time.

For my entree, I got the crab cakes. They were probably the best crab cakes I’ve ever had in my life.

After dinner, we headed over to the Apple Store so I could purchase my birthday gift! I’ve wanted an iPad for a long time, but couldn’t justify spending the money, so my parents and I split the price tag and I am now the proud new owner of an iPad 2.

We slept in a bit later on Sunday and took our time packing up and checking out.  We headed over to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market for lunch and a bit of shopping.  We got lunch at Boston Chowda.

I got Lobster Mac and Cheese and Tommy got a Lobster Roll.  As much as we both love seafood and as good as lunch was, we both decided that we were seafooded out for a while.

After lunch, we hit the Freedom Trail.  I really like that all of the big sights to see in Boston are along the Freedom Trail and that there is an actual line on the sidewalk that you can follow to find these sights.

Quincy Mahket 😉

Statehouse

Samuel Adams

Notice my two cuties in the corner!

My new boyfriend. Shh! Don’t tell Tommy 😉

Park Street Church

Tadpole Playground near Frog Pond

Public Garden

 And since no birthday weekend would be complete without a cake, on our way back to the car we stumbled upon Sweet. I actually read about Sweet online when doing some pre-getaway research and I was more that excited to find it!

The decor of the place was very cute, simple and clean.

It looked like a place where you could have a tea party that every little girl dreams of.  I loved the way it looked! They also had the cutest packaging for their cupcakes.

We got a Red Velvet, Caramel Macchiato and a Boston Cream.  While they were very tasty, we both agreed that we have been spoiled by the House of Cupcakes and will probably compare every other cupcake we try to those.

Our drive home flew by so much quicker than the ride up, but I think that always happens, especially when you’re going someplace exciting.

I have to say that I had an amazing birthday and I am so lucky to have an amazing boyfriend who spoils me with these kinds of surprises.  I also have amazing friends because my phone did not shut up all weekend with texts, calls and facebook wishes.  Thank you to everyone!

What did you do this weekend?
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?