Monday, September 14, 2009

In Boston, drivers don't even obey the laws of physics much well those regarding traffic.

Day 7: BOS - PDX
Boston

This morning I took the subway into downtown with all my bags since I wouldn't have time to get back to Cambridge before I had to fly out. After asking around a bit, I found a nearby hotel that would accept my stuff in the bag check room so I could walk around unhindered. I then traveled back to the Bunker Hill Monument since it was open and I could get the NPS stamp and also climb up to the top of the obelisk for a sweeping view of the city. After that I walked back to the waterfront to the NPS office at the USS Constitution so I could get the stamps there. I'm glad I did the tour yesterday since I then found out that the ship is closed on Mondays. After talking to the rangers for a bit, I hopped a nearby water bus to the passenger docks (saving a lot of walking, especially since my metro day pass included the waterway fare). I wanted to get a nice view of the skyline and decided to take the ferry over to Fort Warren. I only had about an hour to see this island since I had to catch the ferry back into Boston, however it was enough time to allow me to briskly walk around and explore some of the crevices and crannies while learning some of the history. It would have been nice to stay a while an enjoy the warm sunshine, but I had to keep moving. This would be the theme of much of the trip. I really wasn't ever sure what day it was, but I knew that I had a plane to catch. I took the ferry back in, found the hotel again (glad I remember that it was on the Freedom Trail when I lost my way for a short bit), and then headed off to the airport.

I had to fly into JFK first, however I wasn't expecting such a long turn of events. Apparently after everyone had boarded the pilots found that one of the the windshield heaters wasn't working. Since we'd be flying a long time at high altitudes, this wasn't going to suffice. We ended up having to sit in the plane for about two hours, however one aspect that set JetBlue apart was that they allowed people to leave the plane to get food or use the restroom while I feel any other airline would just make everyone sit. I was sending out a few Twitter messages and one of the NYC JetBlue employees came out to find me to say hello, saying he had been following some of the messages and pictures I had been posting. We finally took off and I was able to get in some reading and movie watching on the netbook, so the flight was pleasant enough. After arriving in Portland I met up with Chris B, the guy I first met when I arrived in JFK a few days prior. I had been coordinating with a Portland hasher earlier for crash space and she was very kind and hospitable to allow us some space in the basement to sleep for a few days, even if I wasn't able to get in before midnight due to the late arrival. It had been a pretty long day, but the shower was exquisite and I had no issue falling asleep.










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