You may have been noticing a theme in these blog posts. That theme being we’re visiting places that are hot. Ok, with that out of the way, I promise to only comment on the heat three more times throughout this post. Deal?

We flew from Nashville to the East Coast and immediately picked up a rental car. The checkout dude spoke so fast, I could barely understand him. Welcome to Boston. Instead of exploring the city right away, we headed north to Maine.

After 3-ish hours of driving, we arrived in Oakland (not to be confused with our old place of residence). Oakland, Maine is the exact opposite of Oakland, California. The population is like 1,000 and they have four churches, zero bars and one grocery store. We rented out an adorable cabin right on the lake, and I mean RIGHT on the lake.

It was amazing. For four nights, we chilled on the faux Adirondack chairs, read, swam in the perfectly-refreshing water and just soaked up the cabin life. Not to mention the sunsets were like so good.

Since the town of Oakland didn’t have a lot going on, we cooked all our meals in the cabin and then enjoyed them right outside.

After a few days, we had a bit of cabin fever so decided to hop in the car and drive to Bar Harbor (a recommendation from our Lyft driver in Nashville). We explored the quaint town with everyone else in Maine, grabbed some lunch, and headed back to our quiet cabin.

It’s amazing how fast four days of calm can fly by, because before you knew it, it was time to head back to Boston. As much as I love the stillness and just reading for hours on end, I was excited to head to a city. Plus, I was looking forward to seeing my old friend and college roomie, Rach. I haven’t seen her in like 9 years, which was the last time I was in Boston.

Rach was also a lifesaver and let us stay at her apartment for the four nights we were in town. Finding an Airbnb in Boston was near impossible, unless we wanted to be out in the ‘burbs. And hotels, hotels are like $300 a night (and here I thought San Francisco hotels were expensive). So, thanks Rach, you are the best.

The first full day in Boston we walked ALL over that city. It was nice and sunny and not too hot (temp mention: 1). I think we walked like 7 miles, along rainbow sidewalks…

And past some Dunkin’ (of course)…

Plus, I should mention, that it was in Boston that Craig found his favorite beer that he hasn’t found in the last 2 months (Racer 5) and I found my favorite wine (The Ned, from NZ). Score major points for Boston.

The thing I really loved about Boston? The buildings. They are so brick. I found myself stopping to creepily take pictures of peoples’ dwellings. It’s only awkward if you get caught.

When can I move in? I also hopped on Zillow to see housing prices, because I’m curious like that. And wouldn’t you know, there are like zero listings in the city. Doesn’t anyone move out of their awesome place here? Guess not.

The next day we took our first (of two) “free” walking tours. Which of course means the weather would shift from being hot (temp mention: 2) to raining all day long. So we took our Freedom Trail tour in the drizzle/pour.

It was super fun and interesting, until Craig’s phone got water damage, even though it was in a waterproof pocket in his raincoat. So we kinda did an Irish goodbye (which is super appropriate in Boston) and just phased ourselves out from the tour to head to T-Mobile. Big surprise, they were no help. And we even took it to some repair peeps and they opened it up and said “Sorry, but your child isn’t going to make it.”

With a broken phone, we headed to meet Rach. The best way to get over a broken phone is to drink with old friends, right? Right.

The next day, Craig and I took another walking tour, this time of the North End. We loved our tour guide. He reminded me of Chris Farley. Not in appearance, but in enunciation. I’m sure he gets that all the time…

After the tour, we visited the oldest bar in Bahston (sorry, I had to) and got some free sunglasses and a shot of beer from promo girls. Neat.

For our last night in Boston (and the U.S.), Rach scored us all tickets to the Red Sox game. Such a hostess with the mostess. Fenway Park was a sight to see. So many fans, all screaming “you SUCK” to A-Rod. Ah, sports.

After a few innings, the humidity at 8pm got the best of us (temp mention: 3), so we left. Gasp. And went to get food and drinks in the AC. Can you blame us?

So…looks like that’s it for us in the states for a bit. We had an epic 2.5 months exploring the great big beautiful country, but it’s time for an international affair. First fling, Iceland.