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"I have traveled extensively in Concord" -Thoreau

nobody@vox.com(Emily) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:09:48 -0400

I have had the pleasure of visiting my best friends in Massachusetts twice this month. Both trips Emma and I chased our obsession with "American Bloomsbury" by heading back to our favorite town, Concord, Massachusetts.

The first weekend we didn't have as much time in Concord, but we did tour Emerson's house, which was extremely awesome. We also stopped by the Alcott's Orchard House and walked around the grounds and the gift shop, but didn't have time for a tour.

The second weekend we had a lot more time, and went back to Sleepy Hollow (one of the first places we went in Concord during our very first trip), took the tour of Orchard House, and went to all three of Concord's book stores. (Books With a Past, Concord Book Shop, and Barrow Book Store.) Orchard House had a special event on Saturday - a celebration of May Alcott's birthday. They had traditional games in the lawn, and free cake and lemonade. The next day we walked around Minute Man National Park, and saw Old Manse (though we didn't have time to take the tour of Old Manse, but we have to save some things for next time).

We also had time on Saturday to stop in Cambridge before heading into Boston to meet Emily/Steve/ESG and her family/friends for a big group dinner. This meant that we got to go back to the Harvard Book Store, which is an another awesome book store.

If you ever go to Concord (which I highly recommend), a wonderful book to read first is American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever. It's also a very wonderful book to read at anytime, visit to Concord or not.

Lots of pictures below, and even more on my flickr page.

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Clinton/Boston/Cambridge/Concord/Salem oh my

nobody@vox.com(Emily) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:22:48 -0400

I had an absolutely marvelous weekend with the RSC in Massachusetts!

Thursday evening I took the 6 o'clock bus to South Station, where I was met by Waddo (Emma) and Stevo (Emily). The Red Shoe Cult was reunited in full for the first time since Christmas 2006. We set off, only needing to turn back once when I realized that in all the excitement I had forgotten my suitcase from under the bus. We had a quick snack with Stevo, and then Waddo and I went back to her cute apartment in Clinton.

Friday Waddo and I took the T to Harvard Square, and explored a bit of Harvard and Cambridge. We went to three bookstores in Cambridge: The Harvard Book Store, Curious George & Friends, and The Coop.

Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store was my favorite. They had new books upstairs and used books downstairs. I loved the downstairs decor, they covered most available walls with bookmarks and book related cartoons, quotes, and clippings. I also loved Curious George and Friends, which was a wonderful children's book store. The Coop was great as well, but was secretly a Barnes and Noble. I love Barnes and Noble though, and The Coop has an incredible selection, as my neighbor M-----l pointed out already.

Next we headed into Boston, where, if I were to speculate, I would guess the wind was gusting at about 100 miles per hour.

We went to my favorite bagel place, Bruegger's Bagels, for lunch. Man, I miss Bruegger's. There was one across the street from The State News, and it's tied with Cancun Mexican Grill as the East Lansing establishment I miss most.

We walked around Boston all day, some of the highlights were Quincy Market and the Boston Public Library. We also went to two bookstores, Trident Booksellers & Cafe and Brattle Book Shop. Both were great, but I need to spend much more time in Brattle Book Shop. We didn't get there until 30 minutes before they closed, and their sidewalk carts were inside in the aisles so it was really hard to browse.

In the evening we met Stevo and her boyfriend Chad for dinner at The Purple Shamrock, a fun Irish Pub. After dinner Stevo came back with us to Clinton to Emma's apartment for a night of chocolate chip cookies and Dan in Real Life.

Saturday was fantastic. We drove around all day and visited Walden Pond, Concord, Sleepy Hallow Cemetery, and Salem. In Concord we went to two more fabulous bookstores, The Concord Bookshop and Books With a Past.

The Concord Bookshop

I love Walden, and it was very fun to see Walden Pond and the replica of Thoreau's cabin. The touristy-ness of the area could not dim the absolute beauty of Walden Pond.

Walden Pond

This is my favorite photo, though possibly a tad inappropriate:

Who could be calling NOW?

I also loved going to Sleepy Hallow Cemetery, where we visited Author's Ridge: the graves of Hawthorne, Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau.

Sleepy Hallow Cemetery

Louisa May Alcott's grave

I definitely want to go back to Salem for Halloween one of these years. I also need to see more of it, because we had so much fun in Concord that we overstayed our welcome there, and arrived in Salem after everything had closed.

Salem Witch Museum

The weekend was full of literary treats and time with my best friends. It's hard to ask for a better weekend.

If, after waiting for this ungodly amount of photos to load, you have the desire to see more photos from my trip, they can be viewed on my flickr page.

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Heading to Boston!

nobody@vox.com(Emily) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:21:32 -0400

Rscdrawing

I'm headed to Boston this weekend to visit two very dear friends, Emma (aka Wad) and Emily (aka Stevo).

I'll update with photos when I return.

Books I'm bringing with me for the bus ride: Sense and Sensibility, Brick Lane, and Oh the Glory of it All.

Have a good weekend!

Above: An artifact I found from college, a drawing Emma made of the three of us.

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