Washington DC - March 2008

We decided to meet Keith's parents in DC for Easter weekend. Keith's parents arrived around noon on the Thursday, while Keith arrived at 4:45 from Atlanta. Shawna was to arrive at the same time but her flight was delayed.

We met at 7:30 and walked along to one of the best French restaurants in Georgetown – La Chaumiere. Shawna joined us at the restaurant but didn’t eat as she was too late. We stayed overnight at the Park Hyatt on Keith's points.

The next day, we walked across the road to get our Starbucks fix, then walked into downtown Washington DC past the White House to meet the Wises. We had a great meal and visit at Legal Seafoods. We then walked to get tickets for the International Spy Museum and while we waited for our time, we looked round the National Portrait museum. We spent a couple of hours in the museum and then walked to a fantastic Indian restaurant in DC – The Bombay Club. After dinner, we walked to the Reagan building to see the political satire the Capitol Steps. We got back to the hotel at 10:30 having been gone almost all day.

On Saturday, the weather looked as if it could rain, so we decided to eat in Georgetown and delay our trip out to the Shenandoah Mountains. We walked round Georgetown University where Shawna went to college and had a great lunch at Clyde’s. We then got a taxi to Reagan airport and got the rental car to go out to Virginia. As the weather still didn’t look great, instead of doing a hike, we checked in to the Hampton Inn in Front Royal (somewhat of a lesser hotel than the night before!!) and went to look round Luray Caverns – one of the best caverns in the East US. They also had an impressive antique automobile collection. We went back to our hotel to get changed ready for the highlight of the weekend – dinner at Inn of Little Washington. We got to the restaurant about 9:00 pm and it was still crowded. We had a stunning meal accompanied by two bottles of Duckhorn merlot and left at 11:30 pm.

The next morning, we tried to go to the Starbucks in the local Target but it was closed for Easter so we had to settle for gas station coffee and some granola bars (quite a come down from the previous day’s dining!!)!! We drove 40 miles down the SkylineDrive in Shenandoah National Park with spectacular overlooks and got to the trail head for the hike to Whiteoak Canyon. It is one of the prettier hikes in the park ending up at a series of waterfalls, the first being an 86 ft fall. We went as far as the second waterfall and then hiked back to the car. It was about 5 miles round trip and 1400 ft altitude drop to the second waterfall. We decided to head straight back to the airport and eat again at Legal Seafoods in the airport. The timing worked out great as we all left the airport at about the same time.

Boston - St Patrick's Day - March 2008

Boston Waterfront

This was our second year carrying on the tradition of celebrating St. Patrick's Day in another city with John and JoAnna.  This year, we decided to go to Boston.

Shawna, JoAnna and John took a cheap flight with Skybus from Greensboro to Portsmouth, NH and then took a bus into the city.  Keith was traveling for work and met them there.

Accommodation:
Hyatt - We used Keith's points and shared a room at this hotel, located downtown.

Activities:

Sam Adams Grave

We arrived late on Thursday night and met Keith at the hotel.  We kicked off the weekend with a few drinks at JJ Foley’s.

On Friday, we walked the Freedom Trail - we did it leisurely as we stopped along the way for beer.  The highlight of the trail was visiting the Park Street Church Granary (where Sam Adams and Paul Revere are buried) and drinking a Sam Adams across the street at Beantown Pub while looking at Sam Adams tomb.  Along the trail, we saw Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (where we stopped for a beer at Cheers).  We didn’t make the last stop (Bunker Hill) on the tour, but instead took the Ferry from the Charlestown Navy Yard back to Long Wharf. 

State House

From there, we ate and drank our way through downtown Boston.  We walked back to Faneuil Hall Market and had chowder and appetizers at the Salty Dog Seafood Bar & Grille.  After that, we headed toward the Garden to catch the Duke/Belmont game.  On the way, we stopped for a few beers at the Purple Shamrock and the Bell In Hand.  Following the game, we had more beer and appetizers at The Fours and then stopped at Hurricane O'Reilly's for beer and hurricanes.  We met Nick (JoAnna's brother) and his friends at the Boston Beer Works.  At one of the bars, JoAnna and Shawna scored Leinenkugel tukes (knit hats) which they seemed quite excited about.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for a night cap at Jose McIntyre's for beers and margaritas.

John, JoAnna and Keith at Cheers

On Saturday, we went to Legal Seafood for lunch, and then went to find a bar to watch the Duke/West Virginia game.  We stopped in several bars like the Black Rose and Coogan’s, but finally settled on Clarke’s.  They had everything you could ever want on the appetizer menu, but all we had was beer.  Nick and his friends joined us again.

JoAnna and Shawna Sporting Their Tukes

That evening, we headed to North End for dinner at Al Dente’s.  After dinner, we wandered around North End and ended up at Modern Pastry where we met up with Nick and his friends for dessert.

Is That Beer?

On Sunday, we went to Quincy market for lunch and had a yummy mac-n-cheese dish which prompted Shawna to want to open a mac-n-cheese restaurant in Chapel Hill until we did the math and determined it would not be a huge money maker.  After lunch, we went to the Aquarium.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at JJ Foley’s for a final beer.

Keith, JoAnna, John - Looking Happy

Due to all of the calories consumed, it definitely took us a few weeks to recover from the weekend!

Restaurants and Bars:
JJ Foley's Bar and Grill - Located close to our hotel - we had a few drinks here.

Beantown Pub - A very popular pub.  You can drink a Sam Adams while looking at Sam Adams tomb across the street.

Cheers - Where everybody knows your name.

Salty Dog Seafood Bar & Grille - Located in Faneuil Hall - we had apps and chowder here.

Purple Shamrock - Irish pub - had a few beers here.

Bell in Hand - Irish pub - had more beer here.

The Fours - We had some appetizers here.

Hurricane O'Reilly's - Had to try the hurricanes.

Boston Beer Works - More beer and appetizers.

Jose McIntyre's - Mexican themed Irish pub - go figure.  Had beer and margaritas.

Legal Seafood - Located on the waterfront - had lunch here.  Good food.

Black Rose - Another Irish pub.

Coogan's - Another Irish pub.

Clarke's - A sports bar located at Faneuil Hall Market.

Al Dente's -- Located in the North End.  We had an awesome Italian dinner here.