Now we come home...video added

Man...it's late.  I shouldn't even be up right now typing this because of how early we are having to wake up tomorrow to catch our flight back to Los Angeles.  But I know once I get home I'm not going to want to do this because then my head will be on things to do in Los Angeles... so...

The reason why I had to wake up so early yesterday was because I had to get tickets to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  It's where they make our money.  The tickets are free but are distributed on a first come first serve basis.  The ticket office opens up at 8 am.  So, naturally people begin lining up at 6 am.  Well, I did my part.  I pried myself out of bed and taxied myself over there...I got there at 630 am.  And there were already thirty people waiting!  The wait was worth it and the tour was very unique and interesting.  Watching millions of dollars being printed is something you can't do every day so...

We rounded yesterday off by hitting the Smithsonian Museums of Natural History and Air and Space.  What great Museums.  I think both Charlie and Chase enjoyed both very much.  I think they both liked the Museum of Natural History a wee bit more because of the butterfly exhibit.  (See video.)  However, at the Air and Space Museum they have converted the old cafeteria style commissary to a McDonald's slash Boston Market "McTreat" station.  Hmmm.... McTreats... So we did what any red blooded Americans would do, we stared at some space suits and then scampered over for McDonald's ice cream and McFlurrys.

Last night was the second night we visited with Helen and her Husband Hartmut and their daughter Sophie and Helen's mother.  We enjoyed every minute and I know that the girls really loved playing with Sophie.  

Today we kept it pretty simple.  Ford's theater and then the White House.  The weather was very hot here today.  We were all melting.  We couldn't get in to Ford's Theater because they were preparing to do a show.  That whole area, if you ask me, is the trappiest of all D.C.  It seems a bit wrong to peddling toddler shirts with designs that have teddy bears with Lincoln beards in the very building that Lincoln was assassinated in.  But maybe I'm just too darn sentimental.  Money money money.

I'm sad to say that we ended up NOT able to get a White House tour.  Our Congressman's pull just wasn't strong enough to get us in...the waiting list is six months long.  But we walked around and looked from the outside as best we could.  It looks quite comfortable.

We did see massive lines winding around the back block of the White House...and heard from a cab driver that Obama had decided to open up the White House to the public for today and tomorrow...but those lines were so long, and the heat was so bad here, that is just wouldn't have been worth it.  

Finally, this evening we visited with Tiffany's former co-worker at the Ninth Circuit, Theo, and his wonderful family.  Theo has two girls in the same orbital age as Charlie and Chase, so it was a grand old time.  You'd think Charlie and Chase had never seen other kids their age before.  By the end of the night Charlie was exchanging emails with her new friends.  

...And now, everyone is asleep but me.  I type this to the pleasant sounds of three people, who have had two very busy weeks, trying their best to recover.

Tomorrow...we come home.  We miss you all and can't wait to see you. 

The video will be up on Youtube shortly...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X-ym79sM88

Washington D.C.

My fellow Americans, this will be short.   I need to rush off to bed because tomorrow I've gotta get up before dawn to go over to the... I'll just explain tomorrow...

But superquick...

Tiffany has fallen under the sword of the head cold, and is fighting a noble and valiant battle.  Early today, though, she did have to retreat from the Capitol Building tour back to the hotel.  But take heart, I think her Snottysburg Address that was made later in the afternoon was most stirring...and she should prevail victorious by at least tomorrow afternoon. 

While at the Supreme Court giftshop, Chasie insisted on buying a little pewter gavel.  I asked her why she liked it and what it was for.  She said it's what the judges use to hit stuff with when they're angry.  Awwwwwwwww.  All evening she's been banging it on tables and yelling "Order!  Order!  Order to go!"  That may very well be the next step in this great experiment we call democracy:  due process and faster take out all in one amendment.

We visited Tiffany's friend Helen's new home just a few miles away from the capitol.  I'm in love with it.  I want to elope with the house.  It's the exact house you see in your head when you think "happy childhood."  (and the basement looks exactly like the one in That 70's Show!)  

Finally, I don't think the videos that I've been making can be seen through the posting on facebook...so if you haven't gone over to my blog directly then you wouldn't know they were there... I think... anyway, I've also pasted my latest video on youtube.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40EzLS5t7TI

Good night.

Washington D.C.

Well, it's been two days here in our nation's capitol, and let me tell you.  I'm wet.  No, I'm not talking about my eyes from pride, although I am feeling a strange amount of that right now...no...IT'S RAINING ELEPHANTS AND DONKEYS OVER HERE!!!  Cold and damp and deluge and plops without any fizzesses.  

Yesterday we tackled the mall.  The layout of everything is so smart and beautiful.  The war memorials heartbreaking.  I actually looked around at some nearby space and wondered if that's where the next one or two will be erected.  A damn shame to even ponder that.

Yesterday marked the 144th anniversary of the assassination of Lincoln, which made visiting the Memorial all the more cool.  I don't think I've ever shared this with anyone but I've always held an interest in Lincoln.  If any of you want to read a total kickass book, pickup MANHUNT: the 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson.  It's a brilliant and breathtaking account of what happened 144 years ago.  But I digress.

Today we visited the new SPY MUSEUM.  It was interesting, though maybe a bit disorganized.  It claims all things in it were actual devices and techniques used by spies, but then right smack dab in the middle of the exhibit is a James Bond car.  So, maybe it was all just tourist trap stuff.  

After that we stopped by the National Museum of Portraits.  Gorgeous.  I was in awe to see so many portraits I had only seen in crummy textbooks before.  The unfinished portrait of Washington.  The profile portrait of Lincoln that the penny is based on.  I think Charlie got a lot out of that stop.

After that we made a pass through the Museum of American History.  At some point in that last fifteen years they've completely redone it.  There is a very gripping exhibit on...Lincoln's life.  They actually had the white towel that General Lee had carried when he arrived to negotiate the surrender of the South.  I was jabbering silly when I saw that.  So cool.

But honestly, aside from the Lincoln exhibit, the rest of the Museum felt very slapped together and unfinished.  So much more can be done with it.  There was a room maybe slightly larger than my office called "Thanks for the Memories."  It had Seinfeld's shirt, the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Sid Caesar's hat, Oscar the Grouch and Kermit, and some sports uniforms.  Really?  That's all the Museum of American History has to say about the mediums it either created or perfected?  Or even just about American pop culture?  A bit abbreviated, no? Maybe in time improvements will be made.

Although one totally rad item they were showcasing was the actual flag that inspired THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER.  After I walked through the viewing room I wanted to run back in and with a baritone voice sing "AND THE FLAG WAS STILL THERE..." but my wife saw the look in my eyes, pursed her lips and shook her head "No."  I slouched my shoulders and we walked off to go look at the old steam engine exhibit.

Our last stop of the day was to the National Archives to take a peek at the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and Bill of Rights.  This is what the trip has been mainly about for me.  I think these three documents represent some of the greatest heights of mankind.  The line to get in was forever and in the rain.  Once out of the rain, the security was as thorough as in an airport.  Once inside the belly of the archives all you could hear was the security guard endlessly blowing his whistling and screaming at the top of his voice at the swarms of high school kids that had been bused in to please stop acting like utter jackasses.  Now, I can't speak for every teen in the world, but judging from the bus load after bus load of teenagers I've encountered so far in D.C., I really advocate just locking a person up for their entire teenage stage of life.  Outside of school, just lock them in a room with their favorite things:  a computer so they can share their newly discovered wit with peers, a television and a mirror.  I think this would be beneficial to both the teen and the rest of the world.  I think it would have made me a better person, and I've already started designing my girl's teen prisons.  Frankly, I have no idea why these kids are even here to begin with.  Not a single one has looked at all interested in what they are looking at or what they are doing.  I'm not expecting them to be in awe...but don't they have to- at the very least- be AWARE of where they are?  There are just these hordes of kids everywhere sitting on floors and flirting and screaming and posing and phoning and texting and jumping on each other's backs and pouting and hugging each other and doing everything but what I thought a person could do best after taking the trouble to get to Washington D.C.- look around!  Please America, stop busing your kids to Washington!  A bus full of teenagers doesn't improve any mood, environment or situation.

By the way, I was still totally geeked at seeing the old documents.  They are all really faded and kept in the chambers of gas that glow green...

When Tiffany and I decided to bring the girls on this trip I immediately started trying to picture what it would be like.  The one thing I never imagined was all the opportunity for great conversation with the girls that we've had.  We're not forced to jam in conversation over a bath or dinner or shoehorn a talk in before bedtime or school time.  We are actually talking.  And Washington offers so much to talk about!  This has been great.  I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

New York Fever...

As fortune would have it...I got sick while in New York.   Asthma came and paid me a visit and I turned into a giant, heaving, sweaty creep wherever I went...so the heaving was the only thing different from the usual.  But as I type this, with the help of an absolute saint I am on the mend.  Hopefully the rest of us remain healthy for our last leg of the Dodge Eastern Seaboard Tour 09...Washington D.C.  

I gotta say I really want to go back to New York real super soon.  There are so many other places I want to go see and so many restaurants I want to try.  I love the busy environment.  I found New Yorkers to be, on the whole, tons nicer than they have the reputation to be.  Again, I think it’s the crammed environment.  People aren’t rude here...they’re just honest.  I find that refreshing.  There’s just no time or space to beat around the bush with empty niceties.  

The memories that will stick with me are many.  I’ll never forget that the first thing Chase did when we got to Central Park was to demand a picture of herself along with a very militant statue of Che Gueverra.  I wish I had that picture.  Unfortunately my iphone froze up at that golden moment.  

I'll never forget how eerily quiet Wallstreet was with the blocked off streets and barracaded and NYPD-guarded building entrances. Wall street seems to be in a strange state of recoil...and maybe it was my imagination but I could feel the low morale just seeping out of the buildings out onto everything around.  Right across is a statue of Washington commemorating where he was sworn in.  I wonder if Washington ever looked up and imagined what it all would be like in the future.  Probably not.

I’ll never forget seeing the Chrysler Building at night.  And the Empire State Building with its colored tiers.  I loved watching Charlie's face light up along with the rest of the signs in Times Square.  I'll never forget watching Chase hail a cab, totally beating me to the punch.  And I'll never forget the plunging sensation in my gut every time Chase impulsively dove into a revolving door- always at the very last minute and always before we told her it was safe to go.  And, of course, Lady Liberty.  We were on a three hour boat tour that went completely around Manhattan when we saw the Statue of Liberty.  

We had an old tour guide with a Casey Cassem-type voice narrating facts that nobody could really hear over the boat engine.  Decked out in a captain’s uniform, he’d drone on and on with his yuckity yuck voice walking around the boat with his wireless microphone, but overtime someone stood up out of their folding chair to take a picture or stretch (it was a three hour boat ride) he’d walk over to the stander, turn off his microphone and become the nastiest SOB on planet.  Apparently, if one person on the boat stands, then everyone on the boat will want to stand.  And then nobody will be able to see- even though everything we were looking at was typically at skyscraper height. No standing.  After every threat, the guide would turn his microphone back on and resume his yuckity yuck narration.  By the end of the three hour tour I felt as if I just might know what it felt like to be an immigrant coming to America, from desperate flight of tyranny... laying eyes on New York Harbor for the first time, weeping with gratitude that the tour...er... voyage was over.  What is that inscription on the pedestal of Lady Liberty again?  

“Give me your tired tourists, your poor in pulmonary health...your huddled masses yearning to break free from angry tour guides.”  

It’s something like that, I’m paraphrasing a bit...  

A real quick cool note:  The hotel we stayed at is right next to the United Nations Building.  All the various Embassies surround it.  Every morning as we set out we'd pass by a baker's dozen worth of Asian reporters with their microphones and cameras pointed right at this unmarked side door across the street.  Every microphone and camera was vigilantly aimed at the door like a firing squad.  Every night when we were dragging ourselves back...they'd still be there...on complete reporter red alert.  Finally, last night, as we were grabbing some supplies from the convenience shop right across the street from this sight, someone came out of the door, and all the reporters and cameramen came to life, pushing and shoving and crowding and dogging the one guy coming out.  I even heard a woman squeel- as if she got trampled.  Well we finally learned what the hub-bub was over.  The guy the reporters were waiting on?  Oh nothing, he was just the representative from NORTH KOREA!  World politics at work...

My last New York memory is this - as our Cabbie was pulling over in front of Penn Station to drop us off, another taxi edged in alongside in an attempt to steal our curb space.  Our cabbie muttered, “Mutherfucker” and lurched our cab forward to cut the other taxi off.  Our cab’s side mirror knocked the other cab’s mirror.  Our guy won the curb space.  Our cabbie then jumped out of his cab and started yelling at the other cabbie, who ended up stopping right behind us.  The yelling continued as our cabbie unloaded our luggage and very pleasantly thanked us for the fare.  As we walked away I heard the other cabbie yell to our cabbie, “I’ll have your head!!!”  Ah, New York.  I’m going to miss you.

New York oooOOOOOHHHOOoooo

Alright.  So I didn't post yesterday because New York nearly broke me in half.  And yesterday was only a half day because the train didn't get in until about mid-day anyway.  But I was so exhausted that I was nearly feverish by the time we got back to the hotel.  Yesterday we trained into NYC.  And the weather was miserable.  Rainy.  Cold.  Windy.  Really cold.  Really windy.  As we were walking around we were looking at all the quaint locals with their fashionable rain shoes on of various designs.  Soon enough we realized that it's not fashion as much as a necessity because the streets here are nothing but one puddle after another.  Chase and Charlie's shoes got wet about ten minutes into walking around.  We needed to get Chase some new shoes anyway because we discovered that she had a hole in one of her shoes.  IN THE SOLE.  Not at a seam or where some weak stitching gave way.  But right through the rubber on the bottom of her shoe...you know... the part that is the last to wear out.  We had walked Chase around Boston so much we wore out her shoes.  All the pleas to be carried and sobs about sore legs echoed through our minds.  Then Tiffany and I laughed, hi-fived, and took Chasie to Kmart to buy her some fashionable New York shoes.  You can catch them in the video and photos.  She's quite proud of them.

We also caught a show yesterday called Dear Edwina.  It was off Broadway.  Really off.  But it was a musical for kids and Charlie and Chase ate it up.  They had a grand old time. 

After that we found ourselves in the village, and since i could no longer feel my head because of the cold I decided to get a knit cap from one of those guys with the tables on the sidewalk.

"How much for the grey one?"

"Seven dollars."

"Seven dollars?  I've got five."

"Okay six."

I made a very unpleasant face in reaction to this, then demanded, "Okay!" 

I drove a really hard bargain.

After my head was warm we warmed our bellies first with fries at Pommes Frites.  I hope that's how you spell it because I'm not checking it now.  Hmmm. If you've never eaten there you should give it a try.  There were two chairs right near the front door so we plopped the girls in them and everyone in line watched the two of them eat as they waited to make their order.

After Pommes Frites, we hit a chocolate restaurant called Max Brenner.  This place specializes in everything chocolate and I'll tell you now, it's the best chocolate I've ever had.  

The girls slurped up their fancy hot chocolates and wanted more...but it was time to go.

As we walked back to the hotel Charlie asked me, "Hey Dad, do you know what French kissing is?"

"Hmmm.  Kind of... what is it?"

"It's where you kiss but you rub tongues together!  They call it French kissing, but I don't think the French invented it."

"Where did you hear about it?"

"I was looking up idioms at www.idioms.com and that was one of them."

"Oh.  Okay."

"Yeah."

Who said New York isn't full of educational surprises.

So last night I knocked out really hard.  I think if I had stayed up I'd have gotten sick.  The wind here- the frigid wind here seems to be royally kicking my ass.

Anyhoo, so today we woke up...We had the best bagels and lox I've ever had in my life at Tal Bagels on 57th and 1st.  Oh man.  Then it was time to hit Central Park.

There isn't a way to take a bad picture in Central Park.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around how beautiful that place was.  And today being Easter Sunday...there were tons of people out, which to me made it even better.

We hit the playground.  The girls couldn't stop climbing all of the rocks jutting out of...well, everywhere.... we went to the fountain... saw the Alice in Wonderland statue...and then went to Strawberry Fields.  I have to say that Strawberry Fields is a bit of a sham tribute to John Lennon.  There are signs everywhere demanding that it is a quiet area and music is not allowed to be played.  Seems to be a counter intuitive tribute to one of the world's greatest song makers.  But there were tons of crowds to take pictures in front of the tile memorial that reads "Imagine."  This also seemed a bit silly.  I know if Lennon could give an opinion on it he'd tell everyone that if we really wanted to pay tribute to what he was about (or tried to be about)  then we should really tackle the world's problems.  Preach Preach Preach.

After we were finished with Central Park we mosied on over to the Museum of Natural History.  Having been there, I can tell you for certain the movie was a complete fabrication.

Finally we hit Times Square..whoa!  What a tourist trap...but we had fun, anyway!

Alright.  Here's the latest videologue and I hope I have enough energy for further entries... this has not been spellchecked...there just isn't any time...

Boston...

Well...as I write this Charlie, Chase and Tiffany are sleeping deep after another day of hoofing it all over Boston.  First, we woke up early enough to go to Boston's Chinatown - which is funny because it practically is a single street.  But we Dim Sum'd at Empire Pavilion and it was good.  The place itself looked like it must have been an old theater, because it had massively high ceilings and all sorts of ornate decorations everywhere.  Let me tell you, the food was fresh and scrumptagious.  You may not have guessed it, but Boston Dim Sum is indeed as good as Dim Sum back home.  But it just hit me, they didn't offer chicken's feet.  Chicken's feet are my favorite Dim Sum dish!

We had drummed up a massive morning appetite because yesterday we went out to Cambridge and took a stroll through Harvard.  I have to confess it didn't really mean much to me as we were walking through.  The Harvard Natural History museum was impressive in its collection of taxidermy.  We saw a lion hanging out in the same glass case as a bear and a monkey.  You don't really see that in a museum nowadays.  

Here are the girls with the timeless Harvard Water Pump.

Later we met our old high school debate pal Jong and his lovely wife and two boys for dinner.  After dinner Jong took us back over to campus and gave us some Harvard history and filled us with factoids that brought the campus alive.  He pointed out where Kennedy dormed- which is also where he himself dormed.  He told us about some of the architecture of the school.  He took us to various corners of the campus and really made it all mean something.  Harvard is very old and is very aware of its age.  I can just picture a youthful Jong now, trudging through the frosty morning to one of his classes...the world his Boston Harbor Oyster, rubbing Mr. Harvard's shoe (a statue that is widely known to not actually be of Mr. Harvard at all) for good luck for a test coming up that afternoon- a custom students allegedly do on a regular basis.  I myself would be on my knees in front of the statue crying in disbelief that I got into Harvard to begin with.  I would be wailing and my nose would be runny and frozen on my quivering lip and I'd be pleading with the statue to please oh please come to life and take the test for me, because there is no possible way that I could pass ANY test offered at Harvard.  I guess it's a good thing, then, that I decided to never even apply...

I must add here a special "thank you" to Jong and his family for taking the time to visit with us - especially on a weeknight - and on top of that Jong drove us back to our hotel...and gave us a bonus tour along the way.  (He drove us by John Kerry's house.)  Thanks guys.  I really really wanted to post a picture of everyone right here but we took it on Charlie's camera and Charlie's camera has decided it isn't going to talk to my computer on this trip.  I'm sorry I can't share that photo, but just imagine my family with four of the coolest people in the world, and that will do the trick.

So this morning after Dim Sum the family tackled the the New England Aquarium.  You will see much of what we saw on the little video offered below.  It was a beautiful aquarium but quite busy and crowded.  My guess is that since it is Good Friday many people, knowing that fish was for dinner, really wanted to work up an appetite by coming to the aquarium.  I myself had prime rib for dinner.  

After the aquarium we hit the children's museum.  The girls jumped and climbed and crawled and pumped and smacked and bubbled and washed and floated and looked and did many other verbs that kids love to do there.  But this is the moment I will treasure always- and it took place right outside of the children's museum.

This photo was taken in front of the spot where the Boston Tea Party Happened!  Right there.  Behind us!  I can't tell you how stoked I was at this, because I think the Boston Tea Party was one of the greatest packages of rebellion and humor ever delivered by mankind - and to me it was the first truly "American" act the colonists conducted. 

All of this made us very hungry for lunch so we ate at a place called The Barking Crab.  I realize that the restaurant's name sounds like the last thing you'd ever want a doctor to tell you you've contracted, but The Barking Crab had tons of fresh seafood of every variety.  It was rustic and salty in atmosphere and only the women's restroom was working, and the door didn't lock.  So I'd like to apologize now to the woman I "interrupted."  It wasn't personal, I promise.  But your panicked eyes peering over the stall door will haunt me for days.

I myself ordered a total of two pounds of every kind of crab that is currently in season.  Tiffany ordered a lobster roll. This is what a lobster roll looks like.  Take that, fast food!

Tiffany put it in her tummy and was happy.  All four of us consumed the crab and laughed at how full we were.

After we came back to the hotel for a quick rest, we went back to Faneuil Hall for one last time, and supped some Yankee Food at Durgen Park.  Then, after buying some tasty dessert treats, we said our goodbyes to one hell of a great town.  Great men and moments seem to be drawn to Boston.  From the witch trials to the Revolutionary War to Abolition to Colonel Robert Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry to John Kennedy to almost NASA and John Kerry.  Very few cities in this country, even in the world, can boast so many layers of history.

Tomorrow.  To NYC.

Do you know what Freedom is?

I've just come back upstairs from my new most favorite spot on the entire planet.  It's a bar in the hotel called THE LAST HURRAH.  This is the second night that I've enjoyed a stay at the Last Hurrah and I need to share it with whoever is reading this.  The Last Hurrah is a man's kind of bar.  You won't find a single person in there sporting a sideways Mossimo baseball cap.  You won't find anyone in there at all that has shown up to simply "be seen."  I think if you ordered a Red Bull and Vodka you'd be kicked out.  No,the patrons of the Last Hurrah have shown up to drink.  And I love each and every one of them while I sit at the bar.  And that's just the patrons...

The carpets are dark.  The chairs are of an even darker molasses leather.  Everything is low lit and comfortable.  Along with your drink you are served a bowl of warmed up mixed nuts.  And music?  Nothing comes over the speakers that is newer than Frank Sinatra.  NOTHING.

The man behind the bar looks just like Mo from The Simpsons.

And what's this bartender's name?  Joe.  I kid you not.  Aside from the slight difference in name and lack of a bow tie and apron, Mo and Joe are twins.  Same hair.  Same voice.  Same question-mark posture.  Here, I snuck a photo of him on my iphone...

 

Right?  Right?  You see what I mean?  Look at the back of that head.  The similarities are uncanny.

Now, Joe is the boss of that bar.  There is another bartender operating back there with Joe.  He's bald and has jagged sea cliffs for cheeks and looks like he's just dying to lean into your face and say "I'm tellin' you, that kid's got the shinin'!"  But that bartender is nothing but a lowly lieutenant.  Every drink has to go through Joe- even if the other bartender makes it.  Joe has to approve.  You want an Old Fashioned? Joe knows you want it.  Did the lady down in the corner ask for a Gimlet?  Yes she did, and Joe knows how she likes it.  Did the old guy sitting in the middle of the bar just fall asleep while his drinking buddy went to bathroom?  Yes.  But that's okay, because Joe knows he'll wake up once his pal returns.

Last night an older guy comes in to the bar.  Joe doesn't even ask what he wants, he just starts making it.  The guy says, "Hey Joe!  I guess it's the Holy week here in Boston, huh?"  Joe replies, "Yep.  The start of Red Sox season and oh yeah, Easter."   A little while later the guy asks Joe, "Hey Joe, this week the Jews got Passover, the Christians got Easter...but what do the Muslims got?"  Without missing a beat Joe looks up from the highball glass he was polishing and he says, "They got Obama!  Heh heh heh!"  Now, there are many ways to take that comment.  I elected to take it with a sip of my ten year-old on the rocks.

Now, earlier today, the family took a walking tour of THE FREEDOM TRAIL!!!!  WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Ahem.  The Freedom trail essentially covers all of Boston's historical basics.  We had a tour guide that dressed in allegedly accurate American Revolution historical garb.  But I'm not writing a dissertation here so I'll just throw one suggestion out to you...if you think you know truly who the Sons of Liberty were and what how the American Revolution unfolded...do yourself a favor and look further into it.  The Sons of Liberty were far from Gods.  They were men with ambition, and I think that has been left out of the story of the Revolutionary War history lesson that has been that was taught to us all.  I think this is a shame because this is the aspect that makes the story of American particularly compelling.

On a final note, Tiffany wanted me to note my error in the previous post where I cited our hotel as the Omni Peterson.  Our hotel is actually called the Omni Parker, and this is the hotel that invented the Boston Cream pie.

Hmmm Whiskey..

Greetings from Bean Town

So I'm sitting here in the Lobby of the Omni Peterson Hotel in Boston...one of the oldest hotels in Boston so they say.  I've fought the noble fight to get logged on to the internet.   When I called the front desk to ask if they had wireless they said they only had a hard connection to the internet in the room...all you have to do is connect from the phone to your computer.  But there was no cable to perform such a task.  However, they assured, wireless is available in the lobby.  So this is where I am.  In the lobby...and it seems that the hotel's wireless is very finicky with Safari.  Pooh Pooh.  Pooh.  But after sticking it out I'm on.  And I swear the moment my internet blipped on I overheard a guy at the front desk tell another hotel patron that the wire you would use to connect your computer to the phone is actually in a black bag in the closet.  IN THE CLOSET! Oh well... here I am.  Tip tapping away at 11:30 East Coast crime...I mean time.

A few meals over twenty four hours from our arrival in Boston and all I can say is, "Boston, I freaking love ya!  You ah wicked cool!"  Last night on our first venture out into the bean streets - after the girls delighted in taking on the hotel's revolving doors - the first thing that hit me was the steam snaking out of the manholes in the streets.  I've never seen that before.  Call me a rube, I don't care.  The next thing that hit me...and I mean milliseconds after noticing the steam...WAS THE UNHOLY COLD!!!  Oh my God it is cold.  I mean I knew what the temperature was going to be cold but man oh man.  Cold cold cold cold it was.  It is.  I immediately lost all sensation in my face.  The only way I still knew my eyes still worked was from the tears welling up but quickly thickening with frost.  And it isn't even snowing.  It's just cold.  But I gotta tell you all.  I love it.   

So after the girls, the wife and I all stopped standing on the sidewalk and screaming our lungs out from the cold we headed to the Northern part of town where the Italian restaurants are.  So delicious. I haven't had Italian that good since I was in Berlin. That might sound odd but those of you who have occassioned themselves in Berlin will know what I'm talking about.  After that we hit MIKES just down the block.  Hey...  You...  You like pastries and stuff?  Well, Mike's has got it all.  Take a look at these freakin' lamb confections.

  

What these things are I can't tell you.  But I was again like a slack-jawed Rube looking like he hadn't seen anything made out of sugar and flour before.  But then we came across these bad boys

Do you see what these suckers are called?  WHOOPIE PIES!  I couldn't handle it.  I started to do a "Footloose" dance right there in the store!    My enthusiasm was unstoppable.  But I must confess I was not brave enough to try a whoopie pie.  I am, after all, just a man.  Maybe some day.  Just not now.  Instead I bought a canoli...and kept yabbering the Godfather quote over and over again until Tiffany threatened to divorce me.  (Footnote:Whoopie Pie will ultimately become the annoying nickname for someone I know...I just haven't decided for who yet.  I just can't help it.  It's how I'm built.)

Today the family took the Boston Duck Tour.  For those of you that don't know what a Duck Tour is let me fill you in.  A Duck Tour is where you get driven around in this big o'le amphibious bus for a spell get told what is what around town, then for the grand finale the bus goes right into the Charles river and floats around...ON PURPOSE.  So we were enjoying the lovely Duck Tour and then I looked up and saw who was driving

That's Charlie!  Was this a mutiny?!  How'd she take over the craft?!  I think I passed out because when I next look up I saw someone else driving.. That's...that's CHASE!  My underage daughters had somehow managed to overtake the tour and cruise the amphibious craft around the Charles river.  Alright, maybe it's because they were asked.  I'd be lying if I wrote that I wasn't incredibly jealous.  Really jealous.  I mean, I didn't speak to the girls for a good ten minutes or so.  But then the driver passed out Neco Wafers (because they are made in Boston) and I came around and forgave them.

"Hey...how you doin'?"  This guy started walking along side me in Boston Common.  

The Dodge unit was on their way to see the Duck statues in the Garden across the way.  "I'm alright."  How are you?"  This guy looked me up and down.  "Where you from?"

"I'm from LA."

"What?  Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's great.  That's really great."

"It's cold here."

"Well, LA...both places have great weather."

Then the guy stumbled off.  He was a bit drunk.  But see?  Even the drunk folks here are nice.   So far everyone actually has been really nice.  And I think maybe it's because Boston is just so small.  I mean for the first hundred years of it's existence the burial grounds customarily piled bodies on top of each other.  So everything is intimate.  People expect to have to interact with one another.  And when it's expected, people are prepared to "deal."  And I actually think that fosters friendliness.  How those dead piled high feel about it, who knows.  BUT IT'S SO COLD HERE I'D DOUBT IF THEY ARE COMPLAINING!!!"

I'd like to leave you with two final pictures and a little video.  The last two pictures are of Charlie and Chase with Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings.  Four days ago one of the ducklings got stolen.  As you'll see in the first photo of the little quackers the second to the last duckling was the one that's been duck-napped...so Chase obligingly filled in.  (Please note for realism I saw that she purposely fitted her feet over the two metal holes left from the duckling statue that was pulled from the ground.