I just recently returned back to Monterey after an 11-day vacation in Massachusetts and upstate New York. I flew out of San Francisco on July 13th on the red-eye and arrived in Boston a little before 9AM on Thursday the 14th. My flight was initially delayed due to the fog in SF but then further delayed because of a tire change needed on the plane. Outside of the screaming baby (it really wasn't that bad) the flight was a typical 6 hour flight to Boston on Virgin America and as usual I couldn't sleep.
There were two monumental events bringing me back east; Mike Linehan (a best friend from college) was getting married on the 16th in Mass. and my cousin Alicia was getting married on the 23rd in NY. The timing could not have been any more perfect. Alicia had planned her wedding first so when Mikey was planning his July wedding I graciously asked for it to be either the week before or after Alicia's so that I could make it one big trip; so thanks Mike and Sara!
As one of the groomsman in Mike's wedding I was responsible for setting up the bachelor party. If this wedding had happened about 6 years ago I think things may have been different but I took a more mature approach to it and didn't do anything too crazy. Thursday afternoon was when the bachelor party was supposed to start, with lunch at the Beer Works in Lowell and then off to the driving range in Tyngsboro, MA. I was going to pick up the guys at Mike's parent's place around noon and we'd head out. Unfortunately with the flight delay, and the bus to train to home commute I didn't walk through the door until almost 11:00.
Dad had picked me up at the train station and of course wanted to catch up on everything that had happened over the last 7 months. And I wish I had had the time right then to tell him all about it but I had to start getting ready to head out. I ended up picking the guys up around 12:45 and after briefly saying hello to his 'rents we were off for lunch. While looking over the menu Mike's friend Ben was telling us about how he'd been eating healthy and lost weight and yadda yadda but we told him it was Mikey's bachelor party so that he could ignore all that for one weekend! And man did he EVER! He ordered the DOWNTOWN CROSSING BURGER*
(TWO 10 oz. grilled Black Angus patties, topped with cheddar cheese, bacon & sautéed onions.) I almost had a heart-attack just watching him eat it, but he destroyed it and we were all proudly disgusted!
Once lunch ended we headed up for Max's Golf in Tyngsboro to not only hit some balls but pick up our friend Erik who was getting dropped off around 3:00. After exhausting our desires to become pro-golfers we took off for the big city of Boston. We checked in at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel (not nearly as nice as I had expected) and then after cleaning up set off for a heck of a night.
We left the hotel around 6:00 with a 7:30 dinner reservation and hit up the first bar we could find along the way, Flashes Cocktails! We are still unsure as to whether or not this was a gay bar, but there's definitely a good chance it was; either way we had a good time and GREAT service! Off to dinner to we went and landed at Jacob Wirth's, one of the oldest establishments in the city. With a pretty basic menu and cheap drinks we were able to accommodate everyone's tastes. Once we were done stuffing our gullets and getting harassed by our waitress we started walking for our first Irish Bar called Solas (a recommendation of the waitress).
As Solas got old we decided to head to Crossroads Irish Pub on Beacon St. Here we got to play some beruit against some cocky college kids and see if the old men still had anything left. Thankfully Mike's friend Matt and I did! We almost won but due to my LeBron James' 4th Quarter impressionism we lost in the finals. And even though Mike and Erik were knocked out pretty quickly it was a great time...I even got to catch up with my friends Lia and Jess, two very nice surprises that evening!
It was a long night so the next morning we needed some serious fuel to get us through the rest of the day. I had just the place in mind, The Breakfast Club! I've talked about this place before (RE: Missing You) and it still delivered the best breakfast around. The guys were very pleased with the way that morning began and how the bachelor party ended...and outside of the horrible traffic on the way home it was a really great time...and with that I'm retiring from planning bachelor parties!
Next up: Rehearsal Dinner and impending jet-lag!
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