My son Tony joined me in Worcester for 4 days this week, to see the daughter (my granddaughter) that he hadn’t seen for 2 years and the brother that he hadn’t seen for a year and a half. The weather didn’t cooperate – it was cloudy and cool when it wasn’t raining – but it was a successful reunion despite the weather.
He flew in Tuesday afternoon. He was very tired as he hadn’t slept the night before – too worried about getting up at 3:30am to catch a 6:00am flight. We fetched Lili (daughter/granddaughter, almost 18) and went to a late lunch at O’Connor’s Restaurant in West Boylston MA, adjacent to Worcester and very close to where Lili lives. I had a reuben sandwich which was very good, but the appetizer was the best potato skin dish I have ever had.
Then Tony napped.
Wednesday featured a visit to the New England Aquarium. I didn’t join Tony and Lili for that one as I think it is one of the lesser attractions of Boston. Apparently, they thought so too as they stayed just 2 hours while I wandered around downtown, noticing the changes that had accrued in the past year. We then picked up brother/son Frank and had a lunch/dinner at Redbones in Somerville. I have fond memories of Rebones – great BBQ ribs and 30 beers on tap. Well, it has changed. The ribs were still good, but not spectacular, and the draft beers were gone. I can no longer recommend it. Sad. The Redbones in Ft Myers (no relation) is now better than the namesake in Somerville.
Thursday was an afternoon of shopping (back-to-school time for Lili) as Tony bought some clothes for his daughter at the Natick Mall. I then cooked dinner (spaghetti and Italian sausage) for them before we all went to the WooSox game (the Worcester Red Sox, the AAA farm team for the Boston Red Sox) at Polar Park in Worcester. Not the most exciting game – the WooSox lost, 2-1 – but it didn’t rain.
Friday featured a trip to the Museum of Science in Boston. I have been there many times, but my last visit was probably more than 8 years ago. It is a nice museum. Not huge, but there are many exhibits that are interesting for both children and adults. We particularly enjoyed the electricity show. The Van de Graff generator (the huge metal balls) were out of order but the show featured Tesla coils which were pretty impressive in their own way.
One complaint about the MOS – the options to get tickets online and at the self-service kiosks were both wastes of my time. I couldn’t figure out how to complete the sale online and the kiosks seemed to offer only add-on tickets (IMAX movie and planetarium options). I can’t understand how a technology-oriented museum can have such useless software. Annoying.
We had a farewell breakfast with Lili Saturday morning, then Tony and I drove to Frank’s home and picked him up. I dropped them off near Fenway Park with clear instructions to Tony on how to get to the airport (a 15-minute walk and a $3 bus ride). With less than 3 hours to kill, what could go wrong? Well, I don’t know the details (or, more accurately, I received different accounts of the details from Tony and Frank) but the bottom line is that Tony missed his flight. Fortunately, American Airlines rebooked him at no extra cost, so he made it home just a few hours later than planned.
Despite that last-minute glitch, it was a successful and full four days.