Weekend in New England

I am in Boston, Cambridge actually, for the weekend. My wife is turning 50 this year, which she finds totally traumatic, and so we are here to meet up with a bunch of her high school friends, all in the same boat, for, well, I'm not sure. I guess a celebration? It seems like all kinds of fun to me. My wife was in the intersection of two social groups in high school- there were several overlappers apparently, with representatives of both groups in on the event. Between this and the usual group dynamics silliness that comes with this kind of thing, I've been pretty entertained by the e-mail thread planning the whole escapade. Hopefully the actual event won't be a letdown.

We flew up this afternoon, delayed by an hour for reasons unknown, but safe and sound. We are accompanied by our 18 year-old daughter, who is kind of peculiar company- walking 10 feet in front of us as we went to to a restaurant, only talking to us when she wants something, unless something suddenly interests her in which case she talks for several minutes nonstop. Girls are funny.

We had a nice dinner and then went to bed. This morning I find myself in my normal situation when we travel. I get up at least 2 hours before everyone else. This is fine at home, but in a hotel room it's a tad inconvenient. So I snuck out, which is what I usually do, had breakfast, borrowed a bike from the hotel and rode along the Charles River for an hour. It's funny seeing Boston this way, being used to doing similar activities in Philadelphia. The two cities are very similar, and one of the pleasant similarities is that they both have bike paths along the river.

Riding a bike on a multi-use path, as they call it, is always an interesting experience, especially on a summer Saturday when it's full of people. It's less about riding than it is about dodging. People with strollers, skaters, and people jogging with headphones on. I don't understand jogging with headphones on. I like music and all, but if you don't like jogging enough to do it without extra entertainment, find something else to do. Plus they're almost as much of a hazard as people driving while on the phone.

I rode from Cambridge as far as the Boston Science Museum, where I tried to cross the river and managed to do so after waiting for a drawbridge to open and close (I know I could have jumped it if I got a good start). Everyone was in a good mood and it was a very pleasant hour or so.