day trips

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Spectacle Island

June 6, 2011 in Travel by traveleatlove | 11 comments

My summer weekends are pretty much all going to look a little like this:

With a little of this thrown in

There’s sunshine and blue skies and blue seas, a little bubbly, sandwiches, fruit, and dips. It’s a whole lot of fun but not great blogging material at all, and as someone who hates reading/seeing the same thing over and over in blogs, I will spare you the weekly details.

BUT we are still on track to do lots of fun Boston area day trips, and this weekend we made our way to the first of several Boston Harbor Islands, Spectacle Island for some fun in the sun with great friends.

The dock staff at Spectacle were awesome, helping us newbies pull into dock and even making some pretty knots to keep us tied up. In addition to private boats, Spectacle can be easily reached by MBTA ferry, and it is a great day trip and escape from the city.

Spectacle Island has a varied history that included farming, a quarantine hospital, a glue factory, resort hotels and a garbage dump. The island was recently the receiving ground for excavated material from the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project. The site is being returned to the public for recreation as a park is constructed over the landfill. (http://www.nps.gov/boha/historyculture/facts-spec.htm)

The island offers a nicely groomed walking or running trail, lots of beautiful flowers and birds, and as the island with the highest point in the harbor, some fantastic views of Boston and the other islands. We caught Aer Lingus flying in (and waved, as we do every single time!) We hiked one of the trails and then grabbed some food before heading back to the boat to sun ourselves in it’s protected little harbor, away from the wind and the waves.

The island also offers a green visitor center with information about the island, shelter out of the sun, clean, nice bathrooms, and a Summer Shack snack bar. And in the summer, they have events such as Yoga for Kids, jazz concerts, clam bakes, and more. It really is the perfect place for a little stay-cation in Boston!

Our day ended on a not-so-great note, boating wise, but we were all safe- stressed and a little shaken-but safe nonetheless. Other than that it was the perfect way to spend a Saturday.

What kinds of things do you like to do on a stay-cation?

Tags: Boston, Boston Harbor Islands, day trips, New England, Travel

Southeast Massachusetts Day Trip

April 4, 2011 in Travel, wine by traveleatlove | 11 comments

Staying true to our plan of a day trip a weekend, yesterday we embarked on another New England adventure, this time a visit to our favorite local winery, Travessia Urban Winery in New Bedford, plus a few extra stops that made for a perfect day. We were joined by our soon-to-be-married friends Adrienne and Matt; wine and beer tasting along the Coastal Wine Trail, for those of you in MA and RI, is a great way to spend a day catching up with friends.

Our first stop was lunch in New Bedford at Ginger Grill and Tea House, a great Korean restaurant just a few doors down from Travessia. This was our second time eating at Ginger Grill, and we once again loved the food, the clean, calming atmosphere, the prices, and the friendly staff. Starting your day full of fresh, flavorful food from Ginger Grill is the way to go.

I had the vegetarian Bibim noodles with a complimentary side of carrot kimchi salad and a pot of spicy ginger tea.

The flavors were so bright and clean, and I felt really good after lunch. An added bonus, the compostable plates!

Once we had eaten, we walked down to Travessia for a tasting. While I love all of their wines, I was most excited to try a new release, Dilemma. Unsurprisingly, we loved this wine, which is a mix of 60% Pinot Grigio and 40% Pinot Noir, both Massachusetts-grown. It is an impressive, well-balanced wine with a nice, almost mouthwatering acidity and a hint of sweetness. With the big movement toward local food, it is incredibly exciting to have access to such high quality wines that are grown and made just under an hour from Boston.

After we finished our Travessia tasting, we decided that, since we were so close, we would check out the Just Beer brewery and tasting room down the road in Westport.

Just Beer, formerly the Buzzard’s Bay Brewing Company, is a small brewery on a beautiful property, offering tastings on Saturdays only during the Spring. While we visited, we tasted both a light beer, their Golden Flounder, and a slightly darker, more amber ale, Moby D.

Not usually a fan of light beers, I did enjoy the Golden Flounder and think it would be perfect for a hot summer day. But we liked the Moby D the best and decided to bring some home with us.

Our next stop was right down the road, Westport Rivers Winery. If you live in Boston, you may have tried one of Westport Rivers’ delicious sparkling wines. I definitely have enjoyed their Blanc de blancs on more than one occasion, but they have so much more than sparkling wine!

The Westport Rivers tasting room and store are located in a beautiful old farmhouse overlooking the currently bare vineyards. There will be leaves of green someday, New England. Someday.

The tasting menu for the day was a mix of still and sparkling wines including what ended up being my favorites, the Westport Brut, Rkatsiteli, and the Pineau de Pinot dessert wine. I loved the toasty, brioche-like nose and flavors of the Brut. The Rkatsiteli, besides being fun to pronounce (the R is its own syllable!) is a grape originally from the country of Georgia and produces a fresh lemony wine with some nice mineral notes, and the Pineau de Pinot is a lovely pink dessert wine that is not too sweet at all. The tasting room staff recommended it mixed with bubbly for a nice little cocktail. Yum.

We finished up our day with a drive over to the lovely Horseneck Beach and an early dinner/second lunch at The Back Eddy. I think we were all a little tired from the fresh air and tastings at this point, and it was nice to sit back with some clam chowder while looking out at these views. I can not wait until summer!