Red Brick Buildings of a Boston Street

If you have been following along on the travel adventures I share about, you will know that value is at the top of the goals list for me. That doesn’t mean I choose to stay somewhere sketchy, or am too thrifty to enjoy as much yummy food as we can find in a new place though! 10 out of 10 times Justin and I opt to walk a significant distance to see more of the city than to catch a Lyft. In fact, a favorite travel goal is to see how many steps we rack up in a day. I like to choose the non-popular options so the places we go aren’t thick with tourists, and tap into those connections we have across the country in order to catch up with good friends!

Our trip to Boston in February was no exception! We had a blast, but managed to come away from the experience without getting hit too hard in the wallet. I shared some of my favorites in a post here, including airfare tips.

Why Boston? Well, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explore “Beantown” when our good friend, Robert, who was also Justin’s best man, is currently living there. Free place to stay, and a tour guide?! Now that is a deal. We love Robert and were pretty excited to see how he’s been getting along in a very chilly city.

Boston is a step back in time for this Arizona gal. It is one of the oldest cities in America. There are some awesome places to check out in AZ. But we don’t have quite the American history nostalgia available in the red brick buildings and streets of Boston. I enjoyed just walking the streets to see the architecture and the history.

Highlights

There are tons of reasons people visit Boston, from baseball to delicious food. Our visit was a mix of both old and new Boston offerings.

I would highly recommend jumping on the Freedom Trail. There are designated spots to stop that played a significant role in telling the story of the American Revolution and other historical events that occurred. Most, but not all, stops on the trail are free.

I loved my time at ASU, but it definitely lacked the age some of the universities we explored had under their belt. We got an inside look at a Harvard Law Class and the Harvard Law Library thanks to our friend being a student there. They all felt like museums to us! The architecture and the history are mind blowing. Taking a stop on some of their campuses is definitely worth the experience.

We ran into a ballroom competition. Justin and I like to west coast swing and have done a few competitions ourselves, so we of course had to watch for a few heats because it was just so fun and reminded us of our times dancing.

We only hit up two museums, but we lucked out on both with free entrance. I was with the two thriftiest people I know. At the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a personal art collection from Isabella’s travels, there was a courtyard concert of music by a Puerto Rican cuatro (a small guitar) player happening, and we took it all in. The warmth of being inside on the snowy day was marvelous also. We lucked out because it was free on the holiday we visited. It’s also free if your name is Isabella, so there’s that. Interestingly, the single largest property theft in the world occurred here, known as the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist.

At the Museum of Fine Arts Boston we did a speedy tour through the museum towards the end of the day after getting in free. I could have spent all day there though. The museum is very large with so many diverse genres and eras. It’s a staple in the city.

Food

We had the best clam chowder at the Atlantic Fish Company (and I’m not even that big of a fan of anything not salmon). While the cocktails were average price and taste, the views at Top of the Hub were STELLAR. Totally worth stopping by, but just a heads up not to expect anything amazing in your glass.

And my weakness, coffee. We stopped at both Tamper and Tatte. Tamper is located near Tufts, and was a detour off the official Freedom Trail for us. It was perfectly placed next to my favorite few blocks of red brick to explore. There are several Tatte spots, so any you are near I am sure would be worth it. Definitely worth stopping for a coffee at either spot, or maybe even a whole meal!