WEEKEND WRAP-UP

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I are now back home in the ATL after a superb weekend with Elder Daughter...the best trip we’ve had up there in quite some time.

Logistics were convenient, with us staying in a B&B fairly close to Elder Daughter’s place. Even more important, the weather cooperated. Sure, it was cold, but we expect it to be cold in Boston in early March. That’s like the sun coming up in the morning - it’s normal, fer cryin’ out loud!

You’ve already heard about the Major-League Eating we did over the weekend. But Elder Daughter, She Who Must Be Obeyed, and I also got some serious shopping accomplished in between Face-Stuffing Exercises. Hell, we even sucked Kody in on the action. Some nice dress shirts for me and shoes for E.D. at Filene’s Basement (soon to be history), a book for Nephew William at Curious George, some Asian tchotchkes and silk scarves at Intara Wut (where the owner’s husband turns out to be a former Long Island Boy like me). Vintage clothing (a sweater for E.D.) from Karma on the North End. SWMBO even found a pile of Wade Whimsies at a secondhand shop on Mass Ave over by MIT.

There was plenty of entertainment, even if you weren’t looking for it. At the MIT student center, we enjoyed watching a young man dancing his brains out on one of those “Dance Party” video games, where you jump around on an electronic footpad, following the machine’s choreography. Just watching this kid got us all sweaty - he claims to have lost 25 pounds over the last four months from playing, and it’s easy to see why.

We also visited the MIT Museum, an essential Cambridge stop for an engineer like me. Seeing Harold Edgerton’s high-speed flash photographs and equipment was a special treat, but there was plenty of other fascinating stuff. The place is worth the price of admission for the holography exhibits alone.

Before leaving Cambridge, of course, we had to visit L.A. Burdick and have some of their Kick-Ass Hot Chocolate. Starbuck’s may have their Chantico - and, don’t get me wrong, I think the Chantico is amazing - but, well, I’ll see your Chantico and raise you a Burdick’s Hot Chocolate. Bittersweet, rich...Holy Crap, is it good. A couple of madeleines for roughage, and I was on a sugar ’n’ theobromine high the rest of the afternoon.


L.A. Burdick. We got ya hot chocolate, right here.

All too soon, it was time to head back to Logan to catch our flight back home.

It was tough saying farewell to Elder Daughter, but we’ll be seeing her again soon - the Mistress of Sarcasm’s graduation is less than three months away!