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from the second we drove into Boston, i knew jake loved it. and who wouldn't? we headed to our hotel - downtown in the financial district - really nice and right in the heart of the city. we got settled in, after a close call with the valet and our big giant expedition, and then started walking. we went down to fanueill hall and quincy market, and had lunch at a place called ned devine's irish pub. jake picked it because it said it was irish. not very much irish about the reuben he had. or the chicken panini brady had. andy and i had good ole clam chowder though. then we walked through boston common, over to emerson. it was an absolutely beautiful day, sunny and mild, and there were all kinds of people out and about. emerson is very impressive. buildings are beautiful, very well-kept, the people are all nice - and of course - it's in boston. the film program building was the last stop on the tour, and we met 'crazy pete' - i think he's the head of the department - who spoke very passionately about what kind of experience kids would have at emerson. sold. then a looooong walk back to the hotel, note to self: don't wear high heels on the bricks of Boston - and then on to the Chart House for a wonderful dinner. as we were laughing about something i looked across the table at jake, who looked so happy and excited, and got choked up for the first time on the whole trip. just for a second. i hope he'll always be that happy.
then we walked home, past a crazy guy screaming something wild out his apartment window, and stopped at an irish bar playing irish music. andy had a guiness, i had a sam adams, and jake facebooked about the bar. definitely the best day of the whole trip! now the real work starts, the long drive home and the 'decision'!
(the picture is the view from the dorm suite we toured - nice.)
on the road again - today's goal Auburn, MA - about 50 minutes outside of boston. jake was supposed to do an essay on a book for english, and email it to his teacher. he 'misunderstood' the assignment, and had to do it twice!! rocky start to the day. but he got it done, and everybody's excited to see boston. but first, we get to drive through new york. at 4:30. bad timing. lots of traffic but lots of great views of the city too, had fun trying to snap pics out the window of a moving car with everybody yelling out landmarks to shoot. looking forward to getting to boston and seeing emerson.
everybody woke up crabby today. decided against the hershey tour, since it wasn't really a tour but a tour of a 'replica' of the factory that was only supposed to take like 12 minutes. didn't seem worth it from the website. but here's an important lesson, don't believe everything you read on a website. duh right? the temple website looked great and really made the film program sound fantastic. not so much. i could tell from the second we stepped onto campus that jake wasn't feelin' it. neither was i to tell you the truth. we got there way too early (because we skipped the chocolate tour...) and they very nicely offered us vouchers to eat in a lunchroom. we passed. maybe we shouldn't have because the restaurant we ate at oncampus was gross. enough. it just wasn't a match and we moved on. we drove down to annapolis to see friends and their kids. it was great to see their new house, actually a very old house they've completely renovated! - and to see their adorable kids. jake and brady 'babysat' while we went out and had a boatload of sushi. seriously, a boatload. couldn't breathe after dinner, but it was really good. next up, boston.
just a driving day. and our 19th anniversary. yay us! left ohio this morning around 9:30 and both boys pulled out their math homework and got some assignments done. how responsible. drove through the allegheny mountains in pennsylvania, really beautiful scenery. also drove through some tunnels in the mountains that weren't so beautiful. worried they were going to collapse on us! the turnpike system is really interesting, you take a ticket, and don't pay again until it's over. and while we have rest areas, they have service areas, equipped with gas stations and restaurants, which vary wildly. some had starbucks, others had roy rogers (gross). many had hershey's ice cream. now we're near hershey, and plan to hit chocolate town in the a.m. before we head to Temple in Philly. they off to Annapolis to see friends:)
1st official stop: Columbia College in Chicago on Monday. met dad and vicky at millennium park around 11:30, took some pics at the bean, then had a great lunch at a restaurant in the park, and headed over to the school which is smack dab on Michigan ave. location, location, location. jake didn't even notice the torrential downpour as we toured the 'campus', 25 buildings scattered around a 7-block area. he's definitely a fan of chicago. it is a pretty impressive 'front yard' for a school. had a really nice tour guide, recent grad who works at a production company in the city now, also interned for harpo and says oprah's great. who wouldn't.....
columbia touts itself as the largest film school in the u.s., interesting factoid...would have thought there were others that were bigger. definitely an art school - lots of 'alternative' kids roaming around the buildings, which could take some getting used to for me. jake seemed fine with it and says it's now at the top of his list. two more to go.....we'll see. all the excitement tuckered jake out...slept almost all the way to our stop that night near sandusky, oh.
after weeks of online searches, college counseling sessions, and plenty of planning...we took off Sunday afternoon for Jake-a-palooza, the college tour. unfortunately, it was the same day Andy ran his first full marathon and I ran my first half. needless to say neither one of us was feeling too terribly spry. sitting in a car for 5 hours tends to stiffen up the old muscles....not a lotta spring in our step. stopped in glamorous rock falls for dinner, where i laughed so hard i nearly convulsed. jake was trying to tell a riddle which came out a little garbled..."q:what's the only question you can't answer - a: are you asleep?" after thinking about it a couple seconds, i told him that was wrong, you could totally answer the question by saying "no, i'm not asleep". turns out the real riddle was q:what's the only question you can't answer yes to....a: are you asleep". then brady came up with a list of alternatives i.e. are you dead, are you in a coma..are you mute... fun start to the trip.
