It’s been some time since our last post but we’re back writing. I think we needed some time given the stress of the daily news cycle. Given some of the challenges we’re seeing in other sports and parts of society, I think the NHL deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the way they ran the Stanley Cup playoffs this year. It was a truly amazing tournament with tons of exciting hockey, a fantastic job with the broadcast and arenas as well as finding a way to run a 24-team tournament plus countless league, team and support staff and yet, not a single positive COVID case.

But enough of that, back to the memories…

Boston has always been a favorite city of mine and the Bruins were a chance for us to see another Original Six team. We drove up a few days after Christmas and dealt with horrendous traffic on our way but made the best of the car ride. Once we got there, Boston didn’t disappoint. The only downside was that there was no college hockey in town while we were there. That would have rounded out the trip nicely.

We stayed at a hotel right on the Freedom Trail, which was our plan for the next morning. The hotel was a really odd set up with a long hallway within the room and a wall to ceiling glass shower that was exposed to the living area and a curtain outside of the glass. I’m not really sure how to explain this set up but I’d advise anyone traveling with kids to not stay here. I’m not sure these pictures do it justice but it’s a curious layout at best. Although I will say, Colin loved watching Sports Center while in the shower.

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Boston’s history reminds me so much of Philadelphia, it’s probably why I like the city so much. It was brutally cold the next morning when we walked the trail. It’s perfectly laid out and easy to follow, the only problem being that there’s very few places to hang out when the weather isn’t cooperating. We got to see a number of a great sites – Paul Revere’s tomb, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market. We also saw a Chipotle in 17th century building which was a bit odd. Definitely need to visit again when the weather is more conducive to walking around.

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After lunch, Colin started developing a fever. This was pre-COVID so I pumped him full of ibuprofen, let him lay down for a bit and we made our way over to TD Garden for the game. It was awesome to see the Bobby Orr statue (I forgot to wear my Bobby Orr shirt of course) and TD Garden did a really nice job with displaying a lot of the Boston-area sports history, both professional and collegiate. Colin did his usual and picked out the puck and raced to our seats. Sight lines are the arena were really nice and the seats were great.

The game itself was a bit rough, the Bruins didn’t play well, fans were restless and the Devils (of all teams) won. Boston mirrors Philly in so many ways. Colin got to hear some pretty intense language, almost saw a 60-ish year old guy get into a fight with a kid and saw the backup goalies for both teams play. Compared to some of our experiences, the Bruins game wasn’t overly exciting but by this point, these trips are now about so much more than hockey.

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Colin’s Review

Our next trip was to Boston where we got to see and do some incredible things. We drove for a really long time on Wednesday and got checked into our hotel. After that it was really late so got some sleep.

The next day we went to breakfast and got right to seeing incredible sights. The first thing we did was go on the Freedom Trail. We walked the whole thing seeing the Boston Common, Granary burying ground, and the Old Ttate house museum and Boston Massacre site. After that we still had some time so we went to the Quincy Market to look around and get out of the cold. After that we went back to our hotel to get ready for the game.

We went straight to TD Garden and the energy was amazing. Being one of the Original Six it was awesome to be there we had great seats and had a great time, but sadly even though the Bruins made it to the Stanley Cup they lost to the NJ Devils 5-2. After that we got some dessert and went straight to bed. This one of the best trips we’ve taken not only because of the hockey but because of the history and the amazing sites.