Boston and the Cape (with a toddler-as usual)

I finally made it back to the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress last month. It’s a great conference with literally thousands of surgeons, but it’s the first time I’ve been in four years because I’ve been waiting for it to be in my favorite city in the US–Boston. I’ve been three other times as an adult without a child, and I end up repeating a lot of the same things every time I go. This time was even more fun showing our little girl all that Boston has to offer when we weren’t at the conference.

First off, it’s about 3.5 hours on a plane and little one is certainly getting used to plane flights. There weren’t a lot of special tricks we used this time other than making sure we had plenty of wipes, diapers, and a few toys and stuffed animals. Otherwise, pretzels and milk kept her pretty happy even in the middle of the day.

Upon arrival to Boston, we used a car service to get from the airport to our hotel. They had a car seat already installed in the car which made it easy to make sure we all had a safe ride without spending extra time. The car service we used was Boston Airport Express. Their service was outstanding and I highly recommend them, kid or not!

We stayed at The Godfrey Hotel in the theater district. It was a happening spot considering Hamilton was in town! This is a great little boutique hotel with a fantastic hotel bar. We really enjoyed all the drinks (I think we tried all of them), and the bartender was very attentive as well. The rooms were spacious with modern decor and all the right amenities. Room service was a little odd as they didn’t have breakfast. Front desk staff, the concierge, and the valets were all extremely friendly and made a point of making friends with our little girl.

We were pretty exhausted from the day and didn’t want to walk far, so basically right next door we ate at The Back Deck with an amazing fall menu with plenty of pumpkin, pears, and apples on the menu.

We had a free day to enjoy Boston before the conference began so we explored as much as we could while we tried to stay warm (with lattes from The Thinking Cup) on a hop-on-hop-off Trolley Tour. We eventually got off at Faneuil Hall and enjoyed some New England Clam Chowder and lobster rolls while strolling through the shops. We made it back to Boston Common and walked back to the hotel to freshen up. We spent the night in the North End (a MUST when in Boston) by eating dinner at Trattoria il Panino where the lasagna of the night was delicious. We followed it up with boxes of pastries from Mike’s Pastry (also a must in Boston) and had a dessert picnic on our return to the hotel room.

While we were conferencing, our nanny entertained our little one at The Children’s Museum and walking around Boston. Apparently, the museum has lots to do include a room full of bubbles (complete with rain coats) and things for children of all ages.

We had additional lobster rolls at Jacks Catch on our walk from the hotel to the conference center.

We had super friendly service and amazing food at Ristorante Limoncello (another great find in the North End with terrific service) and followed it with dessert at Modern Pastry. I’m sorry Modern fans, but the experience and the pastries at Mike’s were far better.

We enjoyed a fantastic New Englander dinner at Union Oyster House as well. This was my personal favorite because I love comfort food, lobster, and good clam chowder. Plus, it’s always fun hitting up the oldest restaurant in the country!

Once the conference was over, we checked out of our hotel and rented a car. I took an Uber to the airport to pick up the car while hubby stayed back with the little one. We brought our car seat with us, installed it while we packed the car, and made our way to the Cape.

We spent a moment in Plymouth for lunch and to stretch our legs and then made the rest of the drive to Chatham. We had a cute little AirBnB with lots of patriotic flair in a tucked away neighborhood just 5 minutes from downtown. We ate at The Chatham Squire our first night–this would be a great place for fun a night out, a meal with the kids, or hit them on Thursdays for trivia night. The next day we drove up to the Cape Cod National Seashore and walked along the beach, had yet another lobster roll at Mac’s, walked around downtown Chatham to do some shopping, and then ate at Wild Goose Tavern for dinner. It’s a great find in Chatham.

Our last day on the Cape was our first Nor’easter and we stayed at the house and watched football while we ordered pizza from Carmine’s for lunch. We then braved the rain for a meal at Impudent Oyster. To be honest, this was the least thrilling of menus, taste, and service from our entire trip. I probably wouldn’t go back.

We drove back from Chatham to Boston Logan the morning of our departure and traffic wasn’t too awful.

Here’s a list of my favorite things to do/places to go in and around Boston:

Freedom Trail
- If the weather is right, walk the trail to experience someone of America’s most storied cites.
Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour
- Get your tickets at the information center in Boston Common Park.
Boston Duck Tours
Boston Public Library
Boston Public Garden/Boston Common
North End/Italian Food/Mike’s Pastry
Eat all the lobster/lobster rolls/new england clam chowder you can find
Faneuil Hall
Shop on Newbury Street
Day trips to Salem, Plymouth, Portland, Maine, Portsmouth, New Hampshire… just a couple hours in any direction will take you TO and THROUGH many wonderful things.