ROADTRIP! I know already you have to be jealous. If you aren't you should be! This was an amazing trip! I'm still not sure how we fit in as much as we did! We had three jam packed days of travel and fun....and driving sure, but more fun than driving!
We started out driving overnight to Boston. Good times! Since we'd all been to Boston before we skipped the more touristy items and went straight to what really matters: cannoli! We tried out the two well known, and arguably best Cannoli shops in Boston: Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry! So where did we weigh in on the holy cannoli wars? Well, that was too easy.
We love Mike's Pastry! Not that we didn't love the cramped shop and slowest moving line ever at Modern Pastry, but, as it were the cannoli was no where near as good either. But beyond that, here's what I love about Mike's: I went there two years ago, and a woman who clearly had no business being there asks the guy at the counter "So, what's good here?" The guy looks at her and sarcastically says "The customah sahvice." Everyone in the store, and the line around the corner starts laughing at this. Of course they did! You are in the home of cannoli kings! Are you kidding?!?! And then there's this last time. I ordered and dropped my change purse, and when the same guy came back from getting me my change said "Hey, should I throw this down there too?" And I laughed again. I love that guy! Not to mention how much we LOVED the florentine cannoli and the perfect crisp of the chocolate dipped cannoli. Fantastic. True, true love.
Next stop: lunch with some friends in Boston! We headed over to Trident Booksellers & Cafe which is one of the 2010 Boston Best Neighborhood Restaurants! And it was worth it! None of us had a meal we didn't like! I had the Morning Monte Cristo! So yummy! Two fried eggs, Canadian bacon, raspberry preserves & cheddar cheese between two slices of challah bread French toast. Needless to say I'll be making that for breakfast at home a lot more often!
Next up we took a nice drive up to Salem for some witch hunting! Halloween is simply crazy in Salem. Tons of ghost tours, haunted houses, graveyards, and the like! If you are looking for some good Halloween spirit, this is the place to go! We weren't so much so we took a drive up to the cute little seaport town of Newburyport, MA! We really enjoyed walking down the cute town squares and had a lovely dinner at The Grog before continuing on to New Hampshire!
Next up: The Goffstown Pumpkin Regatta!
Goffstown, New Hampshire is an adorable little town that for the past seven years has held a pumpkin regatta! They hallow out giant pumpkins and build boats onto them, dress in costumes and race them across a river having a water fight along the way and a ton of fun!
The festivities start with the dropping of the giant pumpkin! Take that Big Apple! They got a five hundred pound pumpkin to drop! You aint' got nuttin' on that!
After watching the three failed attempts at dropping the pumpkin, and the final success we moved on to pumpkin games! They had mini pumpkin golf! Pumpkin toss! Ring toss onto a pumpkin stem! and of course: the pie eating contest! My friend Tristan and I competed! We got slaughtered of course, but had a hilarious time trying to win. All I can say about that is, it was not an award winning banana creme pie! But I tried my best! I was the only woman competing in the adult age category. I just couldn't hack it against the big boys. Wow, could some of those guys eat pie!
After that we went to watch the kids compete in the wagon relay races, and the mini pumpkin races down the river! It was such a fun day with all the lovely pumpkin themed activities! I wish there were a festival like this here in DC!
Next up was the actual event: The Pumpkin Regatta! My personal favorite was the the pumpkin boat the fire department built in the shape of a dragon! It breathed fire! So creative and wonderful! I also really loved the pirate and his forethought to use an umbrella to block out all the water being shot at him with water cannons! So awesome! And I really loved when a little kid yelled at Noah that he was losing the race. I couldn't stop myself, I just turned to the kid and said "The arc was built to float. Noah wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere." Okay, so it sounds dumb now, but I swear the people I was standing with thought it was hilarious.
If you live in New England or get the chance to visit next year I'd highly recommend the Goffstown Pumpkin Regatta. It was a really fun day, and well worth the drive!
Cheers!
Cheers!