Mar and Mel take on Boston

This weekend one of my best friends from college came to visit me here in Boston. The weekend could not have been better.

We started off with grabbing dinner and drinks at the Sunset Cantina. Their margaritas were outrageous - huge variety and so delicious. Their food was really good too and it was great to be able to catch up over dinner since we don't get to talk very often (minus daily M Club texts).

(Us with our Cantina Classic and Red Malibu margaritas. I went with Red Malibu in honor of my Melibu.)

Saturday was a day jam packed with adventures all around Boston. After getting our Starbucks fix and a minor moment of panic where Mary thought she lost her Charlie Ticket, we were off to the Sam Adams Brewery. I have now been on both the Harpoon Brewery tour and the Sam Adams tour and I liked them both equally. Harpoon allows you to see a bit more of the brewing process while Sam Adams has a bit less to look at but a more relaxed environment.

(Tasting our first beer at Sam Adams.)

The tour was great because not only is it free, but we were able to sample three different beers and then hop on a "party trolley" to take us to Doyle's. The party trolley was driven by a man named Jason, who had one of the thickest Boston accents I have encountered. In addition to playing fantastic music, providing a disco ball and light show and driving while standing up, Jason gave us a great pop-culture history lesson of Doyle's. He ended every sentence by saying some variation of "DOYAUL'S!" or "LET'S GO TO DOYAUL'S!" or "DOUBLE FIST PUMP DOYAUL'S!" (Please note, all of this happened before 1 p.m..)

Doyle's was really great. Mary and I shared an order of the best onion rings I've ever had and each had a cup of some fantastic New England clam chowder. And when you show your brewery tour ticket and order a Sam Adams beer, you get to keep the pint glass it comes in!

(Can I get a double fist pump for Doyle's?!)

After our beer adventure, we headed back in town and spent some quality time shopping and wandering through the Boston Commons and Newbury St.. Aside from being a bit windy, we couldn't have asked for nicer March weather to wander around downtown aimlessly.

Post-naps and showers, we rallied again and made our way downtown once more to Faneuil Hall for dinner. Faneuil Hall is one of my favorite areas in Boston and I unfortunately don't go there enough. The area feels so historic and has such a great colonial-Boston vibe. We were able to meet up with Laurissa, Alyse, Jimmy, Karl, and Dave to grab dinner at Clarke's.

We next headed up to Fenway so we could watch the MSU vs. Harvard basketball game at the MSU bar - The Baseball Tavern. To be honest, The Baseball Tavern is not one of my favorite bars, it's not really anything special; just a run-of-the-mill sports bar with far too much Red Sox paraphernalia. But I do love being surrounded by fellow Spartans on game day. Glines came and met up with us as well and it was fun to cheer on another Victory for MSU together.

(This photo is a result of trying to take old-fashioned family portraits.)

Mary's plane left Sunday evening but that still left time for us to grab brunch at Daedalus and take a quick tour of Riverside Boat Club. All and all, it was a fantastic weekend and I'm sad to see her go.