Storm a comin’. Seriously, the remnants of a tropical storm were coming through the North East today. And Boston just happened to be a place where the rain bands were squalling all day long. I found a break in the storm to get in a five mile run. Parts of it were during a light mist, and the humidity reminded me of North Carolina.
My run was from the aquarium to the Seaport District and back. I added in some of the North End and my run was a great way to kickoff a rainy Father’s Day. While I would have preferred nicer weather, I made the best of it and enjoyed seeing some of Boston on the first day of Summer.
Merri Beth and I were debating brunch versus an early lunch. Rain delays and sleeping in—did I mention we slept in until 9:00 am—OMG, it was amazing. No kids or dogs to wake us up. Both of us got a solid eight hours of sleep. Because we slept in, we missed the breakfast train, so we opted for an early lunch.
We bought tickets for the 2:00 pm whale watching tour combo package with tickets to the aquarium before we headed to Legal Seafood for Father’s Day lunch. We got in early and enjoyed more than enough food. MB was digging on the salmon sandwich while I was into the crabcake sandwich. After a delightful meal, we headed over to the New England Aquarium.
Greeted by penguins, we were excited to see many of the exhibits at the aquarium. We arrived just in time to see some of the seal training, then explored the coral reef and shark tank. The exhibits are really great and it was amazing to see so many different aquatic environments in one place.
We were trying to wrap things up before 2:00 pm so that we could get ready for our whale watching tour. With the rain still coming down pretty steady, we went over to the Boston Harbor Cruises and found out our tour was canceled due to high seas. We were bummed, but understood why. Now we had to come up with a different game plan.
Merri Beth and I took cover in the lobby of the Marriott Long Wharf to figure out what to do next. We decided to scrap any plans for this part of town and grab an Uber over to Back Bay. We got our bags, hailed an Uber, and changed the scene.
By the time we arrived, the rain was starting to fade. We checked into our hotel and settled in. Between disco nap time and blogging, we took a break from the day. We were fully charged to head out and check-in at the Hynes Convention Center for DevNation and Red Hat Summit before heading to the Pour House for dinner.
As we walked into the Hynes Convention Center, we were welcomed by a large red carpet. We got our badges and proceeded to scope out the initial area. Then we went across the street to the Pour House for a beer and some grub.
I remember the last time we were at the Pour House, we scored an epic breakfast. Now, it was time to explore the dinner menu. Harpoon IPA was flowing on tap, so the rest of the story doesn’t matter much. But the food was delicious and this is a great place to score affordable food and drinks.
After a short walk around the block and a stroll down Newbury Avenue, we were on our way to the DevNation kickoff party at Kings Bowling Alley. In pursuit of the conference kickoff party, we met up with co-worker Rikki Endsley. Entering in style, we scored some bowling shoes and settled in at lane number 10.
Rikki ruled the games but I wasn’t far behind. While she took games one and two, I finished strong with a 124 on game three. The rest of our game can be chalked up to good old fashioned fun. And that’s really what a kickoff party for an event like DevNation is supposed to be about—meeting a few new people and having fun.
