The Day the Clampett’s Arrived in Boston

During our East Coast Extravaganza, laundry night for the Hansen clan took place in Bar Harbor.  After two cycles in the dryer in the OUTDOOR laundry room (or I should say laundry area), most of our clothes were still wet, so I adorned our very nice ocean view room in Maine with both our mentionables and unmentionables. 

Because of the rain outside and the 76 degree heat inside, the next morning our room felt like it was at about 600% humidity and it smelled much like the high school locker room right after the big game.  Although our clothes weren’t dripping anymore, they were a far cry from dry. 

So the Clampett’s Hansen’s loaded up the truck van, and drove to Beverly, Boston that is.  Driving in downtown Boston is awesome.  So awesome that it is a good thing I am not a drinking woman.  Even though the signs were not in French, it was still crazy.  Google maps lied to us and just when we found the street we so desperately needed, the sign said “no left turn.”  Our hotel was 500 feet away and there was nothing we could do about it… but blaze another trail.

We finally pulled into the beautiful portico (with mandatory valet) of our very swanky hotel, “The Bostonian.”  In between the BMW’s, Mercedes, Audi’s etc, we found a spot to dock our rental van and then we proceeded to unload.  You could almost hear the banjo playing our theme song in the background.  Our luggage oozed out of the hatch and then it was time to really unload our “stuff.”  After 7+ hours in the car that day, ever tiny object and item we brought with us had been recklessly strewn about by a two year-old who shall remain nameless.  I was trying frantically to stuff things into backpacks and any compartment I could find, but I guess I wasn’t as “breezy” about the process as I thought.  Before I knew it, a  very classy gentleman in a fancy hotel guy outfit, kindly held in his outstretched arms a lovely hotel bag and said, “Madame, would you like this for your things?”  I was so grateful he tried to maintain my dignity.  Not only was he polite but he called it our “things” instead of the word I am sure he was thinking of in his very dignified mind.

The hotel was so swanky and amazing.  The girls loved the lobby but when they saw our room they were really excited.  I was slightly concerned when I discovered it had an electronic mini bar/vending cupboard with sensors.  Seriously, if you even breathe on the thing it charges you.  Fortunately, they left the “fortress of temptation” alone because there was a much bigger distraction for them.  Our room had a separate vanity area  that they immediately turned into their beauty parlor for the next three days.  The girls ran an excellent Day Spa and I was happy to be their number one customer.

It was a bumpy entry into Boston, but once we were settled we felt right at home and were anxious to start exploring this amazing, albeit trafficly-challenged city.