A Wonderful Bostonian Day

I told my friend at 11:30am that today I will hit the Pause Button. Wondering if that played out. Keep reading.

Note: The structure of today’s blog is very linear. Let me know if you like it! Or if you prefer other versions?

Voice Note —> AI —> Text Below

Woke up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Realized I left my toothbrush back at the hotel in Portland. Classic. Swung by CVS for a replacement, then headed to Target thinking I could snag a T-shirt—but this was one of those mini-Targets. No dice.

Luckily, Lifetime Fitness was up next. I wasn’t expecting much, but out of nowhere, a guy offered to train me—for free. Full hour. Just… trained me. I prefaced 10 times I will not pay him nor live here so I will not be a future client. Didn’t matter — he trained me. Unreal. Still wondering why he did it? But it was awesome.

Since it’s Saturday, it was also farmers market day. I went to Union Square Farmers Market in Somerville—not to be confused with NYC’s version. And man, the lines. People were waiting 25 minutes for zucchini. I get it. I care about food too. Just not perishable zucchini while I’m on a road trip lol.

Caved for $14 Hazelnut Cacao Granola instead (lasts in the car0

After the market, I met up with a friend. We started at Dick’s House of Sport (yes, that’s the real name), then wandered into the Boston Public Library. That place lowkey felt like a cathedral. Beautiful space. I found a book on pecans—thought it would be about farming. NOPE it was for baking. RIP

Quick lunch: DIPS and a Fresh Roasted Turkey Sandwich. Money. We cooled off indoors before strolling through a nearby park, with water features and headless statues of Martin Luther King Jr. I thought it was cool. Definitely odd though.

While walking back to the car (meter was almost up), I stumbled into the Nuts Factory. Been going there for years. If you know, you know. Don’t fall for the chocolate hype. The nuts are the main event. I grabbed $2 worth of nuts and coconut flakes.

Still had time, so I hit Trader Joe’s and sat in the fruit aisle for 25 minutes for a little supermarket research project.

Then I headed toward Boston Public Market. Main destination: Red’s Best. It’s a seafood spot that partners with the Portland Fish Exchange (if I remember correctly — exchange ppl on this blog you can correct me if I’m wrong).

They hooked me up with octopus. Like, really good octopus. Followed that with some more nuts and tacos—mole pork and carnitas. I legit drank the mole sauce. It was that good.

Highlight of the evening? A fruit market outside the public market—A’s Market. They were closing for the weekend, so everything was a dollar a box. Wild. I couldn’t buy anything, but the footage? Unreal. Will be released soon on my IG.

With a little time left, I revisited Quincy Market for the first time since I was 14. Tried the lobster chowder. Decent, but overall? Not really my scene anymore. Way too touristy.

As I was heading out, I spotted a hot sauce shop. Free samples. Couldn’t help myself. Tried like 15 sauces. Left the place tearing up.

Quick walk through the Holocaust Memorial. I’ve seen it before, but still powerful. Then back to the car and out of the city.

But the day wasn’t over yet.

My drone had broken the day before, so I picked up a $350 Snapain drone at Best Buy—just a temporary fix until my new one arrives Tuesday. Next door was a real Target where I finally found two T-shirts, though it took me 20 minutes thanks to getting distracted trying to book a hotel.

From there, I drove to Worcester (yes, it’s pronounced “Wooster”) to check out some historic diners—since the city is kind of the birthplace of the American diner. My plan was just to scout it for a potential video shoot the next day. But when I got to Boulevard Diner, it felt right, so I shot the video on the spot. Even broke my “no late-night eating” rule for it. Amazing experience in there. Great people.

Afterward, I swung by another diner-turned-bar. Cool vibes, but I didn’t stay long.

Then came the hotel mess. The place I wanted sold out while I was at the bar. I tried a cheaper backup hotel—it smelled like sadness. I dipped. Ended up using my Wyndham points to book a room at La Quinta 30 minutes away. Finally got in, knocked out an hour of work and a little blog writing… then called it.

Farmers Market and more tomorrow

-Jack