Thursday started out wonderfully. I couldn’t sleep the night before, so I stayed up watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (link). Holy crap that movie is crazy. Let’s not spend too long on it though, since I have to go through an entire vacation tonight. 
I wake up a little after 7, brush my teeth and finish up a few last things for my trip. I’ve got my bags packed, my itinerary, my tickets for the bus to Atlanta.. I’m all set. I head out the door and put on some good waking up music for the quick drive to the bus station. Nothing on the radio, of course.. Switch to NPR, for some news at least.
So I pull up to the station and I remember “I’m going to Boston… It’s probably going to be pretty freakin’ cold. I didn’t pack my big warm new jacket. This trip is gonna SUUUUUCK.” But it’s okay! Tucked away in my trunk is my ratty, four or five year old leather jacket. It’s falling apart, it doesn’t look too elegant.. It’s warm. Quite warm. sometimes, uncomfortably so. I plop that into my bag, and I’m off to the bus.
Bus ride was uneventful. I got through security with absolutely no trouble. (This will be important later.) I’m at the airport and through security a good 90 minutes before my flight leaves. Plenty of time to see the airport..get to my gate..then explore breakfast options! After half an hour of exploring and looking for something healthy, I determine that the breakfast options are pretty horrid, and I go for tasty.
Charley’s Subs (photo). Decent food, decently priced (even for airport food). I’m proud of myself, too. I didn’t even eat all my french fries. I hardly touched them, to be honest. After I ate, I took my first picture with Slappy (photo). (Oh gods, I look terrible in this picture. That’s what I get for going with a low-angle shot. Yes yes, I’m fat. I’m exercising regularly, get over it.) Slappy is a beanie baby squirrel I picked up.. hell, I don’t know when or where, but at some point I picked him up. I’m bringing Slappy along for the ride, as an excuse to take more pictures. It worked, I should add.
Breakfast accomplished, I return to my MP3 player and play some Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff. TB:K is a DS game that is a remake of an old NES Tecmo Bowl game. This is pretty much the best football game of all time. I’m listening to a bunch of Terry Pratchett novels. Currently, I’m listening to Men At Arms, the second in the series of Ankh-Morpork city guards. Good books, but perhaps for another blog post. Back to the trip, ya? I board the plane, it’s uneventful.. I take some snapshots (photo 1, 2) when we get closer to Boston. Oh, along the way.. I was told I could look out of the left side of the plane and see New York City. I’ve got a window seat. I’m also on the right side of the plane. 
So I arrive in Boston, pick up my suitcase..which is suddenly missing the WHEELS. The one thing that made this suitcase awesome is that it had wheels and I could just drag it behind me when I needed to. The WHEELS CAME OFF. Not just like.. on their own. They came off between Atlanta and Boston. I will need to replace it at somepoint. Maybe later. My mom, uncle Bob, and Aunt Mary (Marie?) pick me up in a white rental car, and we’re on our way to the Hotel. We’re staying at the Residence Inn (link), in Nashua. It’s cool, ’cause the rooms were HUGE and had an upstairs. Pretty classy place. The wifi wasn’t too great, but that’s alright.
On the way to the hotel, we pop into a place called Giorgio’s Ristorante! (link). It’s a little italian and mediterranean place. The food was pretty good, all things considered. Might not eat there again though. The bread was delicious, and the pesto sauce they brought out for it.. Man… I could fill up on the bread. I didn’t though. I wound up having this: Papa Alex’s Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank (photo). They describe it as: Slow-cooked with fresh herbs, Roma tomatoes and vegetables, served with mushroom-parmesean risotto, the natural braising sauce, crispy fried parsnips and refreshing lemon gremolata. I describe it as: A mishmash of hearty food with a giant bone in the middle. You are what you eat, I suppose. *badum.*
After dinner, we head to the hotel and get to know each other better. After all, this is family! I met my aunt before, but not my uncle. He told story after story after story… after story after story after story… repeat ad nauseum. It was interesting at first, but as the night wore on, his stories got more and more… inappropriate and frankly, kinda disturbing. Ah well. Can’t pick your family. Here’s the photos. Bob: 1 Mom: 1, 2 Marie (Mary?): 1 Slappy: 1, 2.
This concludes thursday! I got plenty of sleep, which is good. ’cause Tomorrow I went to see the city of Boston with one Ian Underwood. It was AWESOME. The end!