The Boston Dragon Boat Festival is this Sunday! 

I have a few friends popping into town that day from Berkshire Theatre Festival, but I’m hoping to get to stop by the festival at some point.

I think it’s the simple random nature of this event that intrigues me so much. It’s literally a giant event based around racing ancient Chinese dragon boats. It celebrates ancient culture and traditions - plus awesome food vendors and such!

Though I’m working 2-6 that day and have lunch plans with my friends from BTF, I’m still hoping to stop by and will be sure to blog about it!

The weather has been horrible and unpredictable lately in Boston, not to mention that I have been working like CRAZY. So my adventures took a turn towards baking.

The other day I asked my friends in the Student Life office what their favorite cookie was. When I got no response, I decided to improvise using a few classics.

So I could not possibly believe when making this recipe that 7 cups of flour would only make 4 dozen cookies - BUT LOOK AT THESE COOKIES! They’re huge! It totally makes sense. (Though I will admit, I did get a few more than 4 doz out of this batch…)

Why make such large chocolate chip cookies you ask? Well, little do you know there is a surprise inside these guys…

That’s right, folks. This is not a drill. There are oreos INSIDE these chocolate chip cookies. Sounds crazy - but believe me, it’s a beautiful thing.

The folks down at Student Life LOVED these guys, as did my friends in the 5th floor Performing Arts office and my co-workers in the 6th floor office. (Not to mention my roommates…) I’ve got a dozen left that I’m sending to my boys from school, who are missing my baking over the summer.

Hoping to take another walking adventure soon. If not, I’m sure there is more baking in the future! In the meantime, if you’re into baking blogs, my friend Hayley is currently working on a FANTASTIC one that features a ton of great recipes with great photos! Check her out! - hayleybakes.tumblr.com

Didn’t go on any big adventures today, but I did go grocery shopping where I got a little reminder of home while walking down the aisles…

For those folks who don’t already know, Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company is a local juice company from my hometown. #Reppin

This is the map for today’s walk. I’ve been craving Trident Cafe for a few days now and I decided that today was the day to go there. But instead of taking the T or walking directly there, I decided to make a bit of a walk out of it, taking the route outlined on my map. (This is a clear demonstration of my travel technique. I decide where I want to go on my laminated map and used my dry erase marker to draw out my path and highlight major turns.)

First photo of the walk: Just minutes after leaving my street, we’re now on Washington Street - the main drag between Somerville and Cambridge. I find that almost every time I go out for a walk, I start out on Washington. Passes right through Union Square, too, which is an interesting area that I really would like to explore one day. While walking down Washington, I passed a park called Perry Park. Just as I was passing, a blonde girl in a yellow sweater and a blue skirt passed by me. She was walking her dog and and apologized to me when her dog changed sides of the sidewalk. Absolutely too precious. I generally don’t run into people on Washington street who strike me as notably adorable, so it was refreshing to find such a person.

More common that I find something like this on Washington Street. I do not understand at all what this sign is trying to do or say. Who is it talking to? What does it mean? These are the more common things to run into on Washington Street - laughable signs that make very little sense. Or the men I saw a few blocks later who were trying very hard to get into an apartment and acting REALLY sketchy. It was one of those moments where you wonder what you just saw…

Turned on Beacon St. and now crossed into Cambridge from Somerville.

I’ve had a mild obsession with walking around MIT for awhile now, but I found this sign just simply hilarious. A hand painted sign, fading, on a simple concrete block building is their High Voltage Research Laboratory. One of those “Not so sure if I trust this…” kind of moments. Danger, Danger, High voltage.

Given my aforementioned obsession with MIT, I was amazed yesterday when walking with a friend of mine to see this sculpture for the first time. For some reason I had never wandered onto this side of MIT and have now officially put it on my list to explore the campus area around in more depth some night.

Also, as I walked through MIT a couple stopped me to ask if there was a Home Depot nearby where they could make a copy of a key. Uhhhh………………a Home Depot in the city? Really, guys? I told them of a shop I passed a couple days ago that was a bike shop that did ice skate sharpening and key cutting, but also that there were several smaller hardware stores around, one being in Harvard Square I was certain of, but didn’t know if they cut keys.

It seems my explorations have not been long enough for me to be useful at all to tourists. I just find myself rambling to them some useless facts about multi-functional bike shops that I’ve passed.

…I’ve really got to get better at that whole directions thing and stop that whole nonsense information thing. 

Approaching the Harvard Bridge, my chosen passage across the Charles…

As I crossed the Harvard bridge, I was confused by the markings I found for “smoots” on the sidewalk. Some light googling tells me that these markings are from an MIT fraternity prank in the 60s when Oliver Smoot was told by his brothers lay on the bridge so that they could measure the bridge in “Smoots”. They measured the entire bridge to be 364.4 smoots (plus or minus an ear). The markings are written generally every 10 smoots, with some exceptions. (Choosing to mark 69 smoots as opposed to 70…) Traditionally, the fraternity will go out and maintain the markings or add a new marking for their class. The tradition of smoot markings on the bridge is so widely accepted that when the bridge was renovated, the Boston Police requested that the markings be preserved. It is a non-standard unit of length. However, Google calculator and Google Earth both recognize it has a unit of measure. 

So, the next time you find yourself on the Harvard Bridge, think of Oliver Smoot and Lambda Chi Alpha.

I’m getting excited for 4th of July in Boston. The Boston Pops have made several appearances in Vero Beach, FL, but something tells me that a Boston concert on the Esplanade is going to be something else!

View from the Harvard Bridge. I’m still partial to the view from Longfellow Bridge. (I will, undoubtedly, highlight that view in a later blog post…)

I had a lovely dinner at Trident and read a good portion of my David Sedaris book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Forgot to document that part of the journey completely, but it was still lovely.

After Trident, I walked down to the Finale by Emerson because I was craving Creme Brulee and hadn’t had theirs yet. I must say, it was quite good. I still give Ocean Grill top billing for brulee quality, but Finale certainly knows what their doing. It was also wonderful when paired with a Mocha, an appropriate and interesting balance of bitter and sweet.

I was tired and full upon leaving Finale and took the easy way out and hopped on the T to get home. Last photo of the night, my walk down Broadway on the way home…

Excited for my next adventure. I’ve got a whole list of places I’d like to go and places I’ve yet to explore. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

Goodnight and happy wanderings from back home at 52!

Boston Pride March - Back Bay to Beacon Hill (www.bostonpride.org) - The largest gay pride parade in New England is the highlight of a weeklong celebration of diversity. The parade, on the second Sunday of the month, starts at Copley Square and ends on Boston Common. Early June.

Dragon Boat Festival - Charles River near Harvard Square (www.bostondragonboat.org) - Teams of paddlers synchronized by a drummer propel boats with dragon heads and tails as they race 500m. The winners go to the national championships; the spectators go to a celebration of Chinese culture and food on the shore. Second or third Sunday of June.

Central Square World’s Fair - Cambridge (www.cambridgema.gov) - This celebration of unity and diversity features the usual food, crafts, and kids activities - and a twist that elevates the even far above the usual street festival: local and nation rock, jazz and blues musicians. Early of mid-June.

Cambridge River Festival - Cambridge (www.cambridgeartscouncil.org) Memorial Drive from John F. Kennedy Street to Western Ave - A salute to the arts, the festival incorporates live music, dancing, children’s activities, crafts and art exhibits and international food on the banks of the Charles River. Mid-June.

Armed with all the gear I need, it’s time to explore Beantown.

Pair of sneakers, my two favorite maps, an expo marker, Frommer’s Boston, and my water bottle. (Not to mention the blackberry that took this photo…) All the things I need for an adventure!

So anyone who has been following me on Tumblr since before today might notice that I did this cool thing where I deleted all my previous posts :)

I’m changing my tumblr to be a log of my adventures this summer in Boston.

I often spend several hours at a time (basically any spare time when I am off work) wandering around the city finding new and interesting places or finding new ways to walk to my favorite places. So, I figured I could be mildly interesting and blog about these explorations. Enjoy :)