Alright, I'm back from my Long Beach Island vacation. It was so hot last week (go ahead, say it)_. How hot was it? It was so hot, I envied the frozen remains of Ted Williams.

I will now continue with the cruise story.

We are on our way back down the coast and stop off in Boston. Of course this an early tour and a bunch of people squeezed onto a bus again. We saw the Freedom Trail and the Old North Church. The history of which is immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride. We toured Cambridge and Harvard Yard (where I parked my car) and__.. enough with the history lesson. Where do you want to go when you visit Boston? Cheers, of course. But, since we were on the tour bus, we only stopped briefly to see the exterior of the bar. From what I hear, the inside looks nothing like the show. We were able to visit the recreated Cheers set at the Quincy Market. Jane got to sit on Norm's bar stool. Have you seen the prices at this market. For 10 bucks you can get a corn beef special and nickel back in change. I tried to tell people I was a starving Harvard student and I hadn`t eaten in days. They didn't believe either scenario. So, the four of us drank a few pints of beer and headed back to the bus.

We have to dress for dinner again. I'll take free Baked Alaska over a $10 cornbeef special any day. The Crow's Nest had a Fabulous Fifties night that started at 11:15 pm. I don't know if I would classify the Fifties as Fabulous_.good maybe, but not fabulous. Of course, we stayed until the bar closed not thinking that we had to be up for a tour of Newport, Rhode Island in the morning.

Bright and early we are waiting in line to be tendered to shore. Jane, Al, the bride, and I are together in line and don't you know that two senior citizens butted in front of us and got the last two seats on the boat. So the bride and I had to wait for the next boat. I'll tell you, I am a civil human being, but the thought of kicking the old guy's cane out from under him, brightens my day just a little bit.

We meet up with Jane and Al and we all get on the tour bus. The guy in front of us has a new video camera. How nice. But the guy can't take the video through the window, so he keeps opening the window and running to the other side of the bus and people are ducking and dodging this guy. I would have opened a can of "whoop ass" on this guy if he made me spill my drink. Lucky for him I didn't feel like getting out of my seat. Finally the guy got yelled at by one of the tour guides while he was taking pictures in a historic mansion. Good thing the guide got to him before me.

This was a fun filled day of sight seeing. If you noticed, we did not get to a bar while on the tour. So, I think all four of us were craving a few cocktails. Here's where the night gets a little hazy. This is our last night and it seems that none of us remember where we drank on the boat this night. But I assure you, we drank and it was on the boat. We also had to have our bags packed and sitting outside our door by midnight. I don't know if I like my skivvies sitting ungaurded in a hallway.

They told us to be ready by 8. Well, we were ready by 8 and proceeded to wait from 8am until 11am in the lounge. They didn't even offer a beer. I wouldn't even have minded a Bloody Mary or a Mimosa. Nothing! I was outraged. We were all a little on edge, but the saving grace was the limo ride home. The chauffer was late. I was outraged again. Inside that limo is a case of beer with my name on it and he's late. Finally, we see a limo in the distance, so Jane starts waving her bottle of Dewar's in the air, hoping he would see us. We make a couple of pit stops on the way home for Al. I asked if he was feeling alright and he said ,"I feel fine, I just wanted people to see me getting in and out of a limo."

Note from the Webmaster:

I apologize to Larry for any inaccuracies. You see, this entire trip was recorded on tape and then given to me to translate. This final part was recorded by Jane, Al, the bride, and Larry on Sunday night after enjoying a few cocktails all afternoon. The majority of the tape was, "Is it recording?_Jane?_.Is it recording?_..press the red button_..no, the red button!!!_.I think its recording now." With Al in the background yelling, "I was there!!!"