1. My original plan had been to spring out of bed as early as possible, pack a bag, and drive to Massachusetts.
Well, I did pack a bag.
I did drive to Massachusetts.
But, after last night's session at the dining table, I was a little slow getting going.
I got my stuff loaded, put my travel info into my phone, and headed east across the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (the former Tappen Zee Bridge) and eventually headed north on I-95, through Connecticut, into Rhode Island, and eventually on up to Wareham, MA.
I entered Connecticut in nearly giddy anticipation of the fact that every travel plaza I've ever seen a sign for in Connecticut features a Dunkin' Donuts.
I was in desperate need of a cup of coffee and I also had it in my head that two sugary, doughy donuts from Dunkin' would help offset the dregs of the beer still in my system from last night.
I pulled into the first available service plaza, stood in line for nearly ten minutes, and ordered a cup of Midnight Dunkin' dark roast coffee with three milks and a glazed donut and a cinnamon something or other.
As you might expect, the coffee did its job and jolted me much of the way out of my beer session fog and the donuts gave me about fifteen minutes of sweet relief. Yes, the pleasure was short-lived, but, in this particular moment, I loved it and, now that I was coffeed up and sugared up, I returned to I-95 and headed to the Troxstar's parents' house.
2. I exchanged a few pleasantries with the Troxstar's mom and dad (Ellie and Ernie) and piled into the Troxstar's rental Trax (one letter off) and we headed off to the Quincy Adams train station. Hungry, on the way, we stopped at a place called Boston Tavern for lunch -- I had a salmon salad with a Pepsi and water -- and made our way to the train station, got parked, and journeyed on a Red Line train to a Green Line train and hopped off at the Museum stop.
The Troxstar had secured free tickets to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for the two of us and his lifelong friend, Adam.
I'd been driving for nearly four hours. I hadn't quite shaken off the effects of last night's superb beer drinking session.
I wasn't in the best frame of mind for a museum visit, but I gave it my best (if feeble) effort.
We made our way from the top floor to the ground floor and I spotted a room with a bench. An artistic video was playing. I've had very good experiences over the years with videos in art museums, so I sagged onto the bench and watched a piece by Shen Wei entitled Passion Spirit. I think I watched it twice -- or maybe one and a half times. The content of the piece didn't have much of an impact on me, but I enjoyed its photography/cinematography. I think because the movie Visions of Light was fresh on my mind, I watched Passion Spirit with an imaginary narrator speaking in my head, talking about light and shadow and distortion and soft focus and other such things.
3. Normally, the mile and a half walk from the museum to the Charlesmark Hotel, wouldn't be a problem for me, but I was tired, still recovering from Sunday night, and I'm not in very good physical condition right now. A walk that should have only taken us about 30 minutes dragged on longer than that because I kept needing to sit and rest. It was embarrassing, but it was what it was.
Once we reached the hotel, I told the Troxstar and Adam that I needed some time to lie down. They went about a block away to Joe's Bar and Grill on Newbury and I joined them around 45-60 minutes later. I was a bit refreshed, ordered a gin martini before having an order of Kung Pao(ish) chicken wings, and enjoyed yakkin' away with Adam and the Troxstar.
We returned to the hotel. I dove under the covers of my queen bed immediately and fell into one of the deepest sleeps I've experienced in months, if not years.
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