Visit Historic Concord, MA

Places to see in Concord Massachusetts.

If you plan on visiting Boston this fall, you should include Concord Massachusetts on your trip. Here are some places to visit in the Concord area.

Walden Pond
There’s nothing like enjoying a nice fall day by walking around Walden Pond. Enjoy the sites and sounds of Concord Woods and enjoy scenic views of the fall foliage reflecting in the pond.

The Wayside and the Orchard House
The Wayside in Concord, Massachusetts is a National Historic Landmark lived in by three American Literary figures: Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Sidney and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Alcott House is where Lousia May Alcott wrote her books and it is kept the same way it was when the Alcott’s lived there.

Old North Bridge
The Old North Bridge is the site of the famous battle between the Minuteman and the British. You’ll learn about the reason why the British wanted to cross the bridge and who the Minuteman were.

Colonial Inn
Enjoy an afternoon tea or lunch at the Historic Colonial Inn. The Colonial Inn was where many solders were treated during the Old North Bridge battle. Did you know that directly across the street from the Colonial Inn is a grave stone marker of a British Solder? Some people think the building is haunted.

Red Sox Baseball Tonight

MBL.com sent the following back on April 2, 2007. Let's see what the new faces can do about making 2 - 0 against the Indians!

Red Sox ready to roll
Three high-profile additions (Daisuke Matsuzaka, J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo) hope to blend in with the returning core to give the Red Sox what could be a special team. It all starts today - Opening Day 2007 - when the Sox travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals at 4:10 p.m. ET.

I can't believe that I didn't blog the 2004 World Series. Won't make that mistake this year!

Baseball Night in America

Yankees and Red Sox are meeting tonight for an exciting series in New York. While the Yankees are 8 games back, there's still plenty of time for them to catch up. They are a very talented team, so anything can happen. You can bet Terry Francona isn't thinking about the playoffs this week. Its one game at a time.

The Yankee and Red Sox rivalry is the best of any sport. Over the past five years the rivalry has intensified, with some Red Sox players joining the Yankees, the most notable is Johnny Damon. There has been numerous quotes between the two owners, with the most notable being called “the evil empire” by the Red Sox.

Expect an exciting game tonight as Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-10, 3.76) goes up against Andy Pettitte (11-7, 3.69). Andy Pettitte is the best pitcher that the Yankees have in the current rotation.

How this series plays out will certainly determine if the Yankees will be playing much baseball in October.

Go Sox!

Summer Cleaning

Fun time with cleaning!

The above graphic describes what I'll be focusing on this weekend, cleaning the basement. I did this a few weeks ago and made tremendous progress, but the task is yet to be completed.

Yesterday I went to Target to get some more storage container bins. They had a good deal on 18-gal bins for $4.99. The only thing I don't like about them is that they aren't clear, so you can't see the contents inside the bin. I picked up three bins anyway.

The best place to get bins is at Target. Usually they have some bins on sale every week. When they run out, wait a couple of days and they will probably have it back in stock. Over time you'll see that they usually have the same bins on sale over and over again.

The Container Store has the best selection of clear bins, but they have it at a premium price. I would recommend getting bins for valuable items such as baseball cards and letters that you want to keep. The Container Store bins are pretty good quality.

Walmart has a pretty good selection of bins but I didn't find them much cheaper than Target. Walmart selection did seem a little smaller than Target, maybe Super Walmarts carry more inventory? Walmart quality is pretty good, but the bin section seemed very unorganized.

I recently purchase a few bins at Ikea and found the quality to be pretty good. My only complaint is that they charge extra for the lids. Not sure of the logic behind that: $3.99 for the base and $1 for the lid. I can't think of any reason of why someone would not want a lid. The bins are pretty good quality, almost like the Container Store and they stack very nicely.

My advice to those looking to declutter their basement/attic is to use lots of small bins that are stackable. I find sorting things between smaller bins makes things easy to find later on. For example, I have several small bins that I use to store some office supplies, that way it will be easy to find pens/paper and notebooks when I am looking for them. Use larger bins for storing seasonal clothes and large holiday items.

Its going to be a fun weekend decluttering the basement. I plan on having a Yard Sale in a few weeks so I need to decide on what to keep and what goes in the yard sale.

Mountain Dew

Pretty soon Mountain Dew's Pitch Black will be back on the store shelves. Expect CVS, Stop and Shop and other stores to have plenty of Pitch Black just in time for the Halloween season. Mountain Dew Pitch Black combines the great taste of Mountain Dew with a blast of black grape flavor. It follows in the footsteps of Mountain Dew LiveWire, which grew the Mountain Dew trademark more than 10% during its inaugural six-month run in 2003. Building on that successful strategy, Mountain Dew Pitch Black will capitalize on excitement leading up to Halloween with a shorter, 10-week on-shelf stretch beginning very soon. Its one of my favorite drinks and worth the 100 calories...

Sagamore Rotary

Today the Rotary at the Sagamore Bridge will no longer exsit. Going to Cape Cod via Route 3 will no longer be the same. Its esimated that the new flyover will cut traffic down by 20 minutes.

I don't think this is the end to Cape Cod traffic at the Bridge. On Saturday and Sundays the traffic off the Cape is caused by the merge of Exit 1 traffic, right before the bridge.

Weight Watchers

Today I reached my 10% goal at Weight Watchers! In 11 weeks I lost 10% of my weight!

• Go to Weight Watchers with a Buddy.
• Go to a meeting every week and mentally challenge yourself to loose weight.
• Eat less FAT!!
• Write everything down. If it goes in your mouth, then write it down! Learn the Weight Watcher's Point system, and stick with it.
• Eat Healthy snacks! I enjoy Frosted Mini-Wheats as a snack. Mini-Pretzels are great too!
• Goto a Weight Watcher's meeting with a great team leader and an interactive group.
• Drink lots of water!
• Eat more Fruit and Vegetables.

Salvi's Barber Shop

If you are looking for a Barber Shop that equivalent to the West Concord Barber shop, this one is pretty good.

Towns of Cape Cod

Here is a useful list of Cities and Towns of Cape Cod:

Visiting Boston

Don't forget to bring a rock with you to Walden Pond. Here's why: The actual site of the cabin is marked with granite pillars. Nearby, is the stone cairn first started by Rollins to mark the spot of his discovery. It has become a tradition for visitors to add a rock to the pile. If you ever decide to visit Thoreau's cabin site, be sure to bring your own rock.

Also, if you plan on going on the Duck Tour of Boston, be sure to book it in advance as they do sell out! http://www.bostonducktours.com/

You mention Art Museums, don't forget to check out Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Art: http://www.gardnermuseum.org/

Don't forget other sites in Boston:

• Cheers (The one across Boston Commons)
• Fenway Park
• Old North Church
• Harvard Square (Out of Town News, and Harvard Coop)
• Burdick - Great Place for hot cholate in Harvard Square

• Alcott House
• Wayside House
• Old North Bridge
• Visit Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
• Visit Walden Pond
• Walk the Minuteman trail