The Bay State

PIER #54

Bean town?

Samual Adam's beer factory?

click and clack?

Alice's Restaurant?

Hahvahd?

The closest I've ever come to Boston were two guys in my dorm. One was a scion of a rather rich family, who had flunked out of several colleges due to his partying. The other's family had worked the docks for generations. He was much more likable.

ahh, as my Day used to say, Mass A Who Setts. My second favorite state, my best summer as a kid was three weeks in a 200 yr old house (the "new" place) in Duxbury.

and every American should walk the Freedom Trail in Boston at least once. Our founding fathers (and mothers!) would be ashamed of petty selfishness of the current discourse.

I  think  zip  codes  were  invented  to  compensate  for  so  many  mailers  misspelling  "Masssachusetts,"   not  to  mention  the  wacky  eclectic  names  of  some  of  the  towns.

ZENLEVO-- My in-laws live in the town next to Duxbury- jokingly known as"Deluxbury." I love walking across the boardwalk there & going to the beach. The clams, Cambridge, the North End bakeries,( good luck parking! my husband drops me off & he drives around until I finish- it's insane), the small towns, the old houses, the best fried clams & onion rings, a rainy afternoon at the Duxbury library reading magazines, Dunkin' Donuts everywhere, the stone fences, the winding roads, good friends we see once a year,Mama Mia's & Regina's pizza- to die for....
 
I LOVE Massachusetts......

I forgot FenwayPark--- I'm not a sports fan, but Fenway is quite the exoerience. It's "wicked fun!"
 
Plus if you are driving to MA from anywhere below you can stop off in Manhattan & wander around--- Brooklyn for pizza---- it's all good.....

City of Boston is one of the most beautiful cities in the country. It's a combination of old and new, very clean, very European. I love it!

One of the best trips we took was to New England.  We loved it all and Boston was a special treat -- the food, the people, everything.  I think though the Kennedys have to get some credit for having made all those places feel familiar. 

I lived for almost three years in Western Massachusetts (divided into two stays) and swore and swear I'll never live again anywhere where the 'follow-up' question to 'What's the temperature?' is 'Above or below?'  That to one side, it takes a long time to get used to the somewhat sarcastic sense of humor the natives revel in... I never got used to it.  

When stationed at Westover AFB in Chicopee the 'guys in the barracks' with whom I hung out had a standard Sunday 'regime'.  In the early afternoon we'd head out to nearby Mt. Holyoke College and have coffee in the student 'hangout'.  (We were invisible; no one talked to us and we understood.  This was during the Vietnam War.)  Then we'd drive up to Amherst and wander around the University of Mass campus, reminiscing about our own college days.  (Again we were invisible.)  Then off to 'The Quabbin' (the gorgeous Quabbin Reservoir, with no building permitted in the cachment basin) and let the cold north wind blow across us as we admired the view...  Then off to Belchertown and an ice cream and soda shop we liked.  Belchertown was an interesting place because most of the young guys in town were strung out on heroin (which made them both less attractive to and less attracted to young women), and the young ladies loved us.  (And this during the Vietnam War!!!!) Belchertown was known as a place you could 'find a date' very easily...  Then off on the last leg, back to Chicopee Falls, where we'd warm up (by now it was sundown) at the Big Boys hamburger joint near base and flirt with the waitresses, drink cup after cup of coffee, eat apple pie, and discuss everything from philosophy to film to politics to whatever.  And (finally) it was time to go back to base -- and the 8:00 p.m. showing of some war movie or another at the base theater.  We did this week after week after week (except when we'd get involved in a two-day marathon Avalon Hill game (with those hexagonal markers) of 'Battle of the Bulge'.  To this day I know that the Germans simply COULD NOT have ever won that contest.  Every single game came out in some variation of the same: the Germans ran out of fuel for their tanks before they could reach (and capture) Rotterdam....  Massachusetts was a strange place then.... it felt good (albeit strange) when I ended up in Korat, Thailand, mostly because the locals were friendly.... It's always a bit weird when one feels more at home out of the U.S. than inside it........

Another Western Massachusetts place (undoubtedly long gone) was 'Ma Manning's Hanger 13', a bar featuring live bands and an enormous softball field in back.  Ma Manning, in addition to having an alcohol 'issue' was a softball fanatic and her 'joint' was the place for softball!  The bar was a very strange place.  One third of the habitues were 'over 45' alcoholics, one third were young Air Force enlisteds like me, and one third were outlaw bikers.  We early learned to steer away from the biker chicks (one guy ended up having his face slashed with a concealed razor blade when he pursued one young lady more than she wanted).  As for the old alkies, well... once one biker gang threw smoke bombs into Ma Manning's since they had a beef with the bikers drinking inside -- and everyone bailed out into the parking lot except for the hardcore alkies.  They just endured the smoke and kept on drinking.  Yes, they WERE pathetic!  And (in closing) though I've read since about places that had the band(s) protected by a chickenwire barrier, Ma's was the only place I've ever visited that had such a system in place.  Frankly, I don't think it was needed, since I never saw anyone pay much attention to the bands....  

Legal Seafood Restaurant

One of my best vacations (and it was only a long weekend) was spent on Martha's Vineyard. It was my first time there - I had dreamed about it since I was a teen.  There is actually a nudist beach there - it was September, and still warm enough to sun on the beach.  My 13 year old daughter was there, so the men kept their newspapers in their laps!!!
 
My daughter made me promise that if we ever were to win the MegaMillions lottery, we will relocate to Martha's Vineyard. (Maybe we will check out Nantucket before we decide!)

Autumn; trees ,fields, 42nd lat....that covers a lot of country....42&+ eqauls spectacular views

What I  like best about Massachusetts, is Connecticut.

We've been through Ma. a couple of times on our way to Maine. Both times getting the feeling we had somehow drifted into the "twilight zone". I can't acurately articulate why the feeling came over us...maybe it's the fact that Ma. is so "yankee"...and being from Ky. it's just not our cup of tea (pun intended). I apologize here and now to those who love it. Some people, places and things are not for everyone. Ma. happens to be that place for me.   We love Maine and New Hampshire but, would have to put Vermont on our not to do list also. Driving through Vermont was a real disappointment for us. Living in Ky. we've seen some pretty seedy looking abodes in her Eastern environs. But every part of Vermont we saw has Eastern Ky. beat in seediness. Apologies again to those who love Vermont...it's often said "your mileage may vary"...for us Ma. and Vt. gave us very low MPG.  Again...these comments are not meant to rile...just our personal experience.

Following galgito's thought what I like best about Connecticut is New York.

Any news about Cuukoo? 

Hey, Kentucky! You are absolutely right!

No place is for everybody, and aren't we glad of that? We left the Arizona desert to move up here. So many people just love it down there, and I don't get it at all.

One more true story from Western Massachusetts from the 1970s.  It's the only time I was asked if I could arrange a 'hit'..... I met a woman a bit older (and more than a bit larger) than me on a bus trip back from New York City to Springfield and -- being a 'deprived' bachelor -- I offered and got a phone number (one which actually was hers!!!).  The fact she was married was of minimal interest since I had 'one thing on my mind', and I was not a particularly picky guy.  (Again, military guys during the Vietnam War were about as popular in Massachusetts as Arab terrorists are today in Israel...) After a couple of 'hot dates' (no details, folks!) she asked me -- because of my Sicilian-American heritage, no doubt -- if I knew anyone who could 'make her CPA husband disappear'. (They lived in affluent East Longmeadow and I suspect she coveted the house.) "Nope," I told her (truthfully).  And I left it there.  And shortly thereafter our relationship faded away....  Since then I've thought I should have 'done something' back then, but my only contacts with police officers was of cops confiscating fireworks (and then giving them to their own kids) and busting friends of mine for smoking marijuana.  I was about as likely to report someone to the police as the average Afghani is to report a neighbor to 'coalition forces' because he has admitted to placing an IED.  In short, I kept my head down and my mouth shut.  I hope she never found someone to 'cap' her husband and did the conventional thing: take him for everything she could in a divorce court.  I was then about 24 years old and she was in her mid-30s.  She was one of my early encounters with 'The Dark Side' of Massachusetts.  I wonder if she's still among the living and -- if so -- what her life story has been.  One more mystery buried and best left in the snow.....

Never been anywhere in New England, but I've always wanted to go. I do enjoy Cape Cod potato chips with a bottle or two of Harpoon IPA while watching the Bruins play. And that's only if one scratches the surface of the Bay State. Oddly enough, Of Plymouth Plantation arrived in the mail just the other day, and although it may be sacrilege to drink whilst reading it, I may be protected from the wrath of the Puritan Forefathers, so long as my beverage of choice is a Sam Adams.

Jalopkin: Love the new flathead but the intake system has me baffled...?
 
 
 
Kristina: Yes if the whole world liked the same things it would be a very dull world indeed. I do agree on the Az. desert though. My wife and I prefer the mountain area around Flagstaff down to Sedona. The drive between the two was an unexpected treat when we were out there visiting the Grand Canyon and the environs. Oak Creek Canyon is almost as inspiring as the Grand...

I have heard that there is a guy w/ a gourmet hotdog cart in Boston. As God is my witness I will find this man this summer. When I find him I will weep w/ pleasure, order, & close my eyes as I eat....

Kentucky -- Sedona is the only place in Arizona that I will miss. And we're going for a visit in April. You're right, the drive up 89A to Flag is wonderful.

OOOPS!!!  Did Peterman write that James Naismith of the Bay State was the founder of basketball????????  Come on.....I live in Jayhawk country and EVERYONE knows that Naismith invented basketball here in Kansas!!!   The street entering campus from the south is Naismith Blvd.,, there are legends surrounding Naismith and KU everywhere you go!   Oh my heart!  Even if he lived in Mass.  his ghost will hound anyone who doesn't mention KU in the next breath after his name.    This will probably be my last sports posting, I'm not a rabid fan and most often sleep through the games.  But legends are legends and history should not be ignored.

PARK---Any news of our beloved G.?

Nope, Carol... Naismith invented basketball in 1891 in Springfield, MA, and only went to Kansas in 1898.   He was originally a Canuck... http://www.kansasheritage.org/people/naismith.html .  Also, http://www.hoophall.com/history .   the Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, too.  In a city with little fame (or reason to be famous) except for the Springfield Armory (founded in 1777 at the order of George Washington) basketball is a big source of local pride.  Frankly, during the winter it's too dang cold for anything else except basketball and duckpins.

KYCURM:  That is a Post War Flathead, with a Double Joshua Intake System ... That System was originally designed by Continental for Aircraft Engines, so's they wouldn't Starve Out in a Steep Climb, or a Bat Turn on the Level ... Worked great on Planes, but they had a lotta trouble getting the Cowl closed and they went to a Potvin Design, and then to Roots, which was originally designed for the Blower Bentley ....... When Hot Rodders were adapting them to Cars, they worked out just fine too, but only an Open Cowl Roadster could get away with running one on the Streets ... If a Rodder had one on his Engine in, a '53 Ford Coupe for instance, with a sufficient opening cut in the Hood to allow for the Velocity Stacks on top of the 97's to protrude up and out ... Cops would fog out Tickets for "Defective Equipment" and for, "Obstructed View" and/or  "Unsafe Operation of a Vehicle On a Public Street" ...  The Blower was essentially a Paxton Design with a 2X2 Manifold integral to it, instead of a Fuel Block or Injectors ... Got it's Name from the concept that proved victorious when, "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" ... The maelstrom created inside the Blower not only super-heats, fricatively (say that to your Mother-in-Law) the air taken in, but also helped to further atomize and vaporize the Fuel, so's the Mix would ignite faster, burn faster, burn more completely, providing more Power, and much more efficient use of Fuel, enhancing Volumetric Efficiency, resulting in higher speeds and much better Gas Milage ... Of course in those days, nobody gave a hoot about Economy ... Gasoline was .09 cents a Gallon ...  California got so stupid about Blowers, Velocity Stacks, and Ram Induction Set-Ups, that Rodders quit using them on Street Iron, until 1960 and '61 when both Mickey Thompson and TV Tommie Ivo were using multiple Engines with multiple Blowers in their Race Cars (both from California) with Mickey chasing the Worlds Land Speed Record at Bonneville with a four engined Monster(Powered by Pontiac) and  TV Tommie tearing up Drag Strips with a four engined Dragster(Powered by Nailhead Buicks) They were both causing so much positive notoriety for California, increase in Tourism, and Business in General ... that CHP and the Local LEOs just couldn't stop all the Emulators and stuff sorta eased up .......  The great outcome of the entire umgallagalla was that Fuel Injection proved to be much more practical, just as efficient, and considerably less expensive, and very Low Profile as regards fitting the System under the Hood ....... Rochester had started all the Rodders off with their System, on the Corvette, in 1957 ... Zora Duntov was having daily orgasms at GM's Test Track, because of the phenomenal increases in To-The-Real-Wheels Power, Torque increases in goblotz, and Better Gas Milage, which was a surprising thing and not even a real consideration for a Sports Car ... Down the road from Los Angeles, not far from Tortilla Flats, in a little village called, La Jolla ... was this whacko Gyro Gearloose type named, Philip Orner, who had come up with a little Black Box he called, The Orner Valve ...inside the Black Box was an odd assortment of Mechanisma that included a cone-shaped slide valve that moved horizontally, in and out of a tubular Fuel Block, and the cone had a slit in it that started at the pointy end, wrapped up and around the cone, widening gently, toward  the wider end mount and the cone came OUT of the Tube when the Gas Pedal was pushed  toward the floor, and went INTO the Tube when the Pedal was released ... at the widest point it was about a third of the total circumferance of the larger end of the cone ... odder yet ... the edges of the slit ....... were scalloped ... I can see most of the Physics involved in the Design, but I have never in almost half a century been able to figure how it all worked together, but work it did, and not only made a '60 Cadillac smoke the rear tires, but the car actually got between 25 and 30 mpg at 60mph ... Once he proved the thing, the Majors bought the Valve and all Rights to it, made him sign an NCND, and he and the Valve disappeared off the face of the earth ...  

This has gone on too far, and everybody knows that the Russians invented Basketball