Hiking In The Blue Hills

Thanks to my good friend Rosie, I learned a quick and easy hike in the Blue Hills that's conveniently located right off Route 138, close to 128.  I went hiking with Rosie and Breena back in June, and then had the opportunity to take my parents on the same trail, this time with a camera to capture our journey.

From the parking lot by the Trailside Museum, it was fairly easy to follow the red dots on trees and rocks to make sure we stayed on the trail.

A view of my parents ahead of me on the trail - my mom is rocking my BC 2001 National Hockey Champions shirt while my dad is predicably wearing a shirt (in this case, Liberty Fest) from a past open base event (I think this one is from Taegu, Korea):

Waiting for us at the summit is Eliot Tower (as it's marked on the map)

From what I could find online, it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s as an observation tower. Although it's described as falling slightly into disrepair, it still has nice seating areas scattered throughout, and most importantly, a sturdy stone stairwell that lead to the top of the tower:

The view from the top is spectacular and well worth the roughly 30 - 45 minute hike up, as my parents can attest to:

You've got Boston in the distance (it was one of the days this summer where it was overcast with scattered thunderstorms, hence the fog and haze you can see in this picture)

And from another side, what I believe is Houghtons Pond



The hike down is less rocky (and even has a paved road intersecting it), although we got hit by a heavy rain shower near the bottom and ended up making a run for the car. As we only got to explore one tiny section of the Blue Hills Reservation, I look forward to exploring more sections of it, especially the observatory which seems fairly close to Eliot Tower.

I have to add - there is plenty of free parking next to the Trailside museum; a few free outdoor animal exhibits that will excite kids of all ages (Rosie, Breena and I were also enthralled), and the trail seems very dog-friendly as we've run into several dogs on the trail or at Eliot Tower.

Sushi, New England Style

The one bummer about our new town is that Andrew and I have not been able to find good takeout food that is close by. You've already heard me whine about the lack of decent Thai food. There isn't a good Korean restaurant nearby - in fact, we tried Apgujung's sister restaurant in Canton and it just wasn't the same, even though it had the advantage of being a BYOB establishement, so we decided that it was better to simply drive all the way back to Newton when we get a craving for okdol bibimbap.  Chinese, I don't tend to crave at all since compared to all the other Asisan cuisines I love, it seems to be the unhealthiest and least tasty of the bunch.

However, we struck gold with a Japanese place, Ichiro sushi,  that is miles within our house. Better than that, it delivers! We've already ordered from them twice in the past couple of weeks.

One of our new favorites? The Red Sox maki roll (pictured on the left with spicy tuna on the right):

It comes with lobster, asparagus, avocado, cucumber, lettuce, tobiko and spicy mayo the inside:

That's a good-sized chunk of lobster! And I know it sounds weird to be eating it in a sushi roll, but it actually tastes amazing with the spicy mayo.  Not pictured is their deliciously crispy tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) that I've gotten Andrew hooked on. We're definitely putting this restaurant on speed dial and we'll actually have to dine in one of these days.