November 9th 2014: Time Spent North of Boston

I started off this morning in Arlington, going for a small hike at Mount Gilboa, located at the end of Park Place.

Unfortunately, there weren't much views to be had here,

and although I could see glimpses of the Boston skyline, there are definitely much better views nearby.

I headed into Waltham next, where I happened to pass by the Gann Academy,

where there was a view of the water tower atop Mackerel Hill.

I decided to go explore it on a whim, finding the map of the place online. The rough path I took here is shown below in pink.

There weren't any views at the water tower itself,

though on a recommendation from a biker that happened to pass by, I headed the other way to find a clearing, where there were okay views.

I walked to Trapelo Road from here, and all the way back to my car.

From here, it was on to my meetup brunch at The Mad Raven in town. This bar restaurant was pretty understaffed for a busy Sunday morning, and we waited awhile between each order. Thankfully we had company and good conversation to while the time away. I got the Steak Tips and Eggs (hearty portion of tips served with three eggs any style, home fries and fruit),

while my friends got the Chicken Cordon Bleu (Baked chicken breast, stuffed with ham, swiss cheese and spinach, served over sausage stuffing and gravy),

the Irish Breakfast (Traditional Irish breakfast with two eggs any style, Irish rashers, bangers, baked beans and home fries. Served with toast)

and the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Panini (Bacon, scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese stuffed into a panini sandwich and grilled. Served with home fries and fruit).

My steak was cold because of the waiting for everyone else's food to be cooked, my toast wasn't even toasted, and they also forgot the fruit on my plate. Thankfully, my steak was cooked perfectly.

Overall though, everyone agreed that they won't be coming back.

From here, I decided to head to Nahant to finish my sightseeing there.

The views of Forty Steps Beach at 393 Nahant Road were beautiful today, although there were more than forty steps leading to the beach. I guess they did not know how to count, or the water levels have changed since they named the beach and had to add more steps.

Canoe Beach is smaller and right next door, separated by a pile of rocks from Forty Steps.

I next tried to find Swallow's Cave, but only found a view of Bass Rock from someone's backyard.

I decided to give up and check out the Northeastern University Marine Science Center instead, where the views from Lodge Park were beautiful.

I decided to give finding Swallow's Cave another go, finally finding a path leading to it at the end of Swallow's Cave Road.

I spent some time here

trying to traverse the slippery rocks covered in seaweed and barnacles to get to the cave without getting my shoes wet, and somehow I did it.

The inside of the cave was nothing much really,

although it was still cool to be in it, and the views from here of Boston in the setting sun were pretty good too.

With that, I was done with Nahant for now, and headed to Salem to finish off the rest of the daylight hours.

St. Anne's Church

Irzyk Park,

Fort Avenue and Lee Fort Terrace

Here, I went to check out the House of Metal Creatures, located at 5 Blaney Street.

The metallic sculptures here were pretty interesting, to say the least.

After leaving Salem with the sun completely gone, I headed to Winthrop for dinner at the Kasbah Restaurant, a pretty nicely decorated Moroccan restaurant in town, which has a Hookah lounge in the back as well.

Sadly, this place was totally empty, even though the Tagine Kasbah (lamb Braised, with dried prunes, apricots and caramelized onions, sprinkled with sesame seeds and toasted almonds)

was actually pretty good, although it did not fill me up.

This place would probably do better in a better location.

Still feeling hungry, I decided to get some pizza from Nick's Place nearby, getting the Meat Lover's Pizza and Lamb Tip Salad.

While waiting for my second meal, I decided to go check out the froyo place in the area, Yosogood, getting a kiddie sized Creamsicle Froyo, which was pretty good.

It was then a good time to go get my pizza

and salad

both of which was pretty good, especially the lamb tips, which were cooked pretty well considering it only took about 10 minutes to get both done, and the place had a lot of orders coming in tonight.

With that, a fun day spent north of Boston came to an end. Back to work tomorrow.