April 19th 2015: Showing My Friend Around Northeastern Massachusetts

I started out today with a hike at the Harold Parker State Forest, located in the towns of Andover, North Andover and North Reading. The paths I took here is shown below in pink.

I started out at the Lorraine Park Campground in Andover, checking out the really small beach at Frye Pond.

Next, I hiked in the Bear Pond area, although there was nothing much to see here. The rest of the ponds in the Andover area had better views thankfully.

At this point, I decided to take a break from hiking, heading to the small town diner, Nan's Cafe in North Reading, for breakfast. I got a Hot Chocolate and the Irish Style Eggs Benedict (home made corn beef hash),

which was pretty good, the hash not being the typical type you would find elsewhere.

After breakfast, I headed back into hiking, first at Bradford Pond in the North Reading area,

then at the water bodies in the North Andover section.

Finally done with my hike here, I visited a few other places in North Andover,

Mill Pond, 186 Stevens Street

Stevens Pond

going on a hike at Weir Hill, where the path I took is shown below in pink.

I had to walk on an old railroad trail

on my way to the viewpoint, which had pretty decent views westward.

I then made my way to the airplane beacon, which wasn't much to speak of, before heading to the shoreline of Lake Cochichewick and walking along it until I got back to the start.

Not a bad hike here.

With that, I headed into Cambridge for a brunch event at Puritan and Company. Nice modern atmosphere, but not much variety in the menu. I finally went with the Grilled Sirloin Steak and Eggs (hollandaise, potatoes, toast),

which was really tasty, the beef going really well with the hollandaise sauce. Overall though, there are other places around with more stuff on the brunch menu. I might come back to try their dinners though.

After brunch, I went to pick my friend up for a day of sightseeing on the North Shore, starting with the Salem Maritime National Historic Site in Salem, where we realized how windy and cold it was.

Next, it was on to Lynch Park in Beverly, where we enjoyed walking around the garden there and catching the view from the beach here.

We decided to grab food at this point, going to Organic Garden Cafe in town for some vegan food. I have been here before, and this time we got the Coconut in the Husk drink,

the Pure Pad Thai (kelp noodles, bean sprouts, vegetables, basil and scallion in almond butter sauce w/ 'roasted' almonds),

the Onion Rings (thinly sliced by hand and tossed with a dressing of sunflower, sesame, flax, olive oil, lemon, garlic and spices then 48 hours until crisp)

and the Sampler (sunseed croquettes with pad thai sauce and Thai Cashews, falafel, chevre and crackers, bomblette (almond, brazil nut, and veggie omelette, quinoa).

Everything was pretty good, although I am still not a fan of coconut water, most of which my friend had, while some stuff on the sampler plate tasted a little weird. The onions, which I usually don't like, were surprisingly tasty, even though my friend did not like it.

We were pretty full though and had to pack everything to go in the end.

Our day was not over though, as we headed into Manchester to check out the Singing Beach, where we did not stay very long due to the chilly wind. Beautiful beach though.

From here, we headed to Winthrop to see the planes fly over Coughlin Park, then to Deer Island to watch the sunset.

In East Boston, we checked out the planes taking off from Constitution Beach, then went up to the Orient Heights area to see the Madonna, Queen of the Universe National Shrine and the giant cross on the hill, as well as the views of the city down below, before heading to Revere to watch a Korean movie "Twenty", a coming of age movie for 3 boys and their love lives at the Showcase Cinemas De Lux Revere. Pretty funny, and a perfect end to a fun day of sightseeing with my friend.