July 31st 2014: Dinner at the Saloon, Somerville

Today after work, I had a meetup dinner to go to at the Saloon in the Davis Square area of Somerville.

Before that, I decided to get some sandwiches from the Tasty Gourmet in Medford, getting the New York Combo Sandwich (Hot corned beef and pastrami sliced to order and topped with fresh coleslaw, melted Swiss cheese and special Thousand Island dressing on rye bread)

and the Love Me Tender Sandwich (Crispy chicken tenders, bacon, buffalo sauce, melted jack and cheddar cheeses with ranch dressing on the side).

Not too bad actually for a university takeout place.

From here, it was on to Somerville, The place was really hard to find, being in the basement of a building at 255 Elm Street without any immediately visible signs from the outside, being in the same place as the Davis Square Theatre. When I found it, a pretty nice bar restaurant greeted me.

While waiting for the others to arrive, I decided to get a drink, getting the Ten Hill Sours (amaretto, Fighting Cock Bourbon, lemon),

 which was pretty good, considering I don't drink much. 

When everyone finally arrived, I decided to get their special, the Gnocchi (asparagus, Holland Leeks, arugula and braised short rib).

 Pretty good to say the least, although I got too full after a while. I also got to try the Saloon Chicken Wings (savory honey-mustard), which were presented as full length wings instead of the usual drumlets and winglets. The sauce was pretty good though.

It was fun hanging out with friends who have become more and more familiar over time. Till the next one.

July 30th 2014: Chinese Takeout from Wen Hing Restaurant, Worcester

Today after work, I decided to just get Chinese takeout from Wen Hing, a Chinese takeout place at 106 Lincoln Street in Worcester.

I got the Bacon Shrimp (fried jumbo shrimp wrapped with crispy bacon, sauteed with tomato sauce on a bed of onions),

which was actually really good, especially the sauce, which I ended up pouring all over my noodles and finishing it all. Not bad for Chinese takeout, for once.

July 29th 2014: Shark Cage Diving in Narragansett RI

I had to get to the Port of Galilee area in Narragansett RI really early for my shark cage diving experience with Snappa Charters this morning, so I went around a bit to take pictures before it actually started.

Water Tower,

Point Judith Road and Galilee Escape Road

Port of Galilee, 33 State Street

Fake Lighthouse, end of Succotash Road, South Kingstown

Our boat was pretty small,

which made me worry that I would be seasick, which I indeed became as soon as we set off.

The cage itself was pretty big, and we would have to enter from the top itself.

By the time we reached our target destination far out at sea, I was already extremely sick, having vomited several times already. The cage and the floating platform was hauled out into the sea,

and a few of us went out to the platform, risking the presence of sharks,

with chunks of bait being hurled out to sea to attract them to come to the boat,

and indeed they came, right up to the boat itself.

Sharks that appeared today included a blue shark and a mako shark. Even European Storm petrels were attracted to the bait.

It was cool to be able to see these sharks up close, but oh, the seasickness. I'm just glad the trip back was not that bumpy.

July 28th 2014: Dinner at El Azteca Restaurant, Attleborough

Today after work, I headed southeast to the town of Franklin to get some cupcakes from the Cake Bar. My deal consisted of 12 mini cupcakes,

4 regular cupcakes

and 3 frosting shots.

I've never had frosting shots before, so it was a pretty interesting experience, although it was pretty intense after a while, and I had to stop eating. Nice shop with creative ideas though.

From here it was on to Mansfield to hike at the Dorothy York Conservation Area. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

There wasn't anything much to see here though.

Next it was on to Attleborough,

Old Building, 453 South Main Street

 to hike at the Nickerson Woods Walking Preserve. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

Even the views from the power lines weren't anything to talk about.

With that, I headed into Seekonk for the rest of the day

Old Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church,
385 Central Avenue

Portuguese Assembly of God

Portuguese SDA Church

Seekonk School Department

Aitken School

before finally heading back into Attleborough for dinner at El Azteca Restaurant, a Mexican place at 71 Pleasant Street in town.

After looking at the pretty simple menu, I decided to go with the combo meal of 1 Chalupa, 1 Tamal, 1 Chille Relleno,

Nothing special really.

After dinner, I headed back into Seekonk to watch the movie "The Purge: Anarchy" at the Showcase Cinemas Seekonk Route 6 Theater. Not too bad a movie, and I really like the concept of a future society where lawlessness is allowed to exist for 12 hours a year, showing how different sections of the population deal with it.

Looking forward to shark cage diving tomorrow.

July 27th 2014: Hiking the Lynn Woods For the 2nd Time

This morning, I started off early with a hike at Lynn Woods in Lynn,  this time heading to the end of Great Woods Road. The rough path I took to explore the area north of Walden Pond is shown below in pink.

It started out pretty alright at first, with Walden Pond in my sights first,

but it soon got out of hand as I got lost in this area many a time due to the tons of side trails here, but some how came upon several nice views

as I arrived at the water tower,

and after leaving the area, there were many places, especially along the Overlook Trail, with views of the Stone and Steel towers which I was at yesterday.

I somehow managed to find the Weetamoo Cliff, from where I could see the water tower as well as the other two towers.

There were other partial views of Walden Pond as I blundered along,

managing to spot the Wolf Pits

on my way to the power lines,

Where Nell's Pond was mostly blocked off from view by marshland.

Instead of hiking all the way back to my car, I decided to take the road, exiting from private property at North Ridge Circle, and walking all the way back to my car.

I had food truck stuff to do today, although it was a pretty bad day for business with all the rain. After everything was done, I decided to go grab dinner at Joti Palace, an Indian restaurant in Malden. This place is nothing much to look at,

and there wasn't really much of interest on the menu either. I decided to get a Mango Milkshake,

which was definitely sweeter than Mango Lassi.

The Tomato Shorba Soup (Puree of fresh cooked tomatoes, seasoned with indian herbs and spices) wasn't too bad either, being a little spicy,

while the Malai Kofta (Served with rice, chutney. Vegetable balls cooked in a creamy nut sauce with fresh herbs and spices) I got was pretty good, although I was disappointed that there were only 3 balls on the plate.

Overall, a decent meal, but not a place I would come back to because of the lack of an ambience here.

From here, I decided to head to the town of Concord for some hiking at the Hillcrest Conservation Area at ~30 Hillcrest Road, but no matter how I tried, I could not find any trails, and I gave up in the end. From here, I headed to the Towle Land in Carlisle for another hike. I've been here in the past, but as I missed out on the cow tunnel here then, I had to come back to find it, and this time I did. The path I took this time is shown below in pink.

The path to the cow tunnel was pretty overgrown, and in the end, it wasn't really much to look at.

With that, I called it a day, and headed home for the weekend.