Papering the record for appeal.
¶Oh so Florida. I’m heading from St. Pete Beach to Coral Springs for a work meeting today. It’s a long drive — about 3.5 hours one way — so I threw some shorts, sandles, and a sweatshirt in the backseat for changing into before the drive home. And my tie. Pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve ever assembled that collection of clothing articles together.
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¶I’ve got a quick turnaround today. After getting him from Boston late last night, I’m heading to Florida this morning for a few days.
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¶Lunch in Harvard Square.
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¶This trip has really highlighted for me the drastic ways in which travel has changed in recent years. Not that it happened all at once — there’s been a series of nudges that, summed together, create an entirely different travel experience, from beginning to end.
¶It starts with Renee’s parents. They hadn’t flown in years, so, last week, we set them up with the Delta app on their phones. I had really taken the convenience of etickets for granted a simple question from them - “are you sure we don’t have to print these out?” - highlighted it to me.
¶Lodging? Yep, totally different. In Cambridge, we opted for an Airbnb instead of a hotel. This was my first Airbnb experience. We didn’t really know what to expect on arrival as far as cleanliness, supplies, etc., which is one of the downsides of Airbnb as I see it (I pretty much know what to expect when I book a room at a Hilton or a Marriott, even if I’ve never been there before). But, we got an entire house, which was perfect for the size of our party and better than any combination of multiple hotel rooms would have been. And cheaper. And closer to Jonathan’s dorm. And. And. And.
¶We used Uber to get around town during our visit. And not just for going from point A to point B, that’s not really new. We did use it in a new way for us, though. Renee’s mom gets tired after walking a bit, and the uneven sidewalks of Cambridge certainly didn’t help that. So we told her — do what you can, and when you’re ready, let us know and we’ll get an Uber to take you back (to the Airbnb). I’m not sure she could have done this trip — to visit her grandson at Harvard for the first time — without this option. That’s powerful, and really underscores the impact of some of the ways in which travel has changed.
¶And the food! Yes, we ate at some local restaurants. But, with long days of walking around campus, the option of having food delivered to our Airbnb was too convenient to resist. And not just traditionally delivered options like pizza. We had donuts and bagels delivered for breakfast, and Chinese food delivered for dinner. And, yes, pizza. But here’s the thing with that — we weren’t limited to the pizza joints that happened to offer delivery to our location. In fact, we didn’t even think to search for a pizza place based on that criteria. Instead, we went straight to the website of Jonathan’s favorite pizza place — Pinocchio’s — and checked for delivery options. DoorDash for the win! So the entire family got to relax and visit with Jonathan, eating his favorite pizza in the comfort of a living room.
¶Entertainment? Well, we went to the Harvard v. Cornell hockey game on Friday night, which was a fairly traditional experience (Uber rides to and fro notwithstanding). And the Crimson won in dramatic fashion, which was great. On Saturday evening, as we ate our DoorDash-delivered Chinese food in our Airbnb living room, we realized the Crimson were playing again, this time against Colgate. We had so much fun the night before that we actually had a somewhat serious discussion about going again, but then realized we could stream it from the ESPN+ app onto the AppleTV in the living room. Ivy League hockey on the big screen in the living room while eating delivered takeout, all with family while visiting with Jonathan (and celebrating his 20th birthday, btw)…that moment, that evening, just could not have been a better experience (maybe if we had realized white rice is a separate menu item that needs to be ordered alongside the entrees…practical knowledge for next time!).
¶It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. A series of little changes, each quite innovative in its own lane, have suddenly congealed to revolutionize travel in a way that changes the experience for the better. They expand it, really. I think we’ve entered a new era of travel experiences, and I’m looking forward to the trip.
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¶We woke up this morning to cheering and clapping coming from the street. Turns out the Cambridge half marathon is being run today and the route takes the runners right past our Airbnb. So I snapped this pic of Renee, went outside to get a few more from the street, and then had coffee and donuts for breakfast. Sigh.
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¶George.
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¶Jonathan and Renee studying a Rothko painting. This one has an interesting vandalism and restoration(s) story behind it. I’ve never really appreciated his paintings before, but I did like this one quite a bit. Maybe the vandalism and botched restoration job pulled me into it, emotionally.
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¶Police brutality is not a modern problem; it’s a long-term problem. This is a portion of Hunger March, a 1933 mural by Harvard grad Lewis Rubenstein. It’s not new. Yet it continues.
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¶Visiting the Fogg Museum today
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¶The wild turkeys were out in full force today as we travelled around campus. This guy walked right up to me as I walked along the sidewalk, looking for a treat I guess.
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¶Lunch in Harvard Square.
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¶Waiting on Jonathan outside the Fogg Museum. It’s noon. I’m pretty sure he just got up.
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¶When in Rome....
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¶The history on display in Boston is incredible. There’s so much of it to go around that some of it, while probably noteworthy and interesting on some level, has yet to warrant attention beyond a simple marker with a date and an unremarkable description of an otherwise forgotten event. Take this ordinary house that sits a few blocks down the street from our Airbnb, for example. Apparently it sits on the site of a fort built “by order of General Washington” in 1775. That seems like a historically significant event and location to me. But the marker in the photo is truly the extent of it today. Weirdly, its incorporation into the white picket fence around the front yard doesn’t feel strange at all. It feels natural, fits in. It’s so…Boston.
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¶Nice recap of tonight’s game, with video highlights.
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¶Jonathan gave us a tour of campus, showing us most of the buildings where his classes are held. Harvard Yard, where he lived last year, is obviously a high point of every visit to campus. Touch the shoe? Sure, but the students will tell you why you might not want to do that.
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¶Our crew - Paige and Jake met up with us for the game. Paige even made it onto the Jumbotron, rep’ing the Crimson.
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¶There’s so much I love about hockey, but the post-game handshake line has to be near the top. While the NHL only does it at the end of a series, college players still line up at the end of every game and shake hands, just like the little kids playing pee wee. After beating the living daylights out of each other, each of these guys congratulated every opposing player and coach. It’s such a hockey thing, and I love it.
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¶It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to watch a game with the boys, so the Harvard game was great just from that perspective. But what a game! Harvard is ranked 8th, Cornell 14th, and it’s an intense rivalry. Both teams have some incredible talent, and the small, nay, intimate, arena intensified everything. This was one of the best hockey games I’ve seen in years.
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¶Renee’s Mary Tyler Moore moment on the steps of Harvard’s Widener Library.
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¶You can’t see our faces, but I think this is one of my favorite photos of Jonathan and me. Renee snapped it, unbeknownst to us, while he and I sat on the steps at Widener Library. It looks so simple to other people I’m sure, but to me it somehow captures all of the pride and happiness I have for him. Maybe it’s because that’s exactly what I was feeling in that moment, and Renee caught it.
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¶I love trademarks.
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¶Maybe kindness is making a comeback. Nice work, Taylor.
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¶Met some killer light right as we arrived at our gate.
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¶Apparently Zillow explained that it had underestimated how unpredictable the housing market is. Think about that admission and Zillow’s main service offering.
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