Attitude of Gratitude

Monument to fishermen from Gloucester who have died on the job

Since moving to Boston my days and nights have been spent either on the road and not actually in Boston, working at the Starbucks on Tremont in the South End of Boston, or sitting in my depressing apartment that is filled with only an air mattress. I kid not, only an air mattress.

When I moved to Boston at the end of March, I quickly began my apartment search and found what I thought would be an awesome loft apartment (which they called the Penthouse) that was fairly inexpensive and included parking, which is key because my office is about 25 miles outside the city. Why didn’t I just find a place out near my work, you ask? Because that would have sucked. The office is in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing going on there but TGI Fridays and strip malls. Not my idea of an exciting time.

What seemed like a great apartment deal has ended up being an enormous headache. The apartment has paper thin walls and I can hear everything – and I do mean everything the people downstairs do and say. Up to their spoons hitting their bowls. In addition, they have newly graduated from college and like to entertain pretty much every night. Oh, how I remember those times… and I don’t want to relive them again.

I pretty much decided within the first few weeks that this “good deal” wasn’t going to work out and have been searching for another apartment endlessly since then. And traveling. Going to my “office” at the Starbucks. And hanging on my deflating inflated air mattress.

So, when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to Gloucester, Massachusetts for a day trip, I was totally psyched. The stress of everything has been a bit overwhelming, and I decided to go for it and put all that mess aside.

The Catholic Church

Just riding the train up there was relaxing. Gloucester is a magical little sea port in Cape Ann, and one of the first places settled in the USA. It has delightful buildings that prove it, including a European style looking Catholic church. We wandered around the tiny streets of the little town and admired the boutique shops and historic houses. During our walk I learned that the movie The Perfect Storm, was based on the loss of one of the fishing boats from here, and it has a long history of losing sailors since the 1600s.

We wandered around all day, basking in the delightful sun and warm weather that has only recently graced the Boston area. It is just the beginning of the season in Gloucester, but it is about to bust wide open with all the activity taking place to get the place ready to welcome the masses. We met some folks who are restoring a sailboat to give day trips to tourists and were able to check out the boat. We meandered around the oldest artist colony in the United States.

Artist Colony house

And we ended our day tour by finding the bar that was featured in the movie called The Crow’s Nest, which was filled with crusty old characters ready to tell fisherman tales. They revealed that the bar was not out on the dock as shown in the movie, and that they actually built a big set by the water instead. And I remember that bar from the movie, and I can tell you that the one in the movie had a whole lot more charm than the real one!

Colorful characters from the Crow's Nest

We didn’t stay there because I didn’t bring my ID – come on now! – so they wouldn’t serve me. We instead headed for another local favorite called Pratty’s, where we spoke to entertaining locals about the joys of Gloucester and I experienced stuffed clams for the first time. Both equally fantastic, and the clams only set you back a buck fifty each and the beers $2. I could go there every day!

Lekker stuffed clams

And, you know, good things happen to people who wait, because while in Gloucester I heard from another apartment I found that I do truly love, and they had accepted my application. So, I’m very happy, and now I have two weeks in the UK and Amsterdam, which leaves only one week more with my depressing air mattress before I move to my new home and buy new furniture. It ended up being The Perfect Day! And I'll be visiting joyful Gloucester again soon!