Thanksgiving Week: GareBear & Bry Go To Boston

Thanksgiving Week was by far the craziest, busiest, COLDEST I've ever been.

(And it was awesome.)

To kick things off, Bryant's brother Garrett arrived at our house at 7:00 AM on Friday, Nov. 22nd.

Poor little guy was tired after a redeye flight:

Please note that he has CNBC on, like always.

Later that evening after we let Garrett catch up on some sleep, we went to our dinner reservation at Minetta's Tavern in Greenwich Village.

(I had to call a month in advance and the only time they had was for 5:30 PM.) 

The tavern was opened in 1937. They have pictures on the walls of famous people who used to frequent the place.

They are famous for their "Black Label Burger"

(Here is the link to the segment the Travel Channel did on it.)

Ah-mazing.

Right next to Minetta's is "Cafe Wha?" where Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Cosby, and others made their start.

President John F. Kennedy also made a campaign stop on this corner in 1959, which was coincidental that we were there on the 50th anniversary from when he was shot.

After dinner we went to the original Barnes and Noble at Union Square--the world's largest bookstore.

(Bry and Garrett were in heaven.)

They have lots of book readings and book signings by authors on the top floor.

On our way home we made our usual stop at Veniero's. 

We're addicted. It's fiiiine.

I had high hopes for this Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake, but it wasn't nearly as amazing as Junior's version.

Saturday, Nov. 23rd was filled with lots of football and sleeping on everyone's part.

I was determined to have Garrett experience "Smorgasburg" before they moved for the season.

So I forced he and Bryant to brave the wind and the cold to walk 0.8 miles from our apartment to the East River State Park.

Turns out, most of the vendors had left for the day because it was super windy and cold.

(But Willis and I walked to the water so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip.)

The main reason for GareBear coming out so early was so that he (a Patriots fan) and Bry (a rabid, obnoxious Broncos fan) could travel to Boston to watch their teams in action. (I'm sure he just wanted to hang out with us. Who wouldn't?)

Both of these fools have THE WORST sleeping schedules you've ever seen. (Being in the Eastern Time Zone and having sports still be on well into the morning doesn't help. They stayed up watching the Boise State-San Diego State football game until 2:30 AM)

Sunday, Nov. 24th, they caught the 7 AM train from Penn Station and arrived in Boston around 11:15 AM. They were already freezing their buns off and just wanted to go straight to the hotel for a hot shower. Fate would have it that their room wasn't ready for a few more hours. (Wah wah wah...)

They decided to explore Boston for a little bit before they had to be to South Station to catch the train that would take them to Foxboro.

Pre-Game Smiles:

The train got them to Gillette Stadium around 7:45 PM, which didn't give them much time to get through security and up to their nosebleed seats.

Keep in mind that with the windchill the temperature was 5°F.

(Haha...suckers. Willis and I cuddled with my Saints blanket in a balmy 71°F apartment)

The game ended up going into overtime, which Bry and Garrett were not happy about. (They were sure they had hypothermia.)

The Patriots ended up winning, 34-31.

(Bryant doesn't like to discuss it.)

(Garrett also felt the urge to rub in the fact they beat the Saints 30-27 earlier this season. No one likes a sore winner, GARRETT.)

The game ended around 12:45 AM, then they had to take the train back to Boston. They got to their hotel around 2:30 AM. They had to catch their next train back to New York at 6:00 AM since Bryant had class at noon, so they never really went to bed.

They got back to the apartment a little after 11:00 AM. 

Bry went to class. Garrett crashed.

The rest of our insanely busy week will follow...