Boston - Part 3

This is the last of three posts from my trip to Boston.  You can find the others here and here. I usually don't take this long to complete a trip posting, but I was waiting on pictures from a friend.

The remaining time that my son and I had in Boston, was spent with a group of friends from work.  It was a unique collection of people that had only two things in common:  (1) we all worked at AMD, and (2) we all spent time living in Boston.  As a result, everyone had an undying devotion to the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots.  We were brought together to go to an actual Patriots game...something I NEVER had a chance to do, while living in Massachusetts.

We kicked things off in the right way.  One of our group was good friends with the owner of a Japanese restaurant in downtown Boston.  The restaurant is called Osushi, and they fly their fish in, directly from Japan!  The owner/chef created a custom tasting menu for our group...a 10-course meal of exquisite Japanese cuisine.  This was some of the BEST Japanese food I've ever had, and I've been traveling to Japan for over twenty years.

Here are just a couple of pictures from the meal.  I only had my cel phone camera, so I did the best I could.  Obviously, these pictures just don't do the food justice:

This was probably the most traditional course of the evening...you'd probably recognize some of this sushi.  The rolls on the top-right had Jalapenos on top, with Kimchee infused in the sushi

This was a collection of exotic fish - including Australian King Fish

 It was fun to watch my son try raw oysters for the first time ; )

Needless to say, the meal was spectacular.  Every person came away from the dinner with a new appreciation for traditional Japanese food.  I came away with a desire to go back to Japan as soon as I can.

 The next day was the big game.  When you're heading to such an historic event, you need to travel in style:

Our cozy stretch-Escalade

The scene inside was a little "rowdy", to say the least.  That's me and my son - all the way in the back

We arrived at the Foxboro Gilette Stadium...it's a beautiful place.  I love the way they built it - I've attended a couple of concerts there...just no football..

Inside, several people went shopping for Patriots gear - it was going to get a little chilly when the sun went down, so some of the ladies needed sweaters.  While there, we ran into a dancing meatball...seriously...

We then made our way over to the Dana Farber Practice Field.  This is where they held the "official" Patriots Tailgate Party.  The facility was HUGE.

This was apparently my reaction when entering the facility:

This is most of our group - having a great meal with about a thousand of our closest friends...

And..of course...they had some of the Patriots Cheerleaders there, to sign autographs.  This is as close as I got to them.  However, I could still see how much make-up they had on, even from here...

After gorging ourselves on the food, we headed over to the stadium.  The lines to get in were l-o-n-g.  Check out this "sea of humanity":

Our tickets were good - we were able to see everything on the field, while getting a little shade from the afternoon sun.

Here's a shot of a Patriot touchdown!!

In the end-zone, they have a bunch of folks dressed as "patriots" from Revolutionary War days.  After each touchdown, they fire off a volley from their muskets:

Here's a shot of me and my son, in the stands. He's a good-lookin' kid:

As the game progressed, the sun went down over the horizon.  The view from the stadium was gorgeous:

The game was a blast, as you can tell.  The end result was a Patriots win over the San Diego Chargers.  Before leaving the stadium, we posed for a series of pictures.  These really sum up the fun we had as a group.  I'm sure lucky to have experienced this, in a location that holds a special place in my heart. The best part is that I was able to do it with my oldest son - a real bonus: