Date visited: 9/2/2022

This was a wonderful trip! This place is pretty cool, and it was a spectacular day weather wise! First of all, despite it's name, it's not really an island. It was at one point, but the channel between Winthrop and Deer Island was filled in by the hurricane of 1938. Now it's a peninsula connected to Winthrop, but technically part of Boston. Two thirds of the island hosts the Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, and the rest of the island is a public park. We walked the Harborwalk Trail that loops the perimeter of the island. The trail offers fantastic views of Boston Harbor. It's also a great spot to watch planes take off from Logan Airport. There are plenty poop bag dispensers and garbage cans on the trail, and even a water bowl for the dogs at one spot. The grounds are kept very nice and clean. At the end of the loop is a small trail that connects to Point Shirley Beach in Winthrop. A small section of the beach is actually part of Deer Island. You can see the rest of the beach pictures on the Winthrop Page. The only downside to this trip was the terrible traffic driving back to Connecticut. It took over three hours. I'm sure the start of Labor Day weekend had something to do with it. Despite the traffic, it was a very fun trip with the dogs.

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Date visited: 4/10/2023

This is the area of South Boston that includes Castle Island, Fort Independence, Boston Harbor Walk, Marine Park, Pleasure Bay and a bunch of different beaches. There is a fantastic walking trail that loops around the fort, and then loops around the land ring that encircles the bay. There are various picnic areas, playgrounds and monuments along the way, as well as informational signs explaining the history of the area. From the far end of the land ring, there are views of the Boston skyline. This is very near Logan Airport, so low flying jet planes fly by on their landing approach every few minutes. The walkway extends along side William J Day Boulevard and beyond. We only went as far as M Street Beach, before heading back. It was a fantastic mid-April Day, sunny and mid 60's. The beaches in this area allow dogs until May 1st, so Mandy and Lexi were able to cool off as well. We walked almost seven miles here! This was a very fun trip, and worth the vacation day. Be sure the click on the "More Images" link below to see all that this area has to offer.

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Date visited: 5/13/2023

We visisted both Boston Public Garden and Boston Common on a very beautiful and warm spring day. These are both nice parks right in downtown Boston. The two parks are adjacent to each other, on each side of Charles Street.

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Dates visited: 5/13/2023 & 5/29/2023

This park is a bit larger than the adjacent Boston Public Garden, and more open. There's also an off-leash dog area here, but Mandy and Lexi weren't really into it. There are many interesting statues and structures in this park. It also includes a carousel and the Tadpole Playground. We returned on Memorial Day, a couple weeks later. They had 37,000 flags on display in rememberance of the 37,000 people from Massachusetts that gave their lives for this country.

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Dates visited: 5/13/2023 & 5/29/2023

We went a bit out of our way to take a picture of Cheers when we visited Boston Public Garden and Boston common. Cheers is across the street from the Public Garden. When we came back a couple weeks later on Memorial Day, we walked right passed it on the way to Charles River Esplanade, so we took another picture in front of the bar where everyone knows your name.

Date visited: 5/29/2023

This park is part of the Charles River State Reservation. The Reservation is on 17 miles of land on both sides of the Charles River. We walked a three mile loop that encompassed this park on the Boston side, the Longfellow Bridge to Cambridge, the walkways on the Cambridge side near the MIT campus, and the Harvard Bridge leading back to the Boston side. This is a popular park bustling with activity that features nice views of the river and the city skylines.

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Date visited: 3/22/2024

See Also: Boston, Cambridge, Watertown

We had already walked the Esplanade portion of the reservation. This section is west of that. We entered Boston from Watertown, over the Arsenal Street Bridge. We stuck mostly to the bike path, but there are some short side trails we explored as well. The trail runs between Soldier Field Road and the Charles River. We passed by the Charles River Community Garden, Northeastern University Henderson Boathouse, and the Herter Park Amphitheater. We turned around and headed back at the area across from the Harvard Athletic Fields.

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Date visited: 7/30/2023

These two parks are connected by a paved walking trail. They are built on the site of old landfills and industrial companies. I didn't think they were that scenic. There are views of the Neponset River, but there are office buildings, warehouses and hotels in the background. We could see the park we visited a week before, Squantum Point Park in Quincy, on the other side of the river. Part of the walking path is the Neponset Trail, a multi-use bike path. After completing the 2 1/2 mile loop, we used the Neponset Trail to walk over to Neponset Park.

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Date visited: 7/30/2023

This is a small park on the shore of the Neponset River. It was actually "Neponset Day" the day we visited. There was some sort of event that ended about a half hour before we arrived. The park was okay, but nothing real special.

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Date visited: 2/10/2024

We had near record high temperatures in the area (the record was set just last year). It was 62 degrees in Boston! This park is right on the outskirts of the city. It features a walking trail that spirals up a hill. There are three levels, we started at the top and worked our way down. The bottom loop has access to the Charles River. We took a side trail that led out to Cutler Park Reservation before making our way back up the spiral. The park is nice, but the grass was brown and everything looked kind of blah. It probably looks much better in the spring and summer time, but that could be said about most places. The park was busy, and is a very popular place for dog walking. The signs indicate that dogs must remain leashed, but we encountered plenty of off-leash dogs! We walked over five miles here in total.

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Date visited: 2/26/2024

This park is split between Brookline and Boston, and connects to the Jamaica Pond park in Boston. There are wide walking trails on either side of a stream, and a bike trail around the perimeter of the park. It's not quite as nice as Jamaica Pond, but serves as a nice extension of that park to get some added steps. There are a few small parking lots, and plenty of street parking, so it's easy to access. The pictures below are from the Boston section. The pictures from the Brookline section can be found on that page.

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Date visited: 2/26/2024

This is a park in the Jamaica Plains neighborhood. There is a walking trail around the pond, and a grassy area on the top of the hill. It connects to Olmsted Park in Boston and Brookline. We followed the All-Trails route, but modified it a bit. This was a good place to take the dogs for a walk. It was a nice day, with temps in the mid-50's. We walked about four miles total between the two parks.

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Date visited: 4/29/2024

This was the starting point and ending point of our Monday evening adventure through the Back Bay area of Boston. This wasn't a planned trip. We were headed to a bike trail in a nearby town, but the weather was nice here, so I decided to keep going into Downtown Boston. Most of the pictures below are from the area outside the Prudential Center, but there's a couple from inside as well. We headed to Lansdowne Street next, followed by a few other stops, before ending back here after it had gotten dark out. Our walk was just about five miles in total.

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Date visited: 4/29/2024

I was actually here (without Mandy & Lexi), the previous Friday and Saturday evenings for concerts at the House Of Blues. With the two concert venues having shows, baseball games, and the busy bars and restaurants, this place was crazy on those nights! It was a completely different vibe on a Monday night with no events. It seemed like a ghost town. The pictures include the area around the ballpark. Keep in mind, just because there are pictures of Mandy & Lexi in front of the dumpy old ballpark, they by no means endorse the team that plays there. Mandy and Lexi are Yankee fans, through and through!

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Date visited: 4/29/2024

This is a large park in Downtown Boston, but we just visited a small section near the Victory Gardens. Also included is a picture in front of Berklee College of Music, which is just across the street.

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Date visited: 4/29/2024

This is a famous road in the Back Bay section of Boston, known for it's many shops and restaurants. Also included, is one photo from nearby Commonwealth Avenue, which we plan to come back to some time in the future.

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Date visited: 4/29/2024

This is a 13.5 acre plaza owned by the Christian Science Church, and a Boston Landmark. There's a large open area, and a reflecting pool that looked pretty neat at twilight.