I was a senior in high school the first time I visited Boston, Massachusetts. My school had a senior trip planned, but it was expensive and it didn’t interest me. That led to my first big-girl trip planning! I organized a travel itinerary and set off with three friends. By the end of the trip, I thought of Boston as a clean, cute, and family-friendly city.

These days I go to Boston just to visit my best friend from university. It’s all a very similar routine: I arrive, hangout with friends in the area, eat, and depart once again. My most recent visit to Boston began the same, but this time I was able to see a little more of Massachusetts.

Cambridge

Harvard classes were just beginning and summer seemed to be holding strong. Just by strolling through Cambridge’s brick sidewalks I was able to appreciate beautiful homes, gardens, and families.

Lincoln, MA – deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

Lincoln, Massachusetts is about a 30 minute drive from Boston and houses the highly recommend: deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. It’s a mostly outdoor sculpture museum with some indoor sculpture and painting works on display. The property is large and also doubles as a wedding venue. On the day I visited I actually got to see the preparations for a wedding in place! I heard the best man say it was his brother getting married that day, saw the groomsmen taking photos, and watched the bride off to take final shots before the museum closed down and her wedding began. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum makes for a great wedding venue if you’re not too far away and want a mixture between indoor and outdoor.

Martha’s Vineyard

I stayed with a friend who has spent a portion of every summer of her life (this includes pre-birth) at Martha’s Vineyard. She showed me the Vineyard’s famous gingerbread homes while her mother filled me in on their history. I didn’t take any pictures because I felt like I would be intruding on homes where people actually lived. A quick synopsis is that the homes are quaint, often with pops of color, and at times so tiny that you can see straight from the front door out to the backdoor!

The rest of our time was mostly spent relaxing by a beach or a pond and eating meals made from fresh Vineyard produce. On the last night of their stay at the Vineyard, we ate at a seafood restaurant with a view of the sunset. It was spectacular. I compared it to a Broadway play; just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, colors continued to multiply across the clouds.

This trip to Massachusetts allowed me to see more than just the parts of Boston that I’m used to. It really is nice to go somewhere familiar and then branch out into a bit of the unknown.