We just returned from another great road trip, thanks to my friends at The Ritz-Carlton team, and I want to share the highlights with you. As you’ll see, we started in Boston, then went to New York City, Philadelphia, and ended up in Washington, D.C. (Georgetown, to be exact), and stayed in Ritz-Carlton hotels in each city.
We decided to share the trip with you in four parts, one for each city we visited. I think each city and each hotel deserves its own focus. I hope you enjoy this series!
To start off, I want to tell you why we like to take family road trips around the country, and how this one came about.
Why We Like Family Road Trips
Every year, my little family likes to take at least one road trip outside California. Road trips are a fantastic, fun, and interesting way to see America, which has loads of great places that are not near airports; for us, a road trip is the best way to enjoy them. We like to fly to some interesting place, rent a car, and then wander around, exploring this big, beautiful, and great country, until we reach another place to stop, then we fly home. Driving around allows us to see more without stress, and we avoid all the hassle of going through public transportation security with luggage. Road trips are especially great for family vacations, I think.
Little by little, usually in one week bites, we plan to see ALL of the United States. Before this year, we already visited Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in that way. Of course, we have had lots of shorter road trips up and down California, too, since that is where we live, and it has so much to explore.
So, luckily for us, while I was planning a road trip for this summer, The Ritz-Carlton team invited us to visit some of their East Coast properties, which fit in perfectly with my plan. We really love The Ritz-Carlton family of hotels, because they are all so well designed, tastefully decorated, and operated to, well . . . perfection. In every one of them, the staff is super-attentive, polite, and efficient, and somehow, they seem to know the names of all the guests! It’s amazing how they do that, actually. I read somewhere that Ritz hotel staff training began with the motto, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” That still is the case today.
So much of America’s important early history took place in the Eastern states, and Red Bear and his Dad are both real history nerds – they always talk about the battlefields, monuments, and other historic things they want to visit before a trip. For this one, they wanted to visit the historic places of liberty around Boston and the famous warship, “Old Ironsides, as well as New York City (did you know George Washington fought a big battle there?), and historic places in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and end up in Washington, D.C., the seat of our national government. And during our road trips, they talk all the time about the historic things that happened wherever we are, sort of like a long history lesson! (Sometimes I take a nap during this history talk . . . )
To tell the truth, I got the worst scores in my History classes when I was in school, heheheh . . . But visiting real historic places, and hearing the stories from Red Bear is the best way for me to improve my knowledge, and it’s (usually) a fun way. (Still feeling a headache when I think about it, though.)
For me, on a road trip I love to see different styles of houses in different cities, and stores and museums, and check out shopping.
In the end, we had a great and stress-free trip, and I really enjoyed checking out all the beautiful and different The Ritz-Carlton properties where we stayed, and we were treated SO WELL in every place, like family. So the trip was a wonderful & happy, in general.
Where did we go, and what did we do?
Check out our East Coast family vacations below! Today, we will start at the beginning of the trip – Boston.
1. Boston
Our first stop was Boston, one of the oldest cities in America, and the area where the American War of Independence started. It is a city that blends historic old buildings with beautiful new ones, so walking around to check things out is really fun, interesting, and easy (at least, if you wear comfortable shoes and the weather is kind).
We flew into Boston Logan airport in the afternoon, picked up our rented minivan from Alamo Rent a Car with no hassle, and drove directly to The Ritz-Carlton Boston, our home for the next two days.
What We Did in Boston
Narrowing down exactly what to do in Boston can be a challenge, because there are so many historic places in a fairly small area. We actually didn’t use our rental car in Boston (a minivan, actually, because we had a good bit of luggage thanks to . . . me), because we could either walk or take Uber more easily; in Boston; distances are quite short compared to L.A.
For us, the activity that impressed us most was to walk what is called the Freedom Trail. It’s a 2.5-mile path, from the Charlestown area of the city to the Ritz-Carlton area, all well marked with distinctive bricks or red, white, and blue painted lines that guide visitors past many important places in America’s early history.
We started at the Bunker Hill Monument, where an important battle was fought in 1775 between American patriots and the British Army, and Red Bear could see for himself just how it was after reading about it so many times. Then, along the Freedom Trail, we saw the Old North Church, where a lantern signal was sent to Paul Revere to start his famous ride to warn the people that “the Redcoats are coming!” The Freedom Trail actually includes 16 historically important places, and we looked at them all, including the Paul Revere House, Faneuil Hall (called the “cradle of liberty” for the important patriotic speeches given there), and the Boston Massacre site. Walking the Freedom Trail gave us a kind of reverent feeling about the brave people who pushed for liberty there; if you love America, we highly recommend a visit there.
The next day, we visited the U.S.S. Constitution, which is probably America’s most famous sailing warship, and is still part of the U.S. Navy, more than 200 years after she first sailed! It is so interesting to look through the old warship, to see and understand how the sailors lived and fought back then. There is also a U.S.S. Constitution Museum there, and it has MANY interesting displays, including many interactive ones, so you really get some understanding of how sailing warships were built and operated. We spent a lot of time there, and we all really enjoyed it – also highly recommended! We didn’t plan for enough time to play with everything there, so we will hit this museum again, next time we visit Boston.
About The Ritz-Carlton Boston
Now, let’s talk about The Ritz-Carlton Boston itself. It is located in the heart of Boston, and it is a beautiful, modern hotel. It has an Equinox Health Club right next door, and it is available to Ritz-Carlton guests – I am actually a member of Equinox back in L.A., so it felt like home to me!
We stayed in a Luxury Suite in Boston, which includes living room, dining area, large bedroom, and 1.5 bathrooms – plenty of space for our family, and it was all perfectly luxurious, which is pretty much a hallmark of The Ritz-Carlton organization everywhere.
(What I Wore: Mestiza NY Dress , Headband, Carolina Herrera Shoes)
I must mention how warm and helpful all of the staff was there – we really felt at home!
Dining in Boston
The Ritz-Carlton Boston has The Artisan Bistro, a nice, comfy restaurant that features fresh, locally produced foods.
I enjoyed their fixed-price 3-course dinner, and had delicious mussels for my appetizer, scallops for my entrée, and a chocolate crème brulée dessert. The Bistro kindly accommodated Red Bear and my husband to make vegan plates for them; my husband especially loved his roasted potatoes and a delicious cauliflower dish. I recommend trying the 3-course dinner, because it is so yummy, and the price is right, too!
In Boston, as we like to do when staying at The Ritz-Carlton (in the hotels where it is available), we upgraded to the “Club Lounge” option, which you can do when you register for your room. The Club Lounge is like a private club within the hotel, and you can go there to relax, read, and this option includes access to a veritable buffet of small dishes that changes four or five times a day. It is so convenient for us to use the Club Lounge, because we can stop in early and have a light breakfast, getting started with coffee, juice, fruits, cereals, pastries, toast, and other morning-appropriate choices. We really enjoy hitting the Club Lounge two or three times a day, for snacks, drinks, or dessert, whenever we want some quick and convenient nourishment. Sometimes we just hang there to relax, read, and maybe chat with other guests.
There is also a nice-looking modern bar/lounge at this hotel, called The Avery (named for the street where the hotel is located). We peeked in, and it looks nice, but with Red Bear with us at all times, we did not stay for any drinks there this time.
There are many, many appealing restaurants within walking distance of The Ritz-Carlton Boston. On our second night, while we were walking around, window shopping, and sightseeing, we decided to stop for dinner at a nice but casual restaurant called The Back Deck. It had a large menu, and each of us found something tasty to eat. What I enjoyed about it, besides the food, was that the windows were big and fully open, so (if you wanted, but we didn’t do it) you could just step from the sidewalk, through the open window, into the restaurant! I noticed a lot of other places in Boston had the same style. It was a very refreshing thing to experience, with the evening air coming in like that.
I also want to give special mention toe Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood, which is just 2 blocks from The Ritz-Carlton. We walked through and explored, and it reminded me so much of my home city in China, with lots of little bakeries, restaurants, and markets. And it is not only Chinese there, but we also saw Vietnamese, Korean, and Thai places. Next time we visit, I’m going to eat in this area, for sure! So many delicious smells of food cooking there . . .
After two days, it was time for us to head for New York City, a drive of about 4 hours through a lot of beautiful forested land. As we headed out, we stopped at one more historic place about 17 miles from Boston — Lexington Green, where the first actual fighting between American patriots and the British Army took place in 1775. That battle is called, “the Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” because it ignited the American Revolution, and resulted 8 years later in the independence of the United States.
Also on the drive to NYC, we stopped for lunch and a break at a lovely restaurant called Vernon Diner, in Vernon, Connecticut. It had good and friendly service, a HUGE menu, and we were all pretty happy with what we ate. Worth a stop if you are in the area and hungry!
Next up: Part 2, The Ritz-Carlton Central Park in New York City (Stay tuned)!
Big thanks to The Ritz-Carlton for working with us on this story; as always, all opinions are honestly our own.
Family road trip are one of the best bonding moments in time to have. Something to always look back to cherished!
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