I am heading out to Boston on Wednesday for a couple of days of vacation intermixed with 4 days of hockey.

I am staying somewhere in the vacinity of the Fleet Center and will be without a car. Can anyone give me some idea if there is any lighhouses that I can see without much of a hassle?

Thanks in advance

Check the Harbor Tours by the Aquarium, Larry.

Yikes Larry that's tomorrow! No car is good as you really don't want to drive in Boston! Hmmm, as far as seeing lighthouses though, that could be tough. If you can get down to Southie there's a park area that has some sort of fort. (I think it may be Columbus Park?)

http://www.buda.org/dir/columbus_park.html

If you go there at night you can see Boston Light flashing. Not sure if you can see it during the daytime. I'd think your best bet would be to see if you can get a harbor cruise boat out of Boston. If so you might be able to see Deer Island Lighthouse (a pole affair built on the base of a former real lighthouse), Long Island Head Lighthouse, and the Graves Lighthouse.

You can read about them here:

http://www.lighthouse.cc/ma.html

It's kind of early for cruise boats though but who knows, you can ask at the hotel. I also believe there is a water taxi service from downtown Boston to Hull. If that is going you may be able to get closer to Boston Light, not sure.

Maybe if you go the the top of the Prudential Center you can see some of the lights. I think it's the tallest building in Boston so it should be easy to find. You can go up to an observation floor and see way to the airport so you should be able to see lots of the harbor. I was there once but it was b4 lighthouses for me so didn't look.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your time in Boston regardless. Bring lots of money or plastic, it's not a cheap town!

(Sorry, I just realized tomorrow's Tuesday, not Wednesday! )

I thought the John Hancock building was the tallest building in Boston. You can listen to air traffic and see the airport from there. I don't recall seeing any lighthouses.

Suzanne

Yes Suzanne you are correct. I always get those two buildings mixed up but I'm pretty sure it was the "Pru" that I was in.

The only way to see any lighthouses in the Boston area is by getting on a boat or traveling by car. There isn't any location that I know of within walking distance that you can actually see a light so that you could recognize it.

There are plenty of lights to see within a 30-45 minute drive of the city, in either direction. Another problem with driving right now is the newest detour relating to the "Big Dig" was just activated this week. That whole area can be somewhat confusing now.

Many people like to drive in the city, I don't. I avoid going in town. There are too many nitwit drivers and too much traffic in the City of Boston. I suppose it's like that in most big cities.

Enjoy your hockey, Larry, then worry about the lights another time.

Bob

BOSTON .... all those one-way streets going off at all different angles .... sometimes you can see where you want to get too, but can't seem to get there. If I had to drive in Boston again, I'd want to have my GPS giving me directions .... it would definitely be a test.

I was stationed in Boston, several times in my career. The last assignment was at a barracks next to the Museum of Science,(Storrow Drive & Leverett Circle area), in 1999 and 2000. The "Big Dig" was in full swing at that time and streets, exit ramps, and entrance ramps would change every other week. The phrase, "You can't get there from here", was often used daily. Just when you thought you knew the way, it changed.

I could care less if I ever drove on the streets of Boston again.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Now Bob, being a sworn Law Enforcement Officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who has also been stationed in Boston, can you answer a question for me? What does a flashing green light indicate? Boston is the only place that I have ever seen one. Thanks.

Jim - it means "It's time to GO to an Irish Pub for a beer!!"

Not driving in Boston doesn't always help much either.

We were up there for a convention back in, I'd say, oh, 1991 or so, and we stayed in Braintree. I rode to the convention center with some friends and my wife decided she would take the "T" into Boston for the day.

She parked her car at the train station, boarded the train and went shopping with our then 18 month old daughter.

Later that afternoon, when I called our hotel room from the convention center , I was greeted with her sobbing...."I can't find the car". She lost my car somewhere in the suburbs of Boston!?! She had ridden the train and taxi cabs (which by the end of her ordeal were giving her free rides) from station to station looking for the car. If I recall, in the area we were staying, Braintree, there were several stations: Braintree, Quincy, Adams, Quincy Adams. She had tried them all (being confused as anyone should have been), including the one with the six story parking garage where she was pretty sure she had parked on the fifth story (yeah, the one with the broken elevator, so she had to walk the whole thing with an 18 month old in stroller.) Long story short, she was parked in the six story garage with the broken elevator, and my co-workers and I eventually found my car there. The garage had two sides, only attached at the 1st and 6th levels. She was looking on the wrong side.

It makes for a good laugh now, but boy, not that day.

Anyway, how was your trip Larry?

Flashing red traffic signals mean "stop", ascertain that it is safe to proceed before doing so. Basically the same thing as a stop sign.

Flashing yellow traffic signals mean slow and proceed with caution. A non-flashing yellow traffic signal means stop if safe to do so. Most motorists believe a non-flashing yellow signal means "floor it so you can beat the red light." We have a lot of people killed each year because people fail to slow for the yellow and go through the red light.

Flashing green is not a very common traffic signal in Massachusetts. If you see a flashing green, it means proceed cautiously because it may turn yellow then to red at any time. Usually you'll find a flashing green out in front of an emergency facility like a police or fire station. Some times you will see them at school crosswalks.

"Now you know the rest of the story..."

Bob

Thanks Bob, was always curious about that. I think I like Ron's idea better though. Explains why Mombo likes those Boston trips so much

Bob may know the rule book but the drivers in Boston go by their own set of rules.

Basically they drive fast and brake suddenly if at all.

Right of way is not in their vocabulary.

They just shoot out in front of you from small streets into larger streets. If you don't stop for them it's your fault.

Switching lanes? Sure, just cut right in front of the cars in the other lanes to get to the one you want.

Rotaries are nightmare zones! Cars in Boston entering the rotary always have the right of way.

Tunnels a problem? No way, just drive faster and you'll get through them sooner.

Don't ever stop to pull over for a siren, you'll get run over by the car behind you. Hey, you're not that guy in the ambulance and you certainly haven't done anything that the cops are after you so what's the big deal.

Parking a problem in Boston? Ha! If you think you can't fit into a space that looks too small you're wrong. Boston folks always can fit in even if it means giving another car a gentle nudge. Nudging is always proper getting out of a parking spot when someone else parks too close to you.

Once you get on the interstate it can really get fun, like when you just get on and your exit is 3 seconds down the highway, on your left!

Big Dig? You mean Boston isn't supposed to look like that normally?

Here's an unusual traffic signal not in Boston but right here in Syracuse:

http://www.colemansirishpub.com/greentop.htm

Let's step back and look at this situation: We have a long time Mass State Trooper, driving a marked trooper-mobile that says he won't drive in Boston. Does this give you an indication that maybe you should reconsider any decision to drive in that mess?

(Bob, I am presuming that the trooper-mobiles do actually have the capability to move from construction site to construction site under their own power? Sorry, couldn't resist the cheap shot - seems as if the only place you see Mass Troopers is parked at construction sites....)

You are likely to see a cruiser in a commuting capacity or at a construction site then on patrol. Some stations, including mine, usually work with a bare minimum of patrols, two. Each patrol has about 60 miles of roadway to cover on their primary patrol. Things like motor vehicle violations, crashes, and disabled cars often keep a patrol from covering his or her area more than a few times during a regular shift.

My station had 42 people assigned here ten years ago. Now we have 26, and there is no new hires on the horizon. We are expected to provide the same coverage despite the drastic reduction in the patrol force.

Road rage is often on the news. Drivers keep getting more aggressive all the time. We've had a few deaths already this year, relating to road rage. People are killing people and then saying, "I'm sorry but he or she cut me off." Self administered death penalties are not part of our laws in the Commonwealth.

There are a few secret weapons to combat this and it comes with the use of various types and styles of unmarked cruisers. They are equipped with video cameras and radar. They pick'em off little by little but will never be able to get them all.

Speaking of cruisers at construction sites, I usually run radar if I'm at a site. Picture a fully marked cruiser with all lights flashing with a Trooper running radar where the area is posted "Construction Zone, 50 mph, fines doubled". That makes the minimum fine $200 for anything over the limit up to 10 mph. Then we add another $20 for each 1 mph over that, and they still come through at 70-80 mph. 80 mph in a construction zone costs you a $600 fine, but people still do it. File that under "slow learners". We won't even talk about the insurance surcharges in Mass.

Welcome to Massachusetts!

Bob

Bob,

No matter how hard you try there are always going to be stupid people on the road. My personal favorites are the ones flying down the lane that is closing, bypassing all the people who are following directions and merging. Personally, I believe a trooper should be allowed to remove those drivers from their cars and blow up the cars right there at the side of the road. A little radical, but eventually people would get the message... maybe ...

Another thing I always notice on the Mass Pike is that when you have three lanes the slowest drivers are always in the center lane. So others pass on both the right and left and return to the center lane. Makes for a fun ride.

Boston...... The only place I know where people drive 65 miles an hour........ on the sidewalk that is.

Funny you should mention driving on sidewalks, Lonnie. Back in the 70's, the old saying was, "It isn't Spring on Cape Cod until Ted Kennedy drives his Pontiac Convertible down the sidewalks of Hyannis."

"Uh, um, uh,..make that a uh, um uh, a double Scotch, Barkeep!"

Bob