Fortunately we weren't kept awake by noise from the sports bar downstairs and got up early to go and explore Boston a bit before being collected by Max's dad's cousin Jim, to go and spend the weekend with him and his wife Elaine at their house in Marblehead, just outside Boston.
It was another gorgeous day and even the leaves in Boston were beautiful oranges and reds, prompting the question was it worth going all that way to New Hampshire to peep at leaves?!
My liking for Boston grew as we wandered through pretty little streets to the big park in the middle of the city and then into the kind of Georgetown-esque neighbourhood of Beacon Hill, with pretty houses and cobbled lanes.
We saw the Cheers bar on our way back to the hotel, but couldn't linger long, because we were running late for Jim.
Jim and Elaine are really fun and we had a great weekend with them. Jim is a professor of 
political statistics (or something) at Harvard and Elaine used to be a professional potter but now makes jewellry. Their house is incredible - they spent two years completely refurbishing it with astonishing good taste and amazing vision. They have a floating staircase in the middle of the downstairs, with the steps wedged in panes of glass, and everything is ultra-modern and minimalist but also manages to be deliciously homely and comfortable and warm, too.
The house is right on the water in Marblehead, which is one of the oldest towns in all of the US and just a short drive outside of Boston.
the view from Jim and Elaine's front porch
There's something incredibly calming about being at Jim and Elaine's - it feels like a real sanctuary where everything is peaceful and easy-going. It helps that Jim and Elaine are both really laid back, but there's something about being able to see the sea from all their huge windows and not having any traffic whizzing past that makes it a lovely place to just relax.
After lunch, we went for a wander around Marblehead, which is a beautifully quaint town, with lots of houses made from wood slats that have been painted bright colours and little winding streets that suit walking more than dashing around in a massive car.
Again, the leaves were beautiful and we popped in to the local museum to see 'The Spirit of '76', a painting depicting the Americans beating the British that is apparently a big deal.
Jim regailed us with stories of local life as we walked up to a park that overlooked the Marblehead shoreline, telling us one story about how the chopped up body of someone's wife was found by a fisherman just off one of the islands nearby. The thing that caused most consternation amongst the locals wasn't the brutality of murder, but that foolish culprit had disposed of his wife's remains on entirely the wrong side of the island! Everyone knows that if you want to dump your wife's body, you dump it on the other side, where the water is deeper and the tide doesn't get too low! What worried Elaine is the number of people who'd clearly thought long and hard about how they were going to dispose of their wife's body!
On our way back to the house, we visited Jim and Elaine's lobsterman, who'd 
been saving some lobster specially for us, in his trap. So we went and got super-fresh lobster from the sea, while talking to him about how hard he's been hit by the troubled economy and how, despite being a life-long Republican, he'll be voting for Obama, as he's the only one who seems to know how to handle the crisis.
After drinks on the front terrace,watching the sun go down, we cooked the lobster (they were alive as they went into the pot! Gnarly) and sat with the sea just outside the window, enjoying a nice long supper of chatting, drinking and eating. Max got to hear lots about his grandfather, who died before Max was born. It was particularly nice for Max to also hear about his granny before her husband died, as when Max knew her, she had depression (not that mini-Max was aware of that) and really wasn't herself.
We also talked lots about Jim and Elaine's son Adam, who Max had been pals with when they were little, but who had since developed schizophrenia and saw his life take a very different path from the super-high achieving path it was on. When I first met Elaine, at a wedding shortly after Max and I first got together, I remember her being at her wit's end and in a real state about Adam. But now, he's married, found good medication, has a job and is even working to overturn legislation concerning mental illness in Rhode Island, so they're really happy and relieved.
We had such a nice evening of intimate conversation and delicious food and slept the sleep of 
the dead in a massive bed, before lurching to the sunny front terrace for some breakfast while basking in the sun and watching the world go by, accompanied at all times by Priscilla - Jim and Elaine's excellent dog. She has the temprement of a cat - really calm and fond of basking in the sun and only occasionally in need of the odd pat, rather than dashing around like a mad thing, as is more typical of dogs.
After lunch, we were going to go to Salem, which is just up the road, but there wasn't time, so we took another turn around Marblehead, hearing all about Jim and Elaine's ridiculous struggles with the local Historic Society, who carefully monitored their renovations and seeing the house where they used to live, which Max visited when he was younger.
(not Jim and Elaine's old house, but another pretty Marblehead home)
By the time we got back to Boston airport, it felt like we'd been away for ages, far longer than a weekend, and the horrible Baltimore/speeding ticket fiascoes were a gleefully distant memory. We got back to DC feeling refreshed and relaxed and longing to go back to Marblehead!
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