Our Neighborhood

Donuts, etc.

The fact that I didn’t write about my weekend yesterday or on Monday may have had you breathing a sigh of relief.  Alas, I’m not giving up so easy on my favorite blog topic — I just didn’t have time to do it justice.  Even today, I’m only going to mention two activities that were a little different from my usual.  The first was a bike ride on Sunday morning to Torbert Macdonald Park in Medford.  As we were riding through the tall reeds by the side of the Mystic River, Paul said, “It’s like being in….”  I couldn’t hear the end of his sentence, but it doesn’t matter.  Whatever he may have said, the point is that riding along the park path is certainly not like being close to a major roadway across from an auto dealer.  Our ride took an hour and a quarter, including some diversions, but it could easily be done in an hour or less from campus.

On the opposite end of the activity spectrum (earning calories, rather than burning them), Kayla and I made a pilgrimage to Verna’s Donut Shop in North Cambridge.  The Boston area has a high donut to population ratio, this being traditional donut country, and Verna’s takes you back to kinder, gentler donut days.  Plus, Verna’s donuts are delicious.  After drinking our coffees and eating our donuts (one plain, one glazed), we headed for the door, but not before indulging in an additional purchase, a whoopie pie.

That neighborhood of North Cambridge — given the way Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford nest together — is only a mile from campus, and it’s loaded with great little restaurants.  Walk over to Verna’s for a donut, and pick a place for a future dinner, too.