I’m sticking to a transportation theme this week! We decided to take the older boys to a Red Sox game this summer. Each had been before individually, but this was the first time we’d been as a group. Since I didn’t need the car that day we let dad drive the minivan downtown so we would have it to come home in. And, since we had the time, I would bring the boys using public transportation.
It was a night game. As the afternoon drew on rain came intermittently. When it was time to leave for the bus stop, though, it wasn’t raining so off we went. Of course it began raining when we got to the bus stop. There was a large tree that provided reasonable shelter but the boys decided playing in the rain was more fun so they were rather wet when the bus arrived.
I got seats for them, but it must have been painfully obvious to everyone else on the public bus that they hadn’t used one before. They take the school bus, but there were endless questions about why we were stopping, who was getting on, what route we were taking, the various features of a bus, etc. But, we made it to the subway station fairly easily.
We take the subway roughly once a summer so the boys were more familiar with this part of the journey. The only hassle was that because we go rarely, I only had Charlie tickets (vs the newer Charlie cards) and didn’t know how much was on them. Charlie tickets are the paper cards that replaced the token system. Charlie cards are the newer plastic version that can be reloaded online, and offer a slightly lower fare to encourage their use. It turned out one Charlie ticket was empty and I needed to add a dollar to the other. But, I was able to toss both at the end of the trip.
I’ll need to purchase a Charlie card before next summer. I did some quick checking online and this seems to be harder than it should be. They’re only available in certain stations, plus a few convenience stores, vs by mail. When we visited DC, I purchased METRO cards online so they arrived in the mail before we left for the trip. One less thing to deal with.
All in all it was a good adventure. We made it to the game. We only got a bit wet. I’d do it again should the situation arise.
Busy in the Burbs 
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