My old stomping grounds are north toward Andover, and my wife is from Bourne on Cape Cod.
You are in the Bay State, so now's the time to hit the REAL 'Bay Area.' Like Mattapoisett. Not the California knock-off.
If you're stuck in-town, hit the Museum of Fine Arts. The admission price will be tall, just like all center-city artsy joints in any city, but there's enough world-class stuff there to be worth it.
Get on the Green line and get off at Boyleston St. Buy a hot salted pretzel. Walk to Faneuil Hall and the old North Church - where 'the shot heard round the world' happened. Walk a little further to the old wharves to Quincy Market and get a bowl of chowder. (Legal Seafood's ain't bad either, but they're geared toward yupster pricing, like McCormicks in PDX.) And you can call it 'chow-dah.'
If you are driving - live it up - Boston pedestrians are trained right; when you gun it around a sharp corner headed for a light turning yellow, they scatter like cockroaches. There are also a lot fewer bicycles or other retarded 'alternative' vehicles to slow you down. Pedestrians are polite, they'll actually show a little hustle while crossing if they see they are holding you up. Of course, you are expected to do the same when you lose your car and are on foot. Do not piss off Boston drivers by being a slouch in the crosswalk. That flashing orange hand means 'double-time.'
You also actually get to GO when the light turns green - even if you're three cars back from the stopline. Also, a cool rule there is that if there is a line of cars at a stop SIGN, only every THIRD car actually has to stop. Once they stop, then next two can all go as a group. Unlike Portland, Boston driving is about how to let their colonial-era road network handle MORE and MORE cars per hour = efficient commuting for everybody. Not like PDX, talking about sacrificing a lane of traffic on the Sellwood bridge to make room for light-rail. (In Boston the light rail is underground - the oldest subway, in the USA if not the world, iirc. Again, this keeps more pedestrians off the street, so you can hit 45mph between lights.)
http://www.capeannvacations.com/MenuPage.cfm?id=56Also if you are driving head 35min north on Route 1 and then 127 onto Cape Ann. Visit Gloucester and Rockport. Eat cod caught off the Grand Banks and brought in fresh. 'Captains Courageous' is one of the best seafood houses on the North Shore. See the statue of 'The Gloucester Fisherman,' (of the Gorton's logo) and visit 'Our Lady of the Good Voyage' Portuguese Catholic Church:
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/maritime/lad.htmOr head east along the lagoons and estuaries to Essex, MA for 'Woodman's eat in the Rough.' Lobster 'in the rough' is served whole, red, and no bib or nut crackers, and no utensils. The thing is a crustacean related to the common head louse, so get in there and murder it with your bare hands and teeth. Eating lobster in the rough is one of New England's most barbaric rituals, and add a pound of steamed clams (little necks or quahogs) plus an ear of corn on the cob, and about a 3oz cup of drawn butter and there is just nothing like it.
Buy a CD of traditional whaling songs. There is also a yuppie-food* store chain there, I forgot its name, but you
might be able to get Grade C or Grade D maple syrup.
* Portland Equivalent: 'Normal food' = Fred Meyer, Safeway, IGA.
'Yuppie food' = Trader Joes, New Seasons, Whole Foods, etc.
