This is Kate.

This photo was shamelessly stolen from Kate’s Facebook.

Kate is my best friend. We met in college, roomed together for two years and tried to spend every waking moment together. Our friends knew that if you invited one of us, you had to invite the other, and I think collectively we were known as KateandMegan.

Kate is my “person”. I talk about her all the time. She is someone who I know I can call when I am having a problem and she will give me blunt honest advice and I will listen to that blunt honest advice. I know that I can also call her when I want to tell her something funny because we have a similar sense of humor. We always pick up or respond no matter what, or leave obnoxious voice-mails.

We know each others’ likes and dislikes and the tiny quirks that make each other special.

She is weird and I am weird and we can be super weird together.

Currently, Kate and I live on opposite sides of the United States and communicate through daily text messages, phone calls and the occasional FaceTime. After dropping several obvious hints that she wanted me to visit, I bought a plane ticket in January and flew out to Boston at the end of April.

Kate met me at baggage claim. We both shrieked and I think I jumped over some lady’s luggage and practically pushed several people out-of-the-way just so I could hug her.

We easily fell back into our routine. It was like we had never said goodbye. And I love that.

To get back to Kate’s apartment, we took the Silver Line bus to South Station, then took the Red Line to Park St, and finally the Green Line to Washington St.

Huzzah, public transportation.

It’s actually a relatively easy system to learn. And this wasn’t my first public transportation rodeo as I’ve been to Boston before with my mother. I think Kate was nervous that I would stand there like a scared tourist since here in California I drive everywhere; after she bought my week-long pass, she took my ticket, ran it through the machine, and shoved me through the open gates to make sure I made it though alive.

I felt so loved.

The next day, Kate and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts to look around and check out the time capsule that had been found at the Massachusetts State House.

Entrance to the Museum

There were some cool exhibits on fine jewelry from Ancient Nubia, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and the Japanese artist Hokusai.

The exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci was really cool. I loved that they had his Codex on the Flight of Birds on display.

The author of the exhibit wrote that it was somehow well-known that da Vinci and Michelangelo had “an intense dislike for each other”. For some reason, that made me believe that secretly they were friends.

There was a long line to see the time capsule, because the day that we went was the last day it was going to be on display. The time capsule is going to be reburied at the Massachusetts State House.

The time capsule consisted of a lot of old coins and newspapers but it was still pretty cool.

Next we headed to Newbury St for a late lunch at Trident Booksellers and Cafe.

The cafe is upstairs from the bookstore and provided a lovely view of people-watching. The food was good. Everything was fresh and full of flavor.

Kate shares my love for sweet things so we stopped at a little cupcake shop called Sweet Bakery. The cupcakes were soft and moist and I’m salivating just thinking about them.

We started watching Daredevil on Netflix because at the end of a long day around Boston, it’s nice to cuddle with your best friend and watch good television.

On the second day, Kate indulged in my nerdiness and took me to the Boston Public Library, which is number 5 on this list from Business Insider.

On the way, we passed the Finish Line for the Boston Marathon, which was cool. Some lady thought that it was a cross walk. Bless her.

So, we wandered around the Library for a bit. And it was gorgeous.      

“So people have weddings in this courtyard.” “Who would have their wedding at a library?” “…You would have your wedding at a library.” “…True.”

We stumbled upon a map room that was set up for kids. So, of course, we had to check it out. It boasts a lot of cool maps of fictional worlds.

We didn’t get to explore the whole Library since they were doing some construction so we headed out to the Public Garden. If you haven’t read the children’s book Make Way for Ducklings, you should because it’s cute and it takes place in this park.               

They even have little statues for the ducks from the book.

Pictured wearing their spring bonnets

We continued on to the Museum of Science, which is where Kate works.       

Kate works in the Live Animal Care Center, so she gave me a backstage tour and introduced me to all of her new animal friends.

There were two porcupines named Cooper and Noonee. I’ve never heard what a porcupine sounds like and I’m happy to report that when Noonee made her porcupine noises, she sounded like a cute but anxious puppy. Cooper sounded like a grumpy old man, which is to be expected since he is 27 years old.

It was fascinating to watch Cooper and Noonee move around their cage. They sort of waddled when they walked and they were excellent climbers. Their long claws obviously helped their grip and they took their time climbing up and down and around their cage. I could listen to them “talk” to each other for hours.

I wanted to take them home with me.

There were three screech owls named Errol, Otus and Conan. Screech owls are the best owls. They just look like they’re consistently annoyed and angry at everything.

The ferrets were named Faraday, Fermi and Volta. I also wanted to take them home with me. There were also a couple of alligators, snakes and frogs and a red-tailed hawk with a temper who charged anyone who came near his cage.

On our way back to Kate’s apartment that evening, we stopped at Athan’s, a bakery and chocolatiers shop. I had to get baklava and we split two mousse cakes, a raspberry one and a strawberry one.

On my last day in Boston, we explored Coolidge Corner. We had crepes and tea for brunch and caught an afternoon showing of “Woman in Gold,” starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. It was an excellent movie and you should see it if you have the chance.

The rest of the evening was filled with more food and ‘goodbye’ drinks and more cuddling and Netflix-watching.     

On Saturday morning, Kate made sure I made it to the Silver Line bus that would take me back to the airport. I realized that we had just been basking in the wonders of our friendship (and I was taking pictures of everything else) that I hadn’t taken any pictures of us together. So we took a ‘goodbye selfie’. 

As my bus pulled away, I waved and waved until my arm was sore and while I was waiting to board my plane, I bombarded Kate’s cell phone with text messages.

I told her that it’s her turn to come visit me. We have also semi-made other plans to meet each other somewhere in Europe for another adventure. Anywhere is good as long as we are together.