You’re here in Atlanta, right? If so, you could take the Crescent up to DC, spend a little time, then continue on via the new Acela service to Boston, then do the same in reverse. Presumably, you could also stop in Philadelphia briefly if you were so inclined.
I love Boston. I spent most of the summer of 1985 in Cambridge, and return whenever possible (which has been pretty often, since I’ve been in technology for the last ten years or so and the two main trade shows for my sector, the Seybold Seminars and MacWorld, were there in the spring and late summer, respectively, for many years). I’ve usually arranged my travel so that I stay through the weekend after the show so that I can enjoy hanging out in Boston for a few days.
The things I love most about Boston are the ease with which you can get around without a car and the literary culture. I could easily spend a week just browsing the bookstores of Newbury Street and Harvard Square. And during the two months I spent in Cambridge, I did everything I wanted to do and only got into an automobile (buses included) three times (and one of those was a bus trip across the river to get to the airport as a result of flooding at Kendall Square station – otherwise, I’d have taken the Red Line). Everything else was on foot or on the T.
On several occasions, I’ve started the day in the Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area, wandered from there over into the North End up to Old North Church, down to the North End Playground on the water, back into the Government Center/Scollay Square area, down through the Common and the Public Garden, down Boylston or Newbury (or, if I’m not in the mood to shop, Beacon or Commonweath) to Mass. Ave., across into Cambridge and all the way down Mass. Ave. to Harvard Square. On one occassion I actually started down at the Computer Museum before following the rest of that itinerary. A lot of walking (probably close to eight miles, all told), and the stretch between MIT and Harvard Square gets a bit tiresome, but doable (even for a fat out-of-shape guy like me who’s just spent five days on his feet at a trade show). And you could always hop on the Red Line at Kendall Square and take it to Central Square or even all the way to Harvard Square). You can find plenty of places to stop and refresh along the way (I became a real fan of iced coffee during my first sojourn in Cambridge), and can always break it up into two or more days. Or you can be a sheep and just follow the Freedom Trail, which takes you along many of the same points. Of course, you still need to make time for the Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner Museum, and any number of other interesting sites.
It’s definitely warm in Boston at that time of year, but usually not unbearable. And the number of people out on the streets in the North End, Quincy Market, Newbury Street, and Harvard Square makes it well worth being out and about. When I first arrived in Harvard Square after flying in late on a Saturday night in June of 1985, I dropped my stuff in my room and went looking for a pay phone to call my parents and let them know I’d arrived safely. It was 11:30 on a Saturday night, and within a block I was surround by people out walking around, street musicians, coffee and ice cream shops doing a booming business, etc. Not what you find even in more cosmopolitan parts of Arkansas, and I’ve never felt more at home or comfortable so quickly anywhere else. Even finding that my room was not air-conditioned didn’t damp my enthusiasm.
I’ve only been to Philadephia once, also for a trade show many years ago, but I liked it a lot more than I’d expected to. There’s plenty to do for a one or two day stopover, and most of the cool stuff is also accessible on foot from the center of the downtown area. I’m fascinated with pretty much anything to do with Ben Franklin, so I had no trouble amusing myself there.
DC, it goes without saying, is all that has been suggested by earlier posters, and is second only to Boston in the ease with which one can get around without a car. My wife and I spent several days there about five years ago, staying in the suburbs, taking the Metro into DC each day and walking nearly everywhere. Of course, it’s pretty hot in the summer as well, but there’s air conditioned museums all over that you can walk into for nothing.
I’ve done New Orleans in July. It’s more miserable than you can imagine. I love NO, but nearly any other time of year would be better. It’s also not a great place to go by yourself; I’ve always felt less safe (even in the Quarter) there than anywhere else I’ve been. Partly that’s because it’s the only place where anyone I know has actually been mugged (they picked the wrong guy – a former major college linebacker/trained dancer/martial artist, who kicked the crap out of the two guys who tried to steal his watch, but still). But I’ve heard from lots of others who point out that the daytime is the dangerous time in the quarter – fewer people around – and that the NO Police Department is scarcely better than the people they arrest.
