Day 7 - 5/10/13:
We woke up before 10am and drove about a block down to McDonald's where we did our usual - washed up, changed clothes, got tea and coffee to wake us up.
It was already really warm and sunny. The last 2 days had been pretty grey with rain off and on so it was nice to see the sun again, though it got surprisingly hot.
It was our last full day in MA and we hadn't played at many dance game locations (only Game Underground and Dave's so far) so we pulled up ddrfreak to see what was nearby.
The closest place was Regal 13 Theater in Boston:
Regal 13 Theater
401 Park Drive Ste. 7
Boston, MA 02215
(617)424-6266
They were supposed to have ITG2 there at $1 for 1 song with joint premium on, according to the 2009 ddrfreak update, but when we arrived it was DDR Supernova at $1 for 3 songs. We had a quick credit (pads were decent), updated ddrfreak, and moved on.
The front of Regal 13 Theater:
DDR Supernova inside Regal 13:
Next up was Boston Bowl in Dorchester, MA:
Boston Bowl Family Fun Center
820 William T Morrissey Blvd
Dorchester, MA 02121
617-825-3800
The setup and details given on ddrfreak in 2008 were still the same when we arrived. The DDR Supenova and ITG2 dedicab (with an ITG3 marquee) were still there and in the same spot but the ITG2 was out of order and turned off. I asked the attendant about it but she didn't know what was wrong with it. She said it'd been out of service for maybe 6 months now. I asked if she knew if the owner would consider selling it and she called we manager in for me. Her manager explained they'd been trying to get it fixed for quite awhile now as they had a regular community (Lisette included) that used to come in and play on it and the DDR SN next to it but that they'd sent the boxor out to Cali to get it fixed (I'm thinking she means by Mark), gotten it back, had it working for a month or 2, had it break again, and sent it back to Cali where it's currently being worked on but she's not sure if it'll work, what's wrong with it, or what they're going to do with it. I told her I'd ask the local community if they knew anything about it or could help in any way but that I was interested in buying it if they couldn't fix it. She gave me the email for get general manager and said I could talk to him about buying it and that he might be willing to sell but I later spoke with Lisette's dad who said he knew what was wrong and already had the parts to fix it, which he'd be doing as soon as he got a chance. I'd prefer to keep the machine where it is for the local community anyway but if ever it breaks again and isn't fixed I'll gladly rescue it and take it home to Vegas! After that, Sean and I had a game on Supernova, which had pretty good pads considering it's a DDR machine and most likely unmodded, and then left in search of food!
*After talking to Lisette's dad Eddie, we learned that the issue with the machine was that they kept trying to buy new video cards for it but only old ones were compatible with it so Eddie had gotten the video cards for it and he and Sigma were planning to go back and install them but just hadn't been back yet.
Boston Bowl:
View of the dance games at Boston Bowl from the surveillance camera set up just for them:
DDR had gotten us very hungry again so stopped to eat at a Burger King we found but there was no air conditioning on and it was so hot! Weird. They DID have $0.75 ICEEs though so Sean got an ICEE and we split 2 $1 burgers and a $1 chicken sandwich.
Burger King with no air conditioning!:
A nice view we saw while driving:
Then we went to play at Dave and Buster's!
Dave and Buster's
250 Granite St
Braintree, MA 02184
(781)519-7900
We had a coupon for $10 of free play when you load $10 on your card but we only wanted 1 game on their DDR machine, there was a $2 activation fee for a new card, and the coupon turned out to be pretty useless as the arcade had signs with the same offer anyway. We decided to look around the arcade for a card someone might've lost instead. In the process, we found lots of tickets, a cool necklace left in the prize collection box of a crane game, $15 cash laying on the floor, and lots of free credits on various games including 3 credits on DDR and several on ticket dispensing games. Ddrfreak had said the machine there was a DDR X, last updated 2 months ago, and didn't list any other music games but when we arrived we found the machine was actually DDR X2, fully unlocked with usbs and edits working and doubles premium on, and that there was a Guitar Hero machine there too. (I'm guessing it was the same 2 months prior but ddrfreak doesn't have X2 and Guitar Hero as selectable machine options.) After DDR, we went to cash in our tickets (138 tickets worth 2 points each for a total of 276 points!) but were told they needed to be loaded onto our game card, which we obviously didn't have. We told the arcade attendant we didn't have a card since we'd been using our friend's when he was there but he'd left with his card but had left all the tickets with us. She was super nice though and gave us a card (saving us the $2 activation fee) with some credits and another 100 points already loaded onto it! Wow..We used our now 376 points and got 2 Dave and Buster's shot glasses and a sparkly bracelet. The attendant gave us the bracelet for free and left 56 points on the card she'd give us! She was really nice and talked to us a bit about where we were from, where all we'd traveled, the DDR tat she noticed on my right shoulder, and the fact she hadn't done much traveling herself. On the way out, we found 6 chocolate bars in the prize collection area of a candy crane game. I feel like we got paid to play there!
Dave and Buster's:
DDR X2 at Dave and Buster's:
Once we felt we'd experienced all Dave and Buster's had to offer us, we drove back up towards Salem to meet Lisette and her dad at Salem Willows Arcade (where we'd tried to go a couple days prior and it turns out there actually was still a DDR Extreme machine) but we stopped at 1 last location on the way where there was supposed to be DDR Extreme, according to the location's last ddrfreak update in 2005, but we instead found an ITG2 upgrade:
Metro Bowl
63 Foster St
Peabody, MA 01960
leosmetrobowl.com/
When we got inside, all the games in the arcade were off but they flipped a switch and turned them all on as soon as they saw us looking that direction. When we got to the ITG2 machine it was just booting up and saying that the USB ports weren't connected. The machine was r2 and pads were really bad but 2P side was better. The monitor was going out so it randomly dimmed and brightens but not so much that the arrows were unreadable. The hardest thing we managed to pass with the 1 credit (4 tokens, 4 songs) we played was Mythology, Sean on the 1P pad and me on the better, 2P pad.
Funny lane-dividing line we saw while driving:
Pic from back of arcade in Metro Bowl:
r2 ITG2 upgrade!:
We finally arrived at Salem Willows just before 7pm.
Salem Willows Arcade
171-185 Fort Avenue
Salem, MA 01970
Salem Willows area:
Next to the Salem Willows arcade was a "Casino" that was actually just another arcade:
One of the more amusing things we found in the "casino". =p :
Inside Salem Willows, we met up with Lizzie and her dad as well as dance gamers Demir and Dominick who we'd never met before for some DDR Extreme! The machine there was really good - especially the 1P side. It was $1 per 4 song game. Sean and I played a few credits, taking turns with the rest of them there as well as a few randoms.
Salem Willows Arcade's entrance:
Left to right: Demir, Lizzie's father, Lizzie, me, and Sean:
Then we got hungry and explored the restaurants by the arcade. It was mostly ice cream, pizza, and Chinese food and the best deal we found was chicken chop suey sandwiches for $1.85 each. Sean and I thought "hell yes!"..then they handed us these sloppy bean sprout-covered buns. XD Surprisingly, they were about as good as McDoubles at McDonald's. They just looked horrible.
Chicken chop suey sandwiches:
Looks like this place used to be an arcade too. Too bad we weren't around for those days and too bad those days are gone.:
After hanging in the arcade a little longer, we gave Lisette and her dad a ride to their house in Malden and just as we pulled up to their place I saw an opossum running across the street! I chased it down til it ran under a car and sat still as I took a few pics. Then it ran off before I could grab it. Lol I think it was the 1st opossum I'd seen in the wild and definitely the biggest I'd ever seen. So much interesting wildlife in MA!
BIG, adorable opossum:
Then we drove through a huge graveyard that had street signs and everything to get to a McDonald's where we got tea (technically free hot water), coffee (iced, as I've actually gotten this whole trip), and a fountain drink and used the wifi for awhile before finding a random hotel called Red Roof Inn and parking in their parking lot to sleep in the car! It started raining lightly just before we got to the hotel so we had some peaceful sounds to sleep to. :)
Note: Some of the gas stations in the area are full service only and they don't let you pump your own gas (like in Oregon). Strange that it's only some. They have chains of gas stations I've never seen before like Gulf and Hess as well.
Day 8 - 5/11/13 (Last Day in MA!):
I was dreaming about sexing Sean and it was so intense I woke up wet and NEEDING it. I tried to ignore it and let him sleep but it was too much.. I grabbed him and it was a matter of seconds before I was on top, riding him. I felt all tingly and so horny I thought I was gonna orgasm the moment we started. It felt so fucking good but the car was so steamy and everything was so humid from the combination of the last night's rain and the morning's heat. On top of that, we were under our blanket in the back seat of the car and we were soaking wet, drenched in our own sweat and fluids. It was incredible and disgusting at the same time.
Once our needs were handled, we went on a desperate search for a place to wash up. I was close to giving up and trying to find a truck stop to get us a $12 shower when we found a Walgreens, went in to use their restroom, stripped naked, and washed everything - hair shampooing included!
A gorgeous golf course we passed while looking for a place to clean up:
Both of us were extremely hungry due to a combination of not eating much the night before and burning off some calories with morning sex. We drove to yet another McDonald's just in time to order their last 2 sausage McMuffins before they stopped serving breakfast as well as a couple side salads (yum!), iced coffee, and a free hot water (Sean brought his own tea back). I think his last couple of hot teas were done this way, actually, with free hot waters and tea bags we'd brought with us. Not sure why we didn't think of it sooner!
Note to self: I need to stop ordering 2 food items when we eat at fast food joints. I almost never finish them and end up giving away my leftovers!
Back at the car, we packed up all our things so we'd be ready to go when it was time to return the car and fly home.
We still had some time left before that though so we used it to complete the very last item on our to-do list for the trip: visiting Joey McIntyre's old house!:
215 Warren St
Brookline, MA 02146
House Joey McIntyre used to live in:
Even after that, we still had a little time left but nothing that needed doing. What to do? I looked in my coupons and found one for another free birthday scoop of ice cream at Ben and Jerry's! Like the last one I'd used, it was only supposed to be used at a Vegas location but since I wasn't in Vegas for my bday I figured it was only fair that they let me use it in Boston. The employee agreed with me about that when I showed up with my coupon and gave me my scoop! She said happy birthday to me and asked what type of ice cream I wanted. I let her pick and she chose her favorite flavor: phish food. I'd never had it before but once I tried it I was really glad I let her pick!
Outside Ben and Jerry's, which was underground!:
Free scoop of phish food ice cream:
It was a little after 2pm and our car was due back at 3 so we went to return it, stopping at a Gulf gas station near the airport just to top up the gas. Next to the pump at the station, someone had left a bunch of sealed Gatorade bottles, probably because they were gassing up their rental and then heading to the airport (where they wouldn't be able to bring large liquid bottles) too. We took and drank one of the bottles and left the things we couldn't take (sauces, lighter.. Lighter by the pump? Oh well.) next to the rest of the bottles.
The drinks we found and goodies we left by the pump at Gulf:
Gulf gas station:
Then we returned the car, got the Hertz shuttle, checked in, etc.
Returning the rental car:
Finally ready to fly home! Gotta love the big flag in the background. XD:
I TOLD you they love Dunkin Donuts here!:
Our flight was delayed so we got some Panda Express and sat around eating and watching South Park on my laptop til it was time to board.
View out the window from our airport seats while we were waiting for our flight:
Finally on board our flight and up in the sky, Sean and I watched some Supernatural and South Park on my laptop while cuddling.
We got a quick peak in the cockpit before taking our seats on the plane:
After several hours and a complicated transfer in Houston, TX again, we made it back to the 88 degree Fahrenheit weather that is typical of a Vegas night. Home sweet home!
From my 1st Vegas foursquare check-in after leaving Boston!:
I think it was around 11pm and Danny and Aly came back to rescue us from the airport. Then we went back to the house to meet our new kittens!
If you'd like to see more of what went on during our adventures in Massachusetts, my complete photo set (nearly 1,900 photos with appropriate descriptions) can be found below:
You can also find my full video playlist (30 videos) here:
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