it was GC's very last weekend and i wasn't taking him anywhere, despite it being a very good sunday weather-wise. there simply wasn't anything happening today. i figured the 7 weeks he's been living here, i've already taken him to a bunch of places: tour of boston, haymarket, central square flea market, weekly market basket trips, somerville fireworks, boston 4th of july fireworks, super 88 allston, nepal festival, union square, visited an open house, prospect hill, davis square (somerville artbeat), revere beach sand sculpture festival, puerto rican parade, seaport district, no-name seafood, bike ride along the charles river, museum of fine art, and his first ever mexican burrito experience. i don't think he would've done any of that if i wasn't there to take him. like he told me early on, he's a homebody, so maybe i shouldn't feel guilty not taking him out to one last outing, maybe he likes the solitude, which i'm more than happy to give him, when i left for belmont around noontime.

it was such a nice day, i knew my mother would be up for another bike ride along the minuteman bike path extension from belmont. that why i rode the bicycle instead of the motorcycle. we were getting ready to leave when my mother heard back from my father who was closing the cafe early today over the lack of customers. so we waited until he got back before the three of us went out biking.

instead of riding down to arlington center, we took the other fork on the trail to davis square (which was actually slightly closer) because there was a somerstreet festival beginning at 2pm. it was my father's first time on the minuteman trail but he didn't seem impressed, or at least he didn't say anything about it. there seemed to be fewer people compared to when my mother and i rode the trail 2 weeks ago, but still a few strollers, joggers, and bikers.

somerville blocked off holland street, from davis square to teele square. it was still early and people were just filling in, with the bulk of folks checking out the weekly somerville flea market, a seemingly congregation of hipsters. outside was a crowded beer garden (never understood the appeal of drinking expensive cheep beer in tiny enclosed outdoor space) next to a stage where a band was performing with a handful of people watching. my mother wanted to call my 2nd aunt, who's apartment is just a 15 minute walk away (just 7 minutes from teele square), to let her know about the festival, but when we saw there wasn't much going on, my mother decided not to bother. we were expecting to see vendors and food trucks, and we saw neither. it was just a few tables of children arts & crafts & games, a few tables of community outreach organizations. at least my mother scored some free sunblock. the one interesting thing was a group of trapeze artists performing from a makeshift structure.

since we were here, we toured the rest of area, since it's not often they come to davis square. we walked as far as the goodwill store, browsing the thrift shop. there was a long line when we got there, which made us reluctant to buy anything, but the line was gone by the time we left. my father checked out some pants (even a nice pair from uniqlo), while i was in search of a garlic press (no luck).

we were actually closer to my house (just an 8 minute bike ride) than to my parents' house. if i didn't have a roommate, we could've gone back to my place for a break before returning to belmont.

we left davis square around 3pm. on our way back we stopped at the conservation land, biking around the marsh on the boardwalk. all sorts of late summer wildflowers were in bloom: goldenrod, pickerelweed, vervain, ironweed, black-eyed susans, teasels, thistles, and sumac.