BosKos, Barking Crabs and SNOW

This is the event diary for the 2nd official BosKos meetup, compiled and written by Knockbally and GreyHawk with some input from HawkWife. Enjoy!

The second BosKos meeting evah took place on Saturday, February 15th, at The Barking Crab in Boston. We initially planned for a day of food and fun that included a walking tour through the Green Patriot Posters, but that plan was amended early - the night before, actually - when Mother Nature decided to apply Murphy's Law and remind us of things like the constantly changing, hard-to-predict-for-long weather that New England is well known for.

This, of course, is a "classic twist" - New Englanders are hearty and used to such things - so we dropped the walking tour for the sake of caution and opted to keep with the original food venue.

By early Saturday morning, the storm bearing down on the area looked ominous, but also reasonable - it was supposed to wait until late afternoon, and start intensifying early in the evening.

But it was a huge storm system, expected to affect several areas and make driving difficult, so several Kossacks let us know ahead of time that would have to regretfully pass on attending - particularly those who would have been coming from out of state. Definitely understandable - we don't want to lose anyone, and we definitely want to see these folks at the next gathering.

Of course, Mother Nature's liberal dosing of the event with a hefty application of Murphy's Law didn't end with the news of the impending storm...she had to balance the scales a bit, apparently, to ensure a proper amount of insanity matched up with the levels of effort from the folks attending. Apparently. Or something. In any case, our planned grouping had been whittled down to two groups: Knockbally, coming in from one direction, and the Hawk caravan from another, carrying both GreyHawk & HawkWife along with Delta Doc.

Knockbally:

It was a real treat getting to meet the Hawks and Delta Doc.  However, the weather turned out to be a surprise.  Snow wasn't supposed to start until 2 pm to 4 pm.  So I figured we had until 6 pm, weather reports being what they are.

As I approached the Ted Williams tunnel, the snow started coming down. Grrr.  Then, when I arrived at Sleeper Street, found that it was under construction - couldn't go in.  

That meant expletives from me, followed by tricky Boston driving - in circles, trying to avoid highway on-ramps, etc.  I eventually parked on a nearby street, and hiked over to the Barking Crab.  

Which was a delight.  Met my DKos buddies, and we all began easy conversation which lasted until they dropped me off at my car a few hours earlier.  Good food, great people.  I look forward to our next meetup and getting to know more folks from the great Beantown Metro Area!

GreyHawk:

Part of any successful meetup is the assurance that folks actually meet up, so I did a quick perusal of the Crab's site and confidently decided that we'd set their Raw Bar area as our initial meeting point.

Bad idea.

That section of the restaurant was apparently closed - it was seasonal, and this wasn't the season. While I wanted to verify that I'd parked in an allowed location (literally right outside the front door, as everything else normally considered to be "parking lot" was being torn up), HawkWife & Delta Doc went in to find the Raw Bar...when I caught up with them there, they didn't have to say a word - it was obvious that we had to change plans. We trudged back to front door and stood by the bar, looking somewhat awkward and engaging in conversation with a lovely couple from Georgia who were visiting Beantown and experiencing our delightful weather.

Apparently, our small cluster was noticeable enough when a smiling Knockbally strode up and asked if we were meeting a group of folks from Daily Kos.

Success!

HawkWife:

The older I get, the more trepidation I have about traveling in snow.  Now granted, this storm wasn't supposed to start until well after the appointed time.  But this is New England, and the weather changes.  Besides, GreyHawk was driving :p

We had no idea how much construction was going on around the restaurant, or even in that area of town.

When we discovered that the Raw Bar was indeed seasonal, we went back into the restaurant and tried not to look awkward.  Greyhawk and Delta Doc struck up a conversation with a very nice couple from Georgia who were waiting for a return flight home and decided to "kill some time" Meanwhile I kept watch...difficult for me since 1) I don't know many Kossacks to begin with, and 2) I'm awkward in that "should I hold up a sign?" type of way.   But thankfully Knockbally swept in and I must have given off the latter vibe because she walked right up to me and asked "Are you guys from DKos?"

It was quite cozy sitting near the potbelly stove, talking, laughing, and occasionally glancing at the snow gently swirling outside.

And, if you glanced up...Year-round holiday lights!

The lighting set a warm, inviting mood.

Greetings from the second official BosKos meetup!

Over the fold - food pr0n, some images of the snowy, blowy weather & a few additional words...