The Westfield Wanderer

“It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” – Alice In Wonderland

Photos By: Angela Tindell-Gula

I can vividly recall the first time I watched Alice In Wonderland. I was already short, so the idea of everything being bigger than me wasn’t something that frightened me; in fact it was the complete opposite. To go to a place as vivid and colorful as I already viewed the world, to have tea time with a rabbit and a mad hatter was something I had hoped would become a part of my reality. I was convinced I’d win over the Queen of Hearts with our similar stature and my sparkling good humor and once I got into high school, I thoughtfully believed that I would have made the Cheshire Cat’s smoke rings look like a light mist compared to what I could do—but that my fellow wanderers is a story for another time. 

Amongst all of life’s chaos, I am always looking for some kind of distraction from reality, a nice little escape that is within my budget and travel limitations. This is when I find myself diving back down the TikTok rabbit hole (pun intended) to find some more inspiration of where my feet—or my car— can take me next. 

So, where are we off to this week my fellow wanderers? You always ask that at just the right time. Franklin Zoo in Boston, Massachusetts for a night of frolicking through the giants and lights—Boston Lights. 

Walking into the gates under the night sky, you’re instantly transported into a twinkling, night-time Wonderland . Butterflies and flowers hang overhead, colored like a lit rainbow lighting your way through the consuming darkness. My first reaction was to reach out and touch everything but I also didn’t want to get escorted out for touching the displays only 10 feet into the zoo. So I trudged along, equally ecstatic to see the display in front of me while anxiously wanting to move on to get to the next exhibit. 

Before I knew it, I was walking through the inside of a shark. Then I was making friends with an octopus bigger than my house. I twirled around in a bloom of jellyfish whose tentacles flickered off and on with the sound of music playing overhead. I have never been to another country; however, walking along the 1.4 mile sparkling journey, I went to Japan, China and India—just to name a few. Each country has its own exhibits displaying their native animals, flowers and music.  I saw lotuses the size of small cars and peacocks that fluttered their feathers, changing colors as if they were mood rings. 

Let’s talk about planning if you decide to venture out to Boston Lights. Boston Lights, from my house, had an estimated travel time of just over 1.5 hours. As you can imagine, Boston—even though it isn’t downtown—on a Friday night was not in fact 1.5 hours. My GPS lied. It took us just under 3 hours to get there. Parking was even worse than the traffic; so we opted to pay $20.00 for the valet service, which is located right by the zoo’s entrance. 

We did not eat at any of the restaurants around the zoo. Did I mention Boston on a Friday night? Instead we got some hot snacks from inside the little snack shack they had within the zoo; a soft pretzel for me, and my travel companion had some cheesy french fries. Nothing to write about but they were warm and hit the spot; so we were happy. I’d like to tell you the car ride home was easier by the time we left but again, Boston on a Friday night. Do I really need to say more?

Nothing I could write to you could do the Boston Lights exhibit any justice at all. The sheer massive sizes of these displays, the amount of lights they use, the colors, the music, not one word or sentence could encapsulate how magnificent the experience was. I would fall down that rabbit hole a hundred more times, no questions asked. I walked amongst the illuminated giants with the same kind of wonder that I had when I was a child hoping to catch a glimpse of St. Nicholas or Peter Cottontail. My senses were all stimulated and in overdrive in the best possible way. The only thing that was missing was a piece of cake with a small white label that reads, “eat me”. 

Until next time my fellow wanderers, safe travels!