Our Trip to Salem

Yesterday, my wife and two of our kids went to Salem for the day.

Despite having lived in Massachusetts for my entire life,

I have only ever been to the town once before,

and that wasn't to tour much but some places along the waterfront.

This trip, we did an hour long trolley tour through the town,

with a very knowledgeable tour guide.

Afterwards, we walked around, sight-seeing

and visiting some very interesting places.

I wish I had taken more pictures,

but here are the shots we did get.

Hope you enjoy!

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The Salem Harbor. Beautiful views.

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Was a great day, not hot but not freezing yet, either.

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A small lighthouse, freshly repainted according to our guide.

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This is the old Custom House,

where Nathaniel Hawthorne worked for a time,

when he wrote The House of Seven Gables.

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A very old cobblestone street near the Custom House,

along the waterfront.

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Next to a Floral shop, the owner decorates and

creates a Haunted Garden.

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The Haunted Garden again.

Quite the sight!

Very macabre and wonderfully done.

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Supposedly, this is the oldest candy company in America.

Our guide said the woman who originally started this

did so with a bag of sugar donated by the townspeople.

Was very small inside and super-crowded,

so we didn't stay or purchase anything.

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The House of Seven Gables,

but taken from the back yard.

We didn't take the tour into the house or grounds.

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Salem Witch Museum.

We went here and saw the presentation

as well as the walk-through with a guide,

who spoke about witches and the 

history and portrayals of them through history.

Very interesting exhibit!

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This was taken at the Salem Wax Museum.

My daughter, posing with the statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

He looked a lot like Mark Twain,

but my son said he looked like Kelsey Grammer!

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This is the oldest cemetery in Salem,

there is also a memorial for those persecuted as witches.

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So many extremely old tombstones.

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Amazed to see how many of them have lasted for centuries.

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The cemetery is not visible at all

from the busy streets beyond the wall.

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The old trees add quite the atmosphere to the Burying Ground.

Here, you can see a place where Hawthorne's wife's family once lived.

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Our guide said Hawthorne dubbed this place Grimshaw house.

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She also said the name is now quite apt.

I assume that is because the house is in major disrepair.

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Looks like a truly haunted house, that's for sure.

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My daughter snapped these pics because she wanted to get a shot

of the light that was ON inside.

Quite bizarre!

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Lastly, a pic I like!

This coffee house is quite old.

From peering in the window,

it appears to still be a functioning restaurant.

Sadly, it was closed.

Next time!

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Like I said, I wish I had taken more photos.

Decorations where everywhere along the streets and buildings,

and even the non-decorated buildings are beautiful.

We ate lunch at the same restaurant we did the previous short trip,

a placed called the Witches Brew Cafe.

Great food and service and wonderful ambiance!

We took a tour of the Pirate Museum, which was fun.

The guide knew his stuff and the displays were very well done.

After that, my daughter and I did two of the "haunted houses,"

Frankenstein's Laboratory and a Witches' Walk-through.

They were fun, albeit short, with some jump scares.

We also saw many people dressed in either

Salem witch related garb or in Halloween costumes.

We even saw three women dressed as the witches from Hocus Pocus!

Wonderful trip and I hope to repeat it next year!

Ice Storm

The ice storm - wow. What can I say? It was amazing and horrible at the same time. We went to bed Thursday night hearing the ice fall and thinking it was a normal, winter-y storm. We woke up to what I can only describe as our entire area broken.

We made out MUCH better than almost everyone we know. We haven't lost power, and our only damage is the far end of our wooden fence was split in two by the fallen top of a tree. We had a lot more branches and limbs down, large and small, but none caused any further damage, including the one that landed askew on our GLASS patio table. I am not kidding, it did not break. Wow.

The house next door to us lost power and has had a generator running. They have a huge, old tree in their large yard, and it lost a major chunk, which pushed on a pole and, I guess, knocked their power out. National Grid was outside for at least a full day, and yet I still hear the generator running this morning.

My brother-in-law lost power, as well, and had many, many trees down all over his yard. He finally got his power restored around 4:30 this morning. He said he has at least a day with the chainsaw in his yard alone.

Our 'niece' and her family also live in town, and have lost power, as well. They found a generator at Home Depot (luckily), but are still waiting for the lights to go back on.

Our good friends in Holden, which was one of the hardest hit areas, have a ton of issues. They are without power, had one tree uprooted, a basketball hoop smashed, a car rear windshield shattered and a flooded cellar. Luckily, a neighbor loaned them a generator to get their sump pump working, and their niece offered them shelter.

The amount of trees and downed power and phone lines is just amazing. As my other brother-in-law said, you thought people were exaggerating until you actually drove around a bit and saw for yourself. It looks more like a tornado blew through town than an ice storm. Trees and poles and wires, everywhere. Unreal.

School was cancelled on Friday and again for today. I know my daughter's school is being used as the shelter for our town, and I imagine that will continue until all power is restored. To give you an idea of what it looks like out there, my youngest son said he would have rather have had school than have it be like it is outside.

Estimates for power resortation vary. Some parts of town are nearly out-of-reach like my brother-in-law's, but he got power back this morning. So, I guess it all depends on what the repair people are able to do and when they are able to do it. Kudos to everyone who has been out there since Thursday night. The cold makes their job even worse, but they have been at it all this time, working to bring things back to normal. Smaller storms are due in the next couple of days, here's to hoping they don't make things worse.

Our best to everyone, take care & stay safe.

Some links:

Thousands Still Without Power Three Days After Storm

Local people sent in their own photos

List of area closings

Home slowly regain power