Salem

I love love love Halloween. This year to make it extra special we made a little day trip with some friends up to Salem for their "haunted happenings" that they put on every October. It was insane! There were people everywhere, and many dressed up as witches. Once we got there we were warned that some of the shows were pretty intense, so since we had the little people along with us, we avoided those. Still it was so much fun to check out this historic town (another love of mine) and get to spend a fun day with the fam and some good friends.

Top left: That is the town hall where the infamous Salem witch trials were held. Bottom Left: These were some of the people walking by us. The kids thought it was awesome to see the "witches" Bottom right: Our friend Sarah is awesome at always taking a tour where ever she and her husband go. They had been to Salem before and she gave us  a little extra church history tour. Who knew?

Salem is set on a hill. As you walk down the hill the view of how it is set on the warf is breathtaking. I knew about the witch trials but was unaware at the shipping aspect of the town. This area was a lot less crowded and just gorgeous (the beautiful weather that day probably didn't hurt either).

We were able to go aboard the ship and check it out. Carder loved trying his hand out at being the Captain. After Checking out the ship we got some lunch near the water. We experienced our first lobster roll. I was not expecting it to be cold, but it was still good. (But I think I've decided I prefer lobster warm). Carder couldn't get enough of it. Great...he is cursed like his mother to love the finer things in life. Oh no!

Just down from the warf was the house of the seven gables (the one that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's book). We walked down to go check it out and came across this gem...America's Oldest Candy Store (um...yes please). They had some of the first candy made and sold in America, but it had a reputation of being rather putrid, so we stuck to what we know and love...chocolate. It was delicious. And what better way to celebrate the fun of Halloween then getting some sweets at the first candy store?

Right next to the Candy store there was this yard decked out disneyland style with all its animatronics etc. for Halloween. Carder thought it was awesome. We had to take him back to watch the show over and over again. Though I think the robot thing throwing up blue stuff in the cauldron freaked him out a bit because he kept talking about it for days.

Before we headed home we had to check out what Salem is known for--their witch trials stuff. They have put in a monument honoring all of the people who were wrongfully accused and to stand as a reminder of intolerance. It was rather surreal. I couldn't get a picture to do it justice, but it was this courtyard, with benches coming out all along the perimeter with the accused persons names etched on them and the date they were killed. It was really neat. It just blows my mind how that all really happened. (not to mention that Jake and I had recorded and watched the Crucible that aired on TV not too long ago, so these names really tugged at my heart strings.)

Right next to the memorial is an old cemetery. Many notable historical people are buried there. Jake kept trying to tell me that he thought all the headstones were fake because they looked like something right out of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. I was able to convince him they were real after awhile, they were just that old that they looked fake. A lot of my ancestors came over from Britain to Massachusetts, so this is the one time in my life I wished I had been more into genealogy to know if an ancestor of mine was buried there. (So Mom, since you gave me the aversion to genealogy with your family history addiction and the crazy all nighters you'd pull doing censusing etc. You get to look that up for me and let me know.)

It was fun to go in October, but it was a little crowded. I would love to go back again in the off season and get to see some of the memorials etc. better.