Day 18: Let’s Do This, Witches!

I finally got to visit it! Salem!

I got up and dressed early so I could head to Salem (it was about a 30 minute drive from Boston to Salem). My driver dropped me off in front of the Salem Witch Museum, but I was early so I wandered a bit. I ended up getting a delicious cinnamon roll across the street from the museum. I also got a very yummy hot chocolate that instead of having whipped cream on top, had marshmallow fluff on top. This was one of the most brilliant moves I’ve ever seen in my life. But I digress…

The Salem Witch Museum was equal parts awesome and absurd. The main part of the museum is a wax figure telling of the events of the Salem witch trials. Think low budget Hall of Presidents at Disney. All of the figures were wax. There were like ten panels. There were no animatronics, just wax figures. And there was a recorded narration that was just ridiculous. But it was awesome. The second exhibit was looking at the evolution of witches and how they are portrayed/received. This part interested me more than the first exhibit. It’s mainly because I know the history of the witch trials, but seeing the evolution of witches was really interesting. After this, I headed to the gift shop and oh my Goddess… So many presents for my friends. And for myself.

After the Witch Museum, I went to the Peabody Essex Museum. There was an exhibit there about the Salem witch trials. It was really fascinating. Unfortunately, I was so into looking at the exhibit, that I forgot to take pictures. Oops!

I continued to wander around and ended up deciding to commemorate my trip with a surprise tattoo! I just went in to see what they had (they were having a flash sale, so I wasn’t optimistic). I saw this design and it spoke to me, and a trip tattoo was kind of some thing I have been thinking about. So this just kind of fit.

After getting new ink, I headed to the food truck festival that was happening at Salem Commons. I was killing time before I got to meet up with my friend Kat. There were so many yummy smelling trucks, but oh my Goddess, the lines. One truck had poutine, but the line stretched from the truck almost across the park. So I decided on chicken parm sliders. I was expecting a bun with a cut up piece of chicken strip. NO! This truck handed me a full on chicken breast that was cut up and arranged on three potato rolls. Holy crap! It was ridiculous! But it was delicious.

Finally, I got my chance to see Katty Setzerz! I was so excited. She is so cute with her little pregnant belly. We chatted and caught up and it was awesome. After chatting, I got a tour of Salem, Kat style. Did we look at historical sites or things like that? No. She showed me where there was an awesome chocolate shop. And cheese shop. And a thrift store. This was actually pretty cool because we went and looked at stuff in the thrift store. They had a glass penguin that matches one that my mom found at a thrift store many years ago. They are both hand blown glass. They look very similar. I need to do some research and see if there’s anything significant about these pieces.

Unfortunately, Kat had to go home and I continued to wander around a bit after she left. I ended up going to the cheese shop and getting myself a nice little collection of snackies that I could have on the train the next day. I got a few more souvenirs. And then I headed back to my hotel. I had to get myself packed up, as this was the last day of my time in Boston. Plus, I was completely exhausted.

Luckily, the next leg of my trip was going to be very laid-back and relaxed. Next stop, Virginia!