Howdy, I'm from Texas!

Salem was great. We had a blast. Steve needed to get outta Texas for a bit... and I wasn't ready to go home.

We noticed that when people in New England ask, "Where are you from?" and we say "Texas", they give you a strange look. But if you say you live in Austin, they always light up and say, "oh, I hear great things about Austin" or "I hear it's really nice and pretty."

Austin has a much better rapport than the rest of the state.

Steve greeted everyone with a "Howdy" and if someone honked at me for not driving fast enough I'd just say, "I'm from Texas!"
I didn't notice it at all until we got in the car to go to the airport, but my rental car had Texas plates! How strange is that?! I rented it from a small Hertz in Maine... spooooky. :)


I think my favorite museum in Salem was the House of the Seven Gables... Originally it did have seven gables, but not when Hawthorne wrote about it... The house is restored to be more accurate to the book (which I don't remember at all). It's beautiful...

It's amazing how much history is in such a small area. The first night we were there (and met Harvey in the RV), we were walking around... and went to a pub called The Old Spot. We had no clue that the house across the street was the original Parker Brother's Clue (as in the board game) house. Turns out there was a murder there... the man's last name was White and he was killed in the bedroom with a lead pipe. The floor plan is the same as the game... strange... I never would have thought that it was based on something real...Here's a pic of the clue house:


and we were walking by the 2nd oldest cemetery in the US, and had no idea. We went to the cemetary and looked for the headstones of the people who had a part in the witch trials. We ended up going back there with paper and crayons and did some rubbings...


When we went back to the cemetery, we met a girl (who was a witch) dressed in a black velvet cloak, putting spells on the headstones... She told us how she really wanted to move to Salem... where did she live? Well, a 10 min walk away from Salem... I consider that living IN Salem... but, well... whatever.


We really saw a lot... my feet were killing me... I was wearing new Converse sneakers Kel gave me... and my feet aren't used to being in real shoes...

Now I'm back in Lockhart, Texas... I just picked up Dylan from Emily's... he was so happy to see me that he did the happy-paws-prance dance... I already miss the cool weather... The leaves have already started to change up north.

I have another trip to plan for... The beginning of Oct., Justin and I are going to Big Bend... I'll be doing nature journaling and he'll be the photographer... We'll be camping... I'm excited... but nervous about the "camping" part... I'm a HUGE fan of indoor plumbing. But it's going to be amazing... I can't wait!

Which Witch is Which?

I've never thought about touring Salem, Mass. and the witch trials before... Steve had been wanting to go to Salem for a long time.. and knew a lot more about the history of the city than I did. It worked out perfectly: I had to buy a ticket back from Maine... he wanted to go to Salem in the fall... Jet Blue has great airfare prices... so we met up on Tues night in Salem.

Like I said my previous blog: it was a full moon. Salem... the name of the city actually means "peace," but the first night I was here I overheard two couples at two different places fighting... I don't know what I expected, but Salem is bigger and busier than I thought... but still very quaint and small... hard to describe, i know...

We found a place to grab coffee, a bite to eat, and a drink... we ended up at a Pub called The Old Spot. A cute little place in the heart of old Salem.

That's when we had our first hilarious encounter. We met Harvey, the very French, very drunk, and VERY amorous tourist. Harvey told us he was going back to his country tomorrow.. but also that he just got to the States yesterday... Steve was forced into playing the "boyfriend" role, so amorous Harvey would not get too amorous... Harvey was so excited to show us his home... he pointed down the street, "The RV." We cracked up! Harvey in the RV... perfect!

We got a room at the Days Inn in Salem, the first night. When Kel and I were driving to Maine, and were in need of a hotel to stay, Mom told us that the Days Inn Salem was cheaper, but that the reviews were horrible. "Horrible" is a very relative term... so, Steve and I decided to check in....

I was the first one to use the bathroom... there was a TURD floating in the toilet!!! EWWWWWWWW! To be fair: it was not a big turd... it was tiny... but STILL! How does a maid miss that?!?! Gross! Steve was hoping I was kidding... I was not... at all...

The next morning, the man who had stayed a room or two down from us, told us that he and his girlfriend had bed bugs crawling on them and biting them all night long. And, that in another room there were used heroin syringes on the TV... We got out of there ASAP... We agreed that spending a bit more money on a room was WAY better than returning to Hypodermic Needle Inn... Or that Bed Bug & Breakfast (which wasn't a breakfast... just a vending machine)... so the word "HORRIBLE" described that place perfectly.

Then we hit the museums... first the Salem Witch Museum, then the Lizzie Borden Museum (owned by some Dallasites who have moved here), then the Witch Dungeon... after all of the walking around, and touring we were pooped. We checked in to our room at the VERY nice (completely opposite from the night before), bed & breakfast that is part of the Hawthorne Hotel. It was really nice. We watched Family Guy and I did some yoga (all of the walking was hurting my back), and rested before our Ghost Tour.

The Ghost Tour of Salem was really great. We were led around by a guy in a pirate suit. I never realized how much history was in Salem... all I ever knew was the Witch Trials... but there's a lot more.

What I learned the most was about the irony of Salem... The Puritans were terrified of witches, and killed and imprisoned innocent Puritans thinking they were witches... Today, Salem is probably the Wiccan (or witch) Mecca... Tons of Witches live in Salem and practice freely... What would the Puritans think? If it weren't for their witch hysteria, there probably would be very few Wiccans in Salem... Now, the police cars and fire trucks, as well as the pedestrian crossings have witches on them.... and Salem is known as witch city.


Also, Nathaniel Hawthorne is from Salem... He HATED Salem. He wanted desperately to leave... and when the Scarlet Letter was published, he took the money and got out. He never wanted to return.... But today, there are streets named after him, hotels named after him... while the witch trials are Salem's shame... Hawthorne is its claim to fame... more irony.

Only one haunting yesterday. When we left our room, Steve turned off the TV... I realized I left my wallet in the room and had to go back. When I opened the door to the room, the TV was on and it was just static on the screen (poltergeist-style). I was spooked. But after that, we didn't feel spooked at all... maybe we were just too tired.

Tonight, we are at the Salem Waterfront Hotel... It's very nice... it was worth the extra $60 not to stay at the Days Inn again!

Gosh... we've done so much... and had so much fun... I'll have to write more tomorrow...

love,
r

These days... catch up!

This pic was taken in front of the White House... there was a Secret Service Police Van... (can't really read the side of the van in this pic), and that's my best Secret Service look...

We spent one night in DC at Eva's place... the next day, Kel, Eva and I (with June Bug) went to eat at a neat little restaurant called Teaism... it's one of Eva's favorite spots. DC seems like a little bubble... there's so much going on inside the bubble... everyone I overheard on the streets was talking politics... Eva very much seems like a DC gal... and is very happy there.

After Kel and I said our goodbyes to Eva, we went to the Washington Memorial and White House. We took a ton of pictures and walked around... It was HOT in DC... so very, very hot! We were hoping that we were escaping the heat, by driving north... but NO.... it was HOT.

June Bug decided to cool off by lying in a water fountain in between the phallic memorial and the White House... it was hilarious. Kel and I were laughing too hard to get her out... but no police told us to move... and June Bug didn't get arrested... whew! :)

Then we hopped in the really hot car, and drove to NYC.... where we thought it would be cooler.... was it? NO! It is almost as if we have been bringing the Texas heat with us the whole trip. It was hot and muggy in NYC... like I told Kel, "When I get too hot, I get angry." That makes no sense.. but it's true.

I drove the car into the city... through the Lincoln Tunnel and up 42nd Street. I have to admit, I was nervous about driving in Manhattan... I hate all of the honking... It makes my skin crawl and nerves tingle... but, after a bit of maneuvering, I felt like I fit in perfect (except for the TX plates).

I was swerving in and out of traffic like a real cab driver... All I needed was to honk my horn (a lot) and maybe wear a turban, (I say that because when I told Kel I was like the cab drivers... we looked over to see a cab driver with a turban on... I need to get one).

Kel dropped me off at Nicole's and went to go stay with her friend in Brooklyn. It was so good to see Nicole again (I love her!), I wish I had more time, and wasn't so exhausted.

We chilled at her very cute apt., and were COMPLETELY girly! We watched the Lifetime Original movie about Coco Chanel, with wine, chocolate and cigarettes. The movie was sooo bad.... but sooo good. When we thought two men were about to fight over Coco, they did... but not a fist fight, but with a dance-off! AWESOME! Then we started to watch SNL (with Michael Phelps), Nicole passed out, and I stayed up to watch it. I thought it was the funniest SNL I'd seen in a LONG time. Hilarious!

Today, Kel came over to Nicole's and the three of us went to lunch at a cute place in Chelsea (I can't remember the name - but it was REALLY good!). Then we packed up the car and were off to .... well.... we didn't know... we thought we'd go to Boston, but ended up deciding to detour to Providence, Rhode Island. It got dark and really foggy in Rhode Island.


Kel has a glassblower friend at RISD.... so we stopped to say hello... I love New England! I just absolutely LOVE it! We used to live in Conn when I was little, and I loved it then... and still do. I love the four seasons (although we are bringing the heat with us), and the quaintness and the history... it's so beautiful. Everyone drives at least 20 miles over the speed limit... SERIOUSLY! Especially in Conn, I was going 80 and felt like I was holding up traffic by driving too slow!

Then we decided to drive to Boston... but then decided to drive just past Boston... Kel has to be at her residency tomorrow and wants to get there early, and didn't want to get stuck in Boston traffic.

We are getting along great! Everything is sooo much better... I think we needed to put everything out on the table to make this roadtrip as wonderful as possible. We are enjoying each other and the ride....

Little June Bug is not so little... I swear, by tomorrow she'll be like Clifford, the big red dog, and I'll be the one in a ball on the passenger floorboard!