Labor Day, 2007... finally!

Well, I figured it's about time that I got around to writing up what we did for my Labor Day trip out to visit M this year.

Friday, August 31, 2007
We decided to not visit our usual haunts around Boston on my arrival this time around, and instead visit parts unknown by way of a visit to Salem, MA! We started off the day at the Salem Witch Dungeon Museum, a recreation of the original basement cell that was used to hold the "witches" during the Salem Witch Hysteria of 1692. We then wandered over to the Salem Wax Museum of Witches and Seafarers and Salem Witch Village; the Salem Wax Museum was a collection of wax figures representing important figures of Salem's history and the Witch Village was a guided tour through the history of witchcraft. We then wandered around the town for awhile; we visited the Burying Point, the oldest cemetery in the city and the second oldest in the country (there was a Mayflower pilgrim buried there!).

We jumped in the car and drove to the other side of town, where we stopped by the House of the Seven Gables, where Nathaniel Hawthorne got his inspiration to write his novel, The House of the Seven Gables. We went on a guided tour of the house, and then did some exploring around the grounds. On a recommendation of the lovely sales lady at the gift shop, we had dinner at a local restaurant called the Witches Brew Café.

After dinner, we jumped back in the car and drove back to the other side of town, had a look in some of the gift shops, and then went on the Haunted Footsteps Ghost Tour. This was a guided tour of about a half dozen of the more haunted locales in the city of Salem. Some of the stops were the Joshua Ward House, the Salem Jail and the Salem Witch Hysteria Memorial.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Salem, I'd highly recommend it! The historical value alone is impressive, but the overall atmosphere and feeling that you get from the city is enough on it's own to make a visit worthwhile.

Saturday, September 1, 2007
On Saturday, we decided to more or less take it easy. To start the day off, we had breakfast at Becky's Diner. After that, we drove around for awhile, visited the local Grist Mill park, did a little shopping, went on a seal watch tour in Casco Bay and then had dinner at O'Naturals.


Sunday, September 2, 2007
Sunday, we were going to go to Moosehead Point to try to find some moose, but decided that it was too long of a drive, so we decided to visit a more local attraction, the Desert of Maine. The desert consists of over 500 acres of glacial deposit (or sand) from a glacier that traveled from Alaska to Maine. The forest has been encroaching back on the desert, so that there is only around 50 acres left. After we left the Desert, we went a did some apple picking, and then We went to see Hairspray. Then we wandered around Old Port some more and got some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery.

Monday, September 3, 2007
We made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and then did a little shopping. M needed to pick up a few more things for her new apartment, so we got that, and then I helped her hang some of her curtains and whatnot. Then we went on loverly a 2 1/2 hour sunset ferry cruise around Casco Bay. After the cruise, we had dinner at the Portland House of Pizza, I got packed up to leave the next day, and we just puttered around the apartment some more.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007
We had breakfast at Becky's Diner again before I caught the bus back to Boston to catch my flight back home.


This was, without a doubt, the best trip I've had out visiting M in years. The weather was perfect every day (in the 70s and sunny without a trace of rain) and we just had a relaxing time. We're thinking that I'll flip my trip from Labor Day to October next year and go back to Salem when they have the town done up for Halloween.