Day 11 - Portsmouth to Salem

,We started the day with a light hotel breakfast,  toast with grape jelly for me and cornflakes for K - coffee for both. Our first stop was Newburyport but we took the scenic route down the coast via Hampton Beach. I find beach towns in the off season both beautiful and depressing. Devoid of life where just a month before they would have been packed with people. I always think it must be weird for the people who live in these towns year round.

Newburyport was a really beautiful town, we walked along the harbour til we came to Plum Island Coffee Roasters. It was a lovely wee place and super busy. They had a whole fall latte selection and I went for the pumpkin patch - pumpkin pie, vanilla and brown sugar - an excellent decision on my part. K just had one of their own roasted coffees as a filter, she gave it a thumbs up too.

We soon headed out and went a big walk along the town, loads and loads of lovely shops and cafes/restaurants. It's one of those towns i can imagine people going a trip to then deciding to move to. We had a final stop at the Buttermilk Bakery where I got a slice of banana bread and K got a buttermilk and honey biscuit cos we couldnt leave empty handed.

Our next stop, following a lovely drive through Cape Ann, was Rockport. Another one of the "must see" coastal towns in Massachusetts. It didnt disappoint, a few things were shut cos it's October but there were still quite a lot of people around so it didnt have that "closed for business" feel to it. We walked about the wee shops and down the harbour, including seeing the famous "motif 1". "Motif 1" is a wee red fisherman's hut that it apparently the most often painted building in America!

We stopped in a wee cafe with outrageous views over the water for a light lunch, i had lentil soup and K had a tomato and mozzarella wrap. Soup in America generally doesnt come with bread but instead with rubbish wee crackers, a constant disappointment.

Post Rockport it was time to check into our hotel just outside Salem. Once we were checked in we headed to Salem and the first port of call was the kids house out of Hocus Pocus - yet another film that K hasnt seen!

We got parked and went a walk about town, it was super busy with witch and supernatural stuff everywhere. The town goes all out in October but I suspect it's always pretty much like that. We had an evening tour booked so we were able to just walk about taking photos- more locations from Hocus Pocus and the Samantha from Bewitched statue amongst others.

Before our tour we stopped in at Gulu-Gula for a refresco. I had a locally brewed beer called Season of the Witch which was delicious and K had a coke zero, we also shared the 3 dip platter which came with bagel chips!

We headed round to Gallows Hill where we had a theatre show about the history of Salem before our trolley tour. The theatre show was fun and included a few jumps as well as info about the witch trials. The highlight of our time in the Salem was the after-dark trolley tour. The guy who did the commentary was in costume and was very darkly funny.

Once the tour was over we headed out of town to the Cheesecake Facory for dinner. It is a really massive one and it hit the sweet spot of being busy but not too busy that we had to wait for a table. I had chicken with a parmesan crust with mash and green beans and K had a chicken and mushroom thing with angel hair pasta - she loves angel hair pasta! The food was great but we couldnt have any starters or pudding sadly.

Tomor is the beginning of the end of our trip cos we arrive in Boston.

Comments

  1. Unknown10 October 2019 at 00:08

    You'll need to get k to watch Hocus Pocus for haloween. It's the kind of flick she likes. It's funny how it's all scary tours etc, it kind of reminds me of the Edinburgh ghose tours - they mask the atrocity of some of the things that actually happened to people. Id really like to go to Salem though. You're there at the right time of year too.

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