Freaky Friday the Thirteenth in Salem

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Things looked pretty bleak blog-wise yesterday evening as Sharon unpacked the laptop and was going to post the previous day’s blog. The laptop was misbehaving as she sat on the bed while I was tuning into the news in our lounge area. We have two TVs so we just might survive the next six days. I heard her mutter something; which, I recognized as a mutter that wasn’t to be ignored. I came into the bedroom and she declared, “It’s broken.” I’m thinking, our laptop which we need for the blog, which I need for trivia, which we need for handling pictures on our vacation, IS BROKEN! It wasn’t what I remembered as “the blue screen of death”; but, it did look pretty non-responsive. She tried re-booting, and I thought she was having success; but, the problems began as she tried to log-in. She did finally isolate the problem to the mouse, and once it was completely removed from the picture, the touch pad worked just fine (for me). She traced it to just the left button which is why it almost worked since she could move the cursor and do somethings via a right click. Sharon is not a “Touch Pad Person”. So a new mouse is in our future, and as I type this I am using that new mouse.

I fell asleep pretty easily last night, and the bed is much more to my liking. During the night I heard something about switching her two pillows and finding a much more comfortable combination. Each of us have a larger plumper pillow and a smaller softer one. It was passed dawn when I awoke to Sharon recovering from a sneeze. “Allergies”, she complained. I think she feared a cat had been in the room. Remembering her comment during the night I asked, “Is the down pillow bothering you?” Sure enough, the pillow she had changed to during the night was the smaller down pillow, and as it turns out, down filling also triggers her allergies. I have a feeling that I may wind up with two down pillows tonight.

We went down for the breakfast, included with the room, and noticed on the way downstairs that the temporarily out of service elevator is still off-limits, so we had to continue all the way around to the elevator in the back. They have a very nice area for breakfast with many more choices than the NJ hotel. The also have an Omlette bar but I’m saving that for another morning.

It was an easy drive out to Salem. We had to drive around town looking for a place to park, and eventually wound up near the Visitor Center. We spotted a Public Parking sign and followed it to a multilevel garage. This seemed to be just what we needed, and when we left about four hours later we found it only cost $3. They’ve adopted the parking ticket that you pay for at public machines before returning to your vehicle, just like the ones that have popped up at the hotels on the Las Vegas on the strip and airport.

We were directed to the Red Trolley and we purchased our trip from the ticket vendor just in the nick of time to board the trolley for its next journey around Salem. I inquired if there was a Senior Ticket, and there was indeed, for those over 60. The ticket vendor had warned us of the really bad jokes that we would be subjected to. We got our tickets punched, and then our tour guide began with one of his jokes in a husky JFK-like voice: “If every car in America were pink, do you know what we’d have?” He let us mull on that a bit before he filled us in: “A pink carnation!” But listen to it in his heavily Boston accent: “A Pink CAH-Nation”.

The trolley route does a figure eight around Salem, returning twice to the Visitor’s Center for a complete one-hour circuit. Sharon wasn’t so impressed with the first part of the tour which seemed to talk about a series of early homes, houses and establishments. One was a place that could claim that George Washington really did sleep there. Many of the establishments were now operated under a name other than the one they once had in more historic times. Our guide noted that even one native son had changed his name: Nathanial Hawthorne. He had been born a “Halthorne” but didn’t want to be associated with his grandfather who was the only unrepentant judge in the Salem Witch Trials. From the many signs about time, you can’t help but notice the many references to this period in the city’s history, all of them referring to “Witch City”. We got off the trolley to check out the Witch Museum. Again, we got a Senior Ticket Price for being over 62. We had to wait for the next group to be allowed in, where there were seats in the center and a 360 degree panorama of scenes telling the story of the Salem Witch Trials. A narration told the story, and as a particular scene applied, it would become illuminated. It was sort of like a “Theatre in the Round in Reverse”, because here the audience was in the center. The story begins noting the very Puritan times which were perhaps most hard on the girls who had virtually no distraction or opportunities to play. The story is one of an elderly former black slave who shared her stories of magic in an attempt to amuse several young girls, a depressed vindictive woman who was overly spiteful for any actual or perceived slight and her daughter and the accusations against an elderly nearly deaf woman just because she was different, and the town was seeking someone to blame for some of their hardships in the New World. She was put on trial, and the original verdict found her “not guilty”. But that verdict was satisfactory to the town elders, and jurors were urged to reconsider, and new witnesses were introduced to bolster the community’s charges. Anyone speaking out against the trials was subject to charges of witchcraft themselves. It’s interesting that there were no witches burned at the stake in the New World, that was strictly a European punishment. Here, witches mostly perished by hanging. But one unfortunate soul succumbed to “Pressing”. Rocks were placed on his chess, and at each stage he was allows to confess his guilt practicing witchcraft, or to request more weight to be placed on his chest. He resisted until the end, refusing to confess. Perhaps he refused because the law allowed all of his property to be forfeited to the town and his family stripped of all their belongings, should he confess. The thing of it is, a confession would have resulted in his being hanged. He held out until his ribcage was crushed. Ultimately, 20 people were killed for being witches, and it was later learned the convictions resulted from false testimony. While the presentation was interesting, the scenes could have been more engaging by introducing animatronics into venue; but, this is no Disney World.

We picked up the trolley and returned to the Visitor’s Center. The same tour guide from earlier greeted us and others for a tour about Salem “On this Freaky Friday the Thirteenth”. We got a recommendation for lunch, and it was a short walk to the Village Grille. We were seated outside in a tree-shaded area. Our table had an umbrella, although, the trees provided plenty of shade. The temperature was terrific. Sharon had the fish and chips with one large piece of fried halibut, French fries and onion rings. I got the $22 Lobster Roll. The menu suggested to “Try it hot.” I asked the waitress what she would recommend. She said, “People say that it’s good hot; but, I always get it cold.” I ordered it hot. The bread was a house-made toasted bun, much better than what one often gets with a mere hotdog bun. It had just a couple small leaves of lettuce, and the rest was Lobster (and lots of it). Big pieces of warmed lobster served with a side of clarified butter. And it came with French fries. This sandwich has set the bar pretty high for my Lobster Roll Quest – Dux.

On the way home Sharon directed me to the Best Buy that we had spotted from the highway at the exit before the one we got off going to the hotel. She got a replacement mouse. She then directed me to Cold Stone because she was craving ice cream. She got a “Love It” Chocolate Decadence, while I settled for a “Like It” Founder’s Favorite. Sharon had most of hers left over for dinner, so she took it with us back to the hotel and put it in the freezer. Another nice thing about having a suite with a kitchen.

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