Salem, Clam Chowder, and Hot Dogs

I love visiting Salem, MA in the fall!!  The leaves are turning and looking gorgeous, the air is crisp, and there's a faint smell of cider in the air.  Oh, and did I mention that there are people walking around dressed as zombies, witches, and other Halloween type creatures??  It cracks me up every time that I visit!  I remember going a few years ago with my friend Erin, and we were overwhelmed by all of the zombies walking around.  People dressed as zombies, walking like zombies across the crosswalks, in the stores, and eating in the restaurants.  It's like it's a whole other world over there....and I love it.

I decided that I'd expose Alexander to this world today.  I figured that we should go now, on a Friday during the day, rather than later in the month, because it gets pretty crowded towards the end of October (for obvious reasons).  We left bright and early this morning and got there at 10 a.m.  You would not believe how excited I was to get street parking!!  Last year, my sister, father, grandfather, Alexander and I drove to Salem on a weekend and drove around for over an hour trying to find parking...no dice...anywhere.

Once we got to Salem, we walked around and ended up going to the Salem Witch History Museum.  It was a small "museum" in the basement of a building where it showed scenes from the Salem Witch Trials in wax figure forms.  I don't think it was supposed to be creepy, but I was definitely creeped out.  Again, it was in the basement of a building, you had to walk in the dark, and the wax figures were pretty creepy.  Also, I was not able to take the stroller, so I had to hold a very squirmy Alexander for 30 minutes.

Downtown Salem - Isn't it picturesque?

Alexander checking out the Bewitched statue.

Walking down Essex Street along the Heritage Trail
(it's like the Freedom Trail in Boston) 

Some of the wax figures from the museum - I told you they were creepy.

19 people and 2 dogs were hanged during the witch trials. 

This poor man was crushed slowly to death...how brutal.

Another disturbing scene from the museum.

I decided to include this one because it seriously cracked me up.
In the scene, there's a witch in a graveyard with a zombie crawling
out of the ground and a black cat beside her.  What does Alexander say
when he sees this scene?  "MAAAOOOOO!!"  As in, "meow," because
he saw a cat.  He wasn't phased at all by the zombie or the witch.  Hilarious!

It was a great little trip, although it was a little chilly outside.  I can't wait until Alexander is a little bit older so that he can truly take in all that Salem has to offer.  It's a lot of fun!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki