This would be the first day since our long drive across the Great Plains in Kansas that would be without coasters. Thats okay, we are doing something that both Michele and I have wanted to do our whole lives. I have always wanted to visit Salem and learn about the witches, and Michele wanted to eat lobster in Maine. We would be doing both today and we had a great time.
We got up early and made our way over to Salem, really just a suburb of Boston now, and arrived before 10. We grabbed a coffee at Dunkin’ Doughnuts, and I don’t know why. I have loved their doughnuts for years and it is something that we don’t have here in Alaska. We have Starbucks and hundreds of coffee shacks in just about every large parking lot serving some of the best coffee and related drinks around including a Red Bull Smoothie. Check this out:
Anyway, back to Salem, after our coffee we walked along the cobble stone streets and checked out the spookiness of the area. I love this kind of stuff! Any of my rabid readers know that I am a horror junkie and self-proclaimed scary movie nut. We went to a cool graveyard were some of the witches were buried. It was cool to see what they used to write on the tombstones at one the oldest areas of our country.
We visited the Salem Witch Museum and they put on one heck of a presentation. They have a cool 30 minute talk with animatronics and fire and brimstone. It really tells the story of the witch trials and the scare that rocked this little area of the world in the late 1600’s.
Did you know I wrote a pretty good paper for my American History class? We had our choice to choose any topic we liked leading up to just after the Civil War and I chose witches!
Read it here: Salem Witch Trials Book ReviewÂ
We came back to the truck with a parking ticket of 25 bucks. Oh well it was worth it! We jumped in the truck and headed north. We decided during our trip planning that we would take a side trip a couple hundred miles out of the way to have lobster in Maine! The drive up was awesome. We passed through New Hampshire quickly and soon we were in Maine. It looks just like all those stories from Stephen King. Do you see a theme here yet?
Our stop was along the water at the Portland Lobster Company. I asked for suggestions from a Twitter friend of mine that hosts a show about the outdoors on New Hampshire Public Radio and he suggested that we grab a lobster roll at the PLC. We ordered our sandwich–20 bucks, and a couple beers. We sat outside and people watched. The sandwich was delicious! I had been aching for a lobster roll since our visit to the east coast last summer but we didn’t find a good place.
This little section of Portland was a foodie’s dream. All sorts of restaurants and breweries line the old streets along with shops that looked just like L.L. Bean. Of course I headed across the street to a little mom and pop pizza joint and ordered a slice to go. I make it a tradition to have pizza in every state and who knows when we would be back to Maine!
We headed around the bay to see a lighthouse. It was on Michele’s list to see lighthouses in New England. We came upon the Portland Head Light lighthouse and Michele was in heaven. I think she would live here if given the chance. I think this was her favorite day on the whole trip.
We headed south toward New York City. It was a beautiful drive, even on the freeway until we made it to Connecticut just as it was getting dark. It rained so hard that we were inching along at 20 miles per hour with splash back from the big semi trucks blinding us and almost causing us to hydroplane.
It was about 9:30 when we saw the lights of the city and headed towards Queens. I actually thought I had reserved a room on Long Island but it happened to be in Queens. It was interesting, to say the least, to drive around in a big truck through the busy narrow streets. I think it was really the only time I was worried about a car jack.
We found our hotel, a high rise with a view of Manhattan across the river. We got a great deal on Priceline. While I waited in line Michele was in the truck. It was her job to park this massive truck in a little parking area attached to the hotel that had those car lifts that would allow you to park your car above the next one. There were signs everywhere informing people not to park here unless you stayed here or you would be towed and a hefty fine. Michele somehow got the truck parked and was spooked to get out of the car. I stood in line for almost 45 minutes waiting to check in. I kept seeing a pizza guy deliver food to the hotel on his scooter and asked Michele to order a pie. Whats more New York than getting pizza delivered to you on the street at midnight by a guy on a scooter in the middle of Queens! We took our pizza and cannoli’s to the room on the 16th floor and checked out the view of this awesome city. We were in New York for just the night on last years trip and decided to be a little more brave and do it again.
We slept soundly and woke up to another big day. Tomorrow we will go deep into the city with our big truck in some of the most insane traffic in the United States. It was awesome!
Tomorrow:Â New York City and El TorroÂ
Coasters to date on the tour:Â 29
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