Salem

Salem, MA - Home of the witch trials. This year we wanted to see what the Halloween hype was all about up there on the North Shore. The Witch Museum. The Pirate Museum. The House of the Seven Gables. The Wax Museum. There is a lot going on in general. Add in Halloween and the Day of the Dead festival is on. We got off to a bit of a rough start. The Witch's Brew Restaurant slowed us down as the kitchen got overwhelmed and it took us over an hour to get our food. On the plus side, I got to see a fair amount of the Texas/OU game. But I really would have traded that for a guided haunted tour. We found one of the activity hubs and bought tickets for two of the Haunted Houses. I hadn't been in a Haunted House in years. I really didn't know how the boys would do but the organizers made us feel that the boys could handle it without any repercussions.
Let me tell you. These things were so dark. Fog machines, strobe lights. I almost walked into a wall on more than one occasion. The first place, Frankenstein's lab, had Demi in the lead with Coco and Caz stuck to her hip. Bringing up the rear, I was the stray gazelle of the group. Crazy Chainsaw guy? Creepy Clown? They all waited for me to pass before jumping out or screaming, or what not. The second place, I had the boys. Caz had me in a death grip. I almost couldn't breathe due to the constriction of my rib cage. Outside we got some kettle corn and cider. Then we strolled through a cemetery. It was really interesting, with such old markers dating back to the 1700's. Coco was really fascinated. He noted the markers with babies that never made it a full year buried by the parents. We had a really good conversation about the difference in life spans between then and now. Caz really like the mausoleum. It struck me as odd that we were munching popcorn and walking about. But we were hardly the only ones. I think I would like to go back and hang about after dark. Next year maybe.