Day 2 OR My other car is a broom...

Buckle up, folks.  This is a LONG one! :)

I decided that, for day 2, I would start the day in Salem, Mass.  You know, Salem.  Home of the witches.  I kind of felt like some of my students and their parents would think that I was returning home.  Just kidding.  Or am I?  ;)

Anyway...I did the smart thing by visiting the tourist center first.  I didn't have a lot of money to spend, so the money that I did spend I wanted to spend on worthy ventures.  The nice lady (and by the way, does anyone know what the people of Massachusetts call themselves?  People from Texas are Texans, people from Florida are Floridians, people from Maine are Maniacs--true, I'm not making that up, but what are people from Massachusetts?  People from Boston call themselves Bostonians, but there is more to Massachusetts than Boston.  Can anyone help me here?).  Anyway, as I was saying....the nice lady from the tourist center told me that most of what is in Salem isn't "real".  Basically, it is a tourist trap.  She told me to visit the "Witch House" because that was authentic and FREE.  Well, she got the authentic part right, anyway.  I got there and, not only wasn't it free, it was too small to be worth paying for.  Therefore, the only picture that you get from the Witch House is this one:

I did visit a graveyard where I took some pictures of some stone benches that were made to memorialize the people that were tagged as witches and killed because of that:

The one thing that I did deam worthy of my money was the House of Seven Gables made famous by the Hawthorne novel, which I freely confess I have never read. :)  The house was cool, though, and the view was beautiful  On the way there I was able to take some pictures of a replica of one of the tall ships that used to sail into the harbor:

Salem, all in all, was pretty cool.  I ate in a deli there and got a great deal at a great price.  I also took some pictures from outside the Pirate museum:

And, because I love the architecture of old buildings, I took some other pictures:

After I left Salem, I still had a good part of the day left so I went to Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau.  It was overcast and a little rainy, but I was still able to get some good pictures.  I couldn't walk around the pond because the trail was underwater due to the massive amount of snow received over the winter as well as all the rain they had received.  I decided, after seeing the cabin that Thoreau built, that I am not the camping/nature type.  I am way too girlie for that. :)

Tomorrow is all about day three in which I went to Plymouth and Author's Ridge at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

I was going to end this post there because I know it is ridiculously long, but I HAVE to tell you a story about today.  My dad came to visit me yesterday.  Yea!!!!  Today we went to Lowe's, aka MANWORLD.  Hmmmmmmm......now, from all you know about me, does it seem likely that I would know ANYTHING about ANYTHING in Manworld?  You're right.  I wouldn't.  However, I needed a lawnmower.  And believe me, if there was a word that I could think of that has a stronger meaning than needed, I would use it.  Dad went with me to help me pick out the lawnmower that I paid for using.......wait for it........wait.......HALF OF MY SECURITY DEPOSIT FROM THE OLD PLACE!!!!!  Yes, I did get some of it back!  More on that soon.  After helping me with the lawnmower, and the cutest little gas can ever!, we took a look at the grills.  I do not have a grill.  I am grill-less.  That puts a serious roadblock in the way of having Dad make me his unbelievable delicious BBQ ribs.  Soooooo.....I now have a grill!!!!!  And a cordless drill thingie with all the bits and thingies that go with it.  Oh, and a for-real tape measure.  Yea me!!  Yea Dad!!!!! :)  And the best part, Lowe's is putting the grill together for me.

Anyway--I have to tell you, standing in Lowe's in front of the cordless drills in the middle of Manworld made me feel a little like I should check to see if I had my passport with me.  I kind of felt like I was in a foreign country.

My BFF read my Facebook status that said just that and laughed at me.  Well, she also laughed because I said my new gas can was cute.  Hmmmmmm.  I don't see the humor in that. Ok.  Maybe just a little.  ;)