Salem Witches and Cape Cod Beaches!

Halloween was the following week,
What a perfect time to visit Salem, Massachusetts!

The plan was to eat breakfast at The Friendly Toast.
Should have known it would have been crowded on a weekend.

2 hour wait wasn't going to work.

Luckily next door was another drop-in cafe, Flour Bakery.

It was much like Tattes, and I had read about it a few times on pinterest.

Perfect and no loss on the first restaurant.

There was a line about 30 minutes long.

Casey ran and got our car from the parking garage, and by the time I 
got our order, he pulled up and we were on our way out of the city! 

We shared another breakfast sandwich and decadent pastries.

I had to get an authentic Boston Cream cake while in Boston!

The drive to Salem was about an hour.
And very scenic at that!

I could drive and look and pretty, orange tress all day long.

And lets face it, being so far back East almost felt like I was in a different country!

So interesting to see the different lifestyles than the West Coast.

The houses were darling and I think Casey was tired of me pointing out every single one!

I didn't know much about Salem, except that was were the Witch trials happened.

And that parts of Hocus Pocus was filmed there!

Bonus that Netflix had just released new movie, Hubie Halloween, that was also filmed in

Salem. We watched it on the plane ride over. 

We knew it was a hopping place to celebrate Halloween.

I was worried it would be beyond crowded.

As we got closer, we saw many numerous road signs saying all festivities were closed this

year due to the Governors orders. 

We mainly just wanted to sight see so that gave me hope it wouldn't be too bad.

Salem is a small town!

Like, one lane roads all the way through.

And  right off the bat, it did not seem to be canceled.

There were dressed up people and cars galore!

Kind of fascinating, actually.

Sanderson Sisters everywhere you looked!

They did not mess around with dinky costumes. 

I had no idea where to start so I just picked Pioneer Village.

It is nestled between the woods and the ocean.

Fun contrast between the 2!

It is America's first living history museum.

It interprets the early 17th- century colonial life.

We were surprised to see people going in.

We thought everything was closed.

So we wandered down to the back side.

I asked this "super excited to be at his job" worker if they were doing tours.
(He reminded me, even looked like, the kid on Fuller House who was
 running the troller coaster, haha). 

He said they were sold out for the day and the Governor allowed minimum tickets

to spread people out in the town better.
Interesting.

I didn't mind we couldn't walk through, because I could see
 all that I wanted to see outside of the gates.

This is the opening scene in Hocus Pocus where Thackery Binx chases after his sister

Emily who is being summoned by the Sanderson Sisters.

So cool!!

The forest on the left, and the ocean on the right.

Not far away from the Village was Max and Dani's house!

It looks exactly the same as in the movie.

You can't see all the other people taking a peek like I was.

I would hate to live in a home that drew public attention.

In fact, there was a sign saying private residence, please respect the yard.

We got in the slow moving, congested traffic and

drove by Salem Common, where in the movie Max flirts with Allison.

And where she returns his phone number, "Trick-or- Treat".

It was crazy crowded, with no where to park so we kept on going. 

They had carnival games and food tents.

If this was a canceled event, I can't imagine what it would be like normally!

We drove by the Witch House museum.

A few houses down was Allisons house!
"Eh, rich people...they'll probably make us drink cider and bob for apples".

In real life it is known as the Ropes Mansion. 
It has a lovely garden in the back and is part

of the Peabody Essex Museum.

More Sanderson Sisters.

Traffic was getting worse by the minute.

I really wish we could have explored more but getting anywhere was

close to impossible.

However, I really wanted an authentic Salem witch hat!

We came up to the downtown area where I saw some shops.

I told Casey I was getting out and we would figure out later where to pick me up.

Each store had super long lines because they were only letting in 10 people at a time.

Dumb. I picked the shortest looking line and crossed my fingers they had some good options,

because there would be no store hopping.

When I got closer to the front, about 20 minutes later, I could see they had lots to choose from!

Phew! And I think I picked the perfect one!

We called Salem a win and decided to start our next leg of the day.

But not without stopping at Dairy Witch for some ice cream!

I had to use the sketchy bathroom next door at the dinky auto repair store.

I wasn't about to contaminate anything I could protect.

In comes Casey, the human shelf!

I debated on where else to go. 

There were so many places we could explore in New England.

It was about noon, and we needed to factor in driving times to make it worth our while.

My heart was telling me Cape Cod, so with that, we were off!

Cape Cod is the muscle-y arm looking part of Massachusetts. 

There are many parts of Cape Cod.
There is Provincetown, Yarmouth, Eastham,

that I have heard about.

There are also 8 big light houses.
The Cape Cod canal is a popular destination.

I had NO IDEA which to pick. 

We basically had time for one. 

I said just drive.

I had about 2 hours to figure it out.

I googled, looked at pinterest, and googled some more.

I really wanted to see a light house.

I read about each one but I still couldn't decide.

I randomly clicked on a yelp review and saw that the Nauset Lighthouse
(which is in Eastham) is the same light house that is on the Cape Cod potato chip bag.

Decision made! I am a GEEK over stuff like that.

There it was, my first real lighthouse in person.

On the beach of Cape Cod non the less.

It was a pinch me moment. 

And yes, somebody lives in that house right next to it.

Luckies.

It really was the same lighthouse!

Some mini lighthouses on the road before the big one.

We walked to the edge of the cliff to check out the ocean.

Gorgeous view!

I was itching to get my feet in the sand!

Yikes!

We googled it and sure enough, sharks are a big problem here.

They had a shark attack on this very beach in July.

Hello beach!!

It surprisingly wasn't as cold as I thought it would be.
Even the water. It felt like it does in California. 

We had another debate on whether to rush to Provincetown, which was 30 minutes away.

I didn't want to miss the sunset, so we decided to stay put.

So glad we did!!

We saw a girl on this rock that jetted out into the ocean.

Her friend was on the sand taking her picture when all of a sudden a huge wave came in

and soaked the living day lights out of her!

It was so big it knocked her to the ground. 

They left and I dared Casey to go out on the same rock.

Somehow I ended up on the rock for a picture!!

I knew what would happen so I tried not to go out too close to the water.

I didn't want to get wet and freeze.

I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Still got wet!

It was worth it though!

 

We walked up the beach for a good mile, talking and collecting sea shells to take home to the kids.
Casey said this was his favorite part of the trip.
We could have walked longer but it was starting to get dark. 

It is crazy how different the beach was from what we are used to. 

We got a kick out of the funniest things.
Like these crab pinchers. 

We were sandy, wet and cold.
But we were happy as clams.
Why is the ocean so good for your soul?

We got in the car in search for some grub!
I guess Cape Cod is a small, Summer destination spot and it
shuts down in the winter.
We were striking out with things not open.

Finally we asked and found a restaurant still open and it was delicious!
Made from scratch food. 
Wish I could remember the name of it.

And back to Boston we went.

Cape Cod is beautiful.
Well worth the short visit. So glad we decided to come!
I would love to visit Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket some day!