Despite giving no mention to Vermont in this post’s title, we did actually begin our morning there. We left our hotel in Burlington and drove a half hour or so to Waterbury, where we had been the day before at Ben & Jerry’s, but this time around we stopped off at Cold Hollow Cider Mill, where we had some delicious apple cider doughnuts and apple cider, both hot and cold varieties, which all proved to be the perfect way to start our day.
Taken just past the Cold Hollow Cider Mill bakery and giftshop building.
Snapped this beauty on our way out of Cold Hollow Cider Mill. The trees in Vermont were what we’d been waiting all trip for. They were just breathtakingly gorgeous.
The layer of fog over the hills was too beautiful not to capture. We should’ve honestly pulled over and took some better ones, but alas, this the best one I had. Still though, seeing it in real life was unreal. It was just so incredible. I know I’ve said it several times throughout these posts, but I loved New England so, SO much!
Jeepers Creepers! Salem was honestly a town unlike any other I’d been to before and while I do mean that in a positive regard, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, or in this case pumpkins and ghosts, there were as many tricks as treats for us in this town…
The “Bewitched” statue was a popular photo spot. It took me several minutes to capture this without anyone else posing next to it.
Salem reminded me a great deal of Las Vegas. There were all these haunted characters speckled throughout the town standing in wait to have you pay to get your photograph taken with them.
Town Hall here was used as a filming location in the original “Hocus Pocus” movie. This is where the Sanderson sisters perform “I Put A Spell On You” and cause all the parents to dance endlessly into the night.
Another creeper you can pay to be pictured next to.
This picture does a great injustice to the genuine crowds we experienced downtown Salem that day. This will sound outlandish, but I honestly think there was approximately 100,000 people there that particular Friday. When we arrived in Salem we were ever so thankful we didn’t have any tours or anything booked because it took us nearly TWO HOURS to find a parking spot! There were five fair sized parking garages downtown and despite them, it still took us TWO HOURS to get a spot. It was insane.
The Witch House was once the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin (1640-1718) and is the only structure still standing one can visit in Salem with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
Alternate perspective of The Witch House.
The First Church in Salem Unitarian was founded in 1629!
The Ropes Mansion as seen behind Nancy and Melissa was used as another filming location in Disney’s “Hocus Pocus.” The house itself is a Georgian Colonial mansion and is currently open to the public.
These next few photos are from the gardens of the Ropes Mansion.
It was really cute back here, just wish we’d gotten there sooner when the sun was still truly out.
Jumping for my love of New England!
Give me all the water landscapes.
This picture shows just how close in proximity the three previous structures are to one another.
Melissa loves herself some honey bees!
I’m pointing at this ghost in the window behind me because Melissa and I have the same one on display at our house each and every Halloween season!
They had curious and interesting art sprinkled all throughout downtown Salem.
These street performers were really giving me Las Vegas vibes, but when the one said loudly, “who’ll be the first brave soul to donate $20 today?” I really had to check and see where I was because that’s definitely some janky Vegas shit to say. I’m not fan of Las Vegas honestly, it’s a complete and total shithole, but as long as they continue to have top notch entertainment I’ll keep going back, but I do so begrudgingly each time.
Even though this picture looks crowded it still doesn’t do justice to the sheer magnitude of people there in that town on this night. I mean, as far as our eyes could see was just a sea of people. It was wild.
I truly did love Salem and would happily return one day, but NEVER in the month of October! Hell no absolutely not! We had to wait in a line for everything. We couldn’t just walk into the shops, we had to wait in a line to go inside and the same was for all things in town. It was just too much and too wild for me. I’d have a much more pleasant experience in June.
This park was magnificent and miraculously not too crowded, so we used it as a breather and a place to wind down some.
This building was another “Hocus Pocus” filming location. I forget what it actually is now, but in the film its the school where the kids trap the Sanderson sisters and “burn them alive.”
The Salem Witch Museum, which can be seen at the end of the orange lights, was a place I wanted to visit badly, but because of the crowds, it was sold out completely. Oh well, another excuse to come back when it isn’t October.
This is a statue of Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, who despite his proximity to the Witch Museum, had nothing to do with the Witch Trials.
This is just someone’s cute house all decorated for Halloween. There was so much of this in town. I truly loved it!
I just think this town would be so neat and fun any other time of the year because after spending nearly two hours to find ourselves a parking spot, we were all on edge for pretty much the remained of the day.
The Salem Pirates Museum is another place I would’ve enjoyed, but again, it too was sold out with these astronomical crowds!
Another filming location from “Hocus Pocus.” This was used as one of the main kids home.
Nancy and Melissa LOVE “Hocus Pocus,” so they were truly pumped to see all these places!
The moon over the water was just so incredible for me. I loved everything about the stoic, serene, and spooky landscape it provided.
We finally made it to Boston!
Along the Freedom Trail was this Holocaust Remembrance Memorial one could walk through and let me tell you what, it definitely had me in a heap of tears prior to dinner that night! There were some stones carved with short stories from some Holocaust survivors and they gutted me. I was ill-prepared for this, but am so thankful it was there because we must never forget the atrocities of the past.
This picture pisses me off because its so blurry, but this is the best one I have. It’s of Ye Old Union Oyster House, which so happens to be the single oldest still operating restaurant in the United States. We had THE BEST time here this evening!
We had learned earlier this day that Barack Obama’s favorite clam chowder comes from this place, so obviously, this is what I had to have! The bartender gave us a guided tour around the establishment and shared with us some truly wonderful stories about his twenty plus years working here. It was so great to hear the history of this incredible place and his passion for it really resonated with me. Made me so thankful we had come here and completely understanding of why Barack loves it too!
Love a good alley pic!
Boston was a beautiful city and I cannot wait to show you more of it in the next two posts!
Well, as always, THANK YOU so much for viewing! I appreciate you greatly! PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment below as I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll return soon with Day Eight, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!
More haunts and happenings from our New England vacation:
Working hard everyday towards achieving my goal of becoming an international best-selling author. Wrote the book, just need the agent and publisher. Received the ultimate endorsement when Britney Spears wrote me saying she'd be one of the first in line to buy my book! #FreeBritney
