The plan today was to go to see Hammond Castle on the
outskirts of Gloucester, MA. Apparently,
this guy Hammond was best known for inventing the TV remote control, so of
course it seemed mandatory to go and pay my respects to such a brilliant
inventor. After a beautiful drive
through the cute little town of Manchester, we finally arrived. But fate would strike again! Hammond Castle was closed all day for
weddings, and we were turned away (along with a very confused pizza delivery
girl).
Since we found ourselves suddenly with hours of free time,
we decided to drive on down the coast and visit the historic city of
Gloucester. We walked along the beach,
my wife got hit by a wave (that’ll teach her to reach down and pick up a
seashell), and I got to climb all over a boulder field like a mountain
goat.
We went on to downtown and had lunch at the Sugar
Magnolias. My wife had fish and chips
(which were actually French fries) and I had a BLTTTT…wait, how many T’s was
that? Oops, that was only supposed to be
2 T’s. It was a bacon, lettuce, tomato,
and turkey with a basil mayo, in case you were wondering what that other T
was. We strolled around this quaint
little town, shopping, talking to the locals, and just enjoying the beautiful
weather.
We still had time before we had to drive to Lexington for
the next leg of our journey, so what to do in Massachusetts in the middle of
October. If you guessed drive to Salem
and visit “Witch City,” then you have a strange, unbelievable, and completely
dead-on way of thinking…or you’re lying through your teeth. But that’s exactly what we did. We visited the city known for the Salem Witch
Trials of the 1600s. Everything was
decorated for Halloween: pumpkins,
ghosts, spiders, and of course…witches.
On every corner, people were dressed in character. And to get in the spirit of things, we went
to the Salem Wax Museum, visited shops sporting spell components, and even
managed to get some chocolate turtles.
Munching on our turtles, we drove over to Lexington and
checked into the Quality Inn. The irony
of the situation can’t even begin to be explained, but let me give you an
example of the “quality” of this room.
The handle on the microwave and mini-fridge have both been ripped
off. But instead of fixing them, the
handles were replaced with a cabinet knob (microwave) and cabinet handle
(fridge). Seriously?! Oh well, we don’t plan on being in the room
much anyway.
And to end, I have been informed that I forgot to mention
Wanda yesterday. While in Sommerville,
MA, we ate at a place called the 99 Grill.
For those of you who know about my history with the number 9, you will
understand that I was drawn to this restaurant like a moth to a flame. Anyway, we had a waitress by the name of
Wanda who was sarcastic, surly, and who we loved instantly. She teased me about ordering a Dr. Pepper,
teased my wife about ordering a well-done hamburger, and then proceeded to
give us some tips of places to visit while in Massachusetts. If you’re reading this, Wanda, I apologize
for leaving you out of Act 2.
