Cross Marketing and Arrival

We made it! First off, I want to say there are pictures available on my photo blog that match the posts below. You can find a link to the photoblog off to the right there...see?

Second, we made it! We're in Maine in the house as I speak...type. We said we'd arrive at 5:00 and we got here about 4:50pm or so. Everyone was already gone for the theater. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After spending our second night in Peabody, MA, we headed out a grueling 3 miles to Salem to see the witch stuff. I used the handy Microsoft Streets & Trips to find the only remaining Witch House (house from the 1692 era), a witch dungeon, and something else that we didn't go to. We got to the Witch House first after passing a hilariously titled store i'll mention later. The house was fairly large, and very dark. It was $8 for a tour, or free for Deanna to ask what the best witch place was. They said the Witch Dungeon (on our list) was the most historically accurate, and the Witch Museum...which was more popular. I was indifferent and just wanted to learn stuff. Deanna picked the Witch Dungeon, complete with historically accurate theatrical representation. $6 got us into the show. They said the next show was at 11:00am...25 minutes out. We waited in the gift shop while the two ladies at the counter continued talking about what sweater they were going to buy for their dog who was apparently adorable.

The gift shop had tons of witch stuff. A bunch of tarot cards. A list of things that made you considered a witch...one of which was if you made someone go into fits. Another, if you had a bite (flea bite) it could have been that the devil bit you whilest consorting. Crazy stuff. Are we really that much smarter today? Barely, I say. The tell us we can go into the theater. By "us" I mean just Deanna and I were there. By "theater" I mean it looked like an old church (for effect) with a curtain. Out in the front lobby...I forgot to mention...8 or 10 headshots. Two of the headshots looked decent. So I'm thinking, 10 people? Maybe this will be decent. The entry way had huge posters with quotes like "Salem's best show!".

So we're in the theater. I'm reading these 17 plaques on the walls of the theater with info about the hunts. Then it begins...right as a family of four walks in. The stage has a fake judge, jury, and baliff from the time period. By fake I mean paper mache-ish manequins. A girl comes out to explain the setting. She was nervously rocking back and forth and was looking around the whole theater as if she was addressing more than just the 6 people in there. her explanation went on FOREVER before the fake trial began. An accused witch took the stand, and a girl we all saw walk from the employee door to the benches with us started accusing. This scene went on about 4 minutes and then the curtains closed, the two girls walked out from the middle of the curtains and bow. The 'hostess' came back in clapping, saying "Christina and Lisa everyone" and began explaining that we were about to go into the dungeon. It was a replica, but there was an original beam from one of the dungeons. I saw it when we first got there, touched it and said "Look, Deanna!" Then the guide mentioned that it was good luck for the women to touch the beam, and bad luck for guys. Oh well.

She then went on to explain more and more. The mother and the youngest son from the family of four left because the boy was scared. The father and the barely older son (maybe 9) stayed. During the talk as I was thinking "How long is this going to go on?" the boy summed up my thoughts nicely by giving a huge audible sigh.

That place was that good kind of terrible. And almost worth every penny.

We ate at a place with thick accents and hit the road. The GPS software had one route planned for us, but we had to go back the way we came to get a picture of the wrongest store name ever..."Bunghole Liquors". Pics on the photoblog for proof. 241 miles later, boom...we're here.