Ok – so this is a first. Each day, we map out our travels for the next leg of our trip—plans that were made months (and sometimes over a year) in advance. So, as we were making our plans to get from VT to Salem, MA, for our last night we can’t seem to find the Salem Park Inn in Salem. It’s odd, but it keeps coming up New Hampshire. Huh? Well, much to our chagrin (and amusement actually), Ed had booked a hotel in Salem, NH, not Salem, MA for tonight! Oops! It wasn’t that big of a deal, since Salem, NH isn’t all that far from Boston, but we had a restaurant.com coupon for a restaurant in Salem, MA, plus, while Salem, NH is only an hour from Logan, Salem, MA is more like 20 minutes and we didn’t really want to have to mess with traffic and delays for an hour (or more) in the morning.
Quick work and fast thinking found us a hotel in Peabody – right off Route 1 which was perfect in terms of location and price. Cancel NH, hello Peabody!
So, we left White River Junction and headed down the scenic way to Peabody, keeping on Routes 2 and 5 though iconic little Vermont villages, farmland with huge old red barn and more head of cattle than you can count and beautiful fall foliage.
Trying to find a place to picnic, we must have hit 5 different state parks, all closed for the season. So, we finally headed into Salem and found a lovely little park by the water where we could eat.
Then, we drove through the heart of Salem to get a look around and find the restaurant for this evening, then got the heck out of there - fast! It’s Halloween season – and there is probably no place crazier than Salem at Halloween. Didn’t think of that either!
We ended up just meandering about on Cape Ann, through Beverly and Manchester by the sea. Very pretty driving, such quaint traditional NE villages and towns. Beautiful.
Back at the hotel, we rearrange our bags/packing, sit outside in the sunshine and read, then hit the gym for a bit before our last dinner! Into Salem we go, and to Scratch Kitchen, this great, kitschy little sandwich shop where everything is smoked and/or comes with bacon. Our kind of place! It’s really strange though – as packed as the town is, this place is empty. Seriously – empty. We are the only customers the whole night. Bizarre too because it’s great food at really reasonable prices! Weird.
So, we enjoyed our personal dining staff and just hung out eating bacon dusted fries (yeah, bad, but oh so good), two fish tacos and a smoked brisket sandwich. Yum Yum. Nice way to finish off our bad eating trip and start thinking about the salads and chicken we’ll be having tomorrow night! Not that I’ll be sad mind you, I love salad and chicken – and it sure helps reduce the extra bacon fat that accumulates around your waist after 3 weeks of being lenient with what goes into your mouth!
We meander through every little NE neighborhood between Salem and Peabody(thanks to Alice and her stupid directional sense) back to the hotel, where we finalize our suitcases and get ready for the flights home.
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