Boston (day two) visit to Salem, Green Land Cafe, and our future spouses

We slept late. Apparently our bodies are conditioned to only wake when toddlers start screaming. We woke up, glanced at the clock and then hurriedly dressed and speed walked down to the docks.  There we caught the ferry to Salem.  

There was lots of water traffic on the way to Salem.

I do not know what this is, the Captain did tell us but I couldn't hear what he said. Very odd.

And this is my hubby, hanging out inside the ferry.

We decided to head out and brave the wind, smell the salt air and get sprayed by salt water.

Here is a picture of me, trying to stand strong against the wind.

It was so windy that my hair was absolutely frightening. Peter expressed concerned that as we were headed into Salem I might be mistaken for a witch.

He is so sweet.

Sometimes, I just want to squeeze him.

And squeeze, and squeeze.....till he stops struggling.

I actually felt more like the scene in the movie when Bridgette Jones rides in the convertible to the hotel.


The picture below is us on the front of the boat. At this point our eyes are dried out and our lips are stuck to our teeth in a permanent smile.

People live on this island, the only access is by boat.  I'm thinking they do not run to Starbucks for coffee very often.

We are approaching Salem, these are the boats tied up in the harbor.

My crazy husband wanted his picture taken beneath the "Peter D." sign.

Once we got to Salem we walked through the town to the visitors center. From there we headed to the Salem Witch Museum. We had already purchased our tickets online so we wanted to make sure we got into that museum. They have a timed entry, only a certain amount of people every hour. The line was really long but we decided to wait, almost immediately we were let in. It is a really cool museum. You are led into a room where they tell the story about the witch trials, these are done using staged mannequins to tell the story. We were very glad our children were not with us. They would have been screaming as soon as the lights went out!  After the presentation there is a guided tour of some other exhibits. We really enjoyed that museum and left there planning to go to a few more. 

By this point we were really hungry and decided to stop for lunch. We found a small cafe called Green Land Cafe. We both fell in love with this restaurant and their food and drink menu. At this point we were looking at each other and wondering if we could each leave our spouse and marry an alcoholic beverage...aren't the marriage laws different in Massachusetts?  I know that some of you will have a hard time believing we had those thoughts but let me show you my beverage.

It was called "Harvest Moon".  It is Hanger One Spiced Pear vodka, fig syrup, Marie Brizzard Pear Liqueur, and fresh orange.  To sum it up, deadly and divine!

Our waiter was also the bartender, born and raised in Salem. He was friendly, helpful with the menu, very helpful with the drinks and wore a hat rakishly tipped to one side.  We decided on the spot that when we win the lottery we will hire him to be our personal bartender.

Here is my husband with a blissful look on his face. Notice he has a full beer in one hand but is already perusing the menu for his next drink...

He was considering his next beer to be the Dog Fish Midas Touch, at a mere 9% abv. Or, alcohol by volume, for you non-drinkers out there.  Also for you non-drinkers, 9% is a lot for a beer.

He had the Cody Brewery's Wheelers Oatmeal Brown, which he enjoyed until he met the beer he wants to marry. Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout.  Yep, that's it.  After our divorce goes through he will be Mr. Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout and I will be Mrs. Harvest Moon.  I kind of like my new name.

We look pretty happy considering we are on the brink of divorce. But I guess since we have our new spouses "in hand" it isn't so surprising after all.

Our lunch at Green Land Cafe was a very defining moment in our relationship.

And in our trip.

Basically it totally derailed us from the rest of our plans for the day.

I guess that is what fancy-schmancy beers and drinks do to you.

Our future pet bartender told us that we had already been to the best witch museum, that basically all the others would be a disappointment.

Well gosh, our ferry doesn't leave till tonight. If we aren't going to go to the museum then how should we kill the hours....

"oh bartender...."

If you are thinking that we spent all day drinking like fish you are sorely mistaken.  We left the cafe and promptly started searching for a park bench to stretch out on.

Peter found some comfy rocks to recline on at the Salem Memorial for the witch hunt victims. The only problem was anytime someone else came over he felt obligated to prop himself up on his elbow.

I had to convince him that the rock ledges you see in the photo below are not beds...

We really don't remember what else we saw in Salem. We believe that we walked around a lot and looked at all the really old houses. Our legs were pretty sore so we must and logged some miles. We are pretty sure that we never made it into the House of the Seven Gables. Either that or we didn't pay for admission.


1. because we were in a lovey-dovey mood, perhaps enhanced by alcohol.
2. because of the neon signs
3. and I suspect...because of the name. hahaha.........

We had planned to eat dinner at Victoria Station. But the day was surprisingly warm and when we walked into the restaurant it was stifling.  We sat down at the table and had sweat dripping off of us. The purpose of going to the place was because they supposedly have fantastic prime rib. Peter decided that based on the heat and previous beer consumption, prime rib didn't sound very good after all.

So, we got up and left and then made the worst decision of our trip.

We wanted to go back to Green Land Cafe. But felt that we may look too needy. We were really tempted....really tempted. But we decided not to go back there. Bad, bad decision.

Instead we went to a seafood place, Captains' Waterfront Grill. It probably isn't a bad restaurant, maybe even good.  But our taste buds and dining experience had been ruined for us by Green Land Cafe.  We ate fish and chips and beer, and it tasted like dust. All we could think about was our future lives as Mr. Left Hand and Mrs. Harvest Moon.

After a disappointing meal we headed back to the dock and watch the sunset as we waited for the ferry.  Our lives had been changed forever.  It was time to head back into Boston.

On the ferry, dreaming about my new life.

the future Mrs. Harvest Moon

The view of Boston was beautiful at night, not that you can really tell by the picture.  But hey, the water was choppy, couldn't exactly hold the camera still.

'til next time...