Day 5 - 5/8/13 (My Birthday!):
We woke up at 8:30am, having slept for just over 6.5 hours, and drove to McDonald's again to freshen up and get some caffeine in our systems. I had a delicious medium hazelnut iced coffee and Sean had a medium hot tea.
I had a birthday offer for a free medium sub from Firehouse Subs valid only with my ID and on my birthday so we drove to the nearest location, apparently by the Boston Marathon memorial, and I ran in to get my sub while Sean waited in the car. We were rushing so I asked them for their most popular sub and they gave me their featured one for the month, the hook and ladder (turkey, ham, Monterey Jack), and asked how I wanted it. I said for them to give me everything.
Free sandwich from Firehouse Subs!:
While in the shop, it started pouring down rain! I'd checked the weather before our trip and had seen that my birthday would be the 1st rainy day of our trip. I'd been skeptical about it happening but it was really here! :D
Back in the car, we ate our free sub, which was by far the messiest but possibly the tastiest I'd ever had, and drove on towards Salem, MA to see the Salem Witch Museum.
Crossing the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge on the way:
Not long before reaching Salem, we picked up $10 worth of snacks at a Dollar Tree store.
Salem was TINY! It was a cute and somewhat amusing little town though and Sean and I liked getting out of the city for awhile.
Photos weren't allowed in most of the Salem Witch Museum but I managed to get a few and Sean and I were well entertained while learning a lot about the history of the witch trials. Check out my photo albums at the bottom of the page to see and learn more yourself!
Sean, Philip Bear Greasley (named after his dad, Sean Philip Greasley =p), and me at the Salem Witch Museum:
It was grey and rained on and off for the remainder of the day. Although I typically prefer sunny days, the change in weather was refreshing, probably even more so because I live in a desert these days.
After awhile, we had to satisfy Sean's sweet tooth again so we stopped in the Ye Olde Pepper Companie (America's oldest candy company - since 1806!) and picked out some treats, including some of the first candy ever made and commercially sold in America: Gibralters! We bought one of each of the following: haystacks, white chocolate covered cherry cordials, dark chocolate orange peels (came with 3), Belgian style double chocolate truffles, Salem buttermint, and peppermint and lemon Gibralters for $8.88 total. I thought the cherry cordial would be my favorite but it actually ended up being the haystack!
The Ye Old Pepper Companie candy store:
The sweet treats we selected:
Just down the street was the Salem Maritime National Historic Site where we walked down Derby Wharf, visited the beautiful Friendship of Salem ship, collected so many big shells (the area was absolutely covered with them!), found and played with LOTS of snails on rocks and cute crabs hiding under them, looked out from the lighthouse on the end of the wharf, found a weird jelly-like creature on the shore, and learned a bunch from plaques that lined the walkway!
Friendship of Salem:
Lighthouse at the end of Derby Wharf:
We checked out the Old Burying Point Cemetery where the judge, a Mayflower pilgrim named Richard More, the man who built House of 7 Gables, and lots of other historical people were buried.
Burying Point Cemetery:
Layout and graves of greatest historical interest in Burying Point Cemetery:
Mayflower pilgrim Richard More's gravestone:
Then we went to get a few pics of the Bewitched Statue at Lappin Park. I used to watch the show when I was 9 years old so it was cool seeing a statue for it here!
On the way, we saw the Salem Witch House:..
And a game store called GameZone that had a vast selection of retro as well as new consoles, games, and accessories, most of which I'd never seen and a couple of which Sean hadn't seen before either! The employee said they can get most any game, console, or related item and will sell and ship anywhere!
GameZone game store:
Some of the games and consoles on display at GameZone:
GameZone •
270 Essex •
Salem, MA 01970
Finally, we drove to the only listed ddrfreak dance game machine location in Salem: Salem Willows Arcade. Ddrfreak's listing had last been updated in '04 saying they had a DDR Extreme machine and were open daily until 11pm but when we arrived just after 8pm they were closed with a metal shutter covering the entire front if the building. I was afraid they were permanently closed but the employees of Genghis Chinese Food a couple doors down assured me that the arcade was only open fewer days and shorter hours because it was not yet summer and that the arcade would at least be open over the weekend. I was still dying with curiosity over whether or not they still had their DDR machine.
Driving towards Denny's to get the free Grand Slam they give when it's your bday and you show ID, we saw a Domino's pizza and stopped to use another copy of a coupon our friend Gerardo from Mexicali had linked us to for a free large pizza! Inside Domino's, I asked if they accepted the coupon there and they said they don't usually but that they'd take it tonight for whatever large pizza we wanted so we got pepperoni, mushrooms, spinach, and green peppers (normally $17 total)! It smelled so damn good we had to have a slice each and struggled to stop there but had to control ourselves or we couldn't have had room for Denny's!
Free pizza from Domino's!:
At Denny's, Sean got a tea and I got my free Grand Slam to share, ordering 2 bacon strips and 2 scrambled eggs for me and 2 sausages and 2 over easy eggs for Sean. We're so good at getting free stuff!
Denny's restaurant:
We got me a medium hazelnut iced coffee from McDonald's for $1 after that.
Then we noticed a Buffalo Wild Wings across the street. I had coupons for that too! We used my 6 free wings for my bday coupon and 1 free bottle of sauce for joining coupon to get spicy garlic wings and a big bottle of spicy garlic sauce!
Free treats from Buffalo Wild Wings:
Gas was low but it was to be expected considering how much driving we'd done since we got to town. We stopped at a station, put $18 in, and it filled half the tank. Not bad at all!
Next up was the only other ddrfreak location in the immediate area we thought might still exist and be open: Bostonville Grille, last updated in 2010 with DDR Extreme and ITG2. When we got there though, it'd been replaced by a car dealership. Ugh We later learned the story behind it: Bostonville Grille was located between a couple of car dealerships and the owner was continuously being offered more and more money to sell til he could no longer refuse and sold to one of the dealership companies.
By this time, it was after 11:30pm and we were tired. Rain was pouring down and thunder and lightning started tearing up the sky just before midnight. What a crazy ending to a good bday! We decided to find a place to park for the night, cuddle up, and catch some much needed Zzzz's. :)
Day 6 - 5/9/13:
During the night or early morning, my old high school friend Jeff Garner sent me a $5 Starbucks ecard through Facebook! That $5 ended up being more appreciated than he'd probably expected.
When Sean and I woke up, we felt damp and disgusting so we drove to Starbucks and used the $5 Jeff had sent to get me a green tea frappuccino and pay for part of Sean's earl grey tea! Thanks, Jeff! Then we practically showered in the restroom sinks. We even washed our hair. The floor was soaking wet. Haha We came out all fresh in our new outfits and sat down with our drinks to sip and use the outlets and wifi for a few hours. Ghetto but awesome!
Green tea frap at Starbucks:
While borrowing the wifi at Starbucks, we looked up our Great Bear Run results and noticed a mention on their webpage. Apparently, we'd traveled farther than anyone for the race. Didn't know we'd set such an impression!
Then we ate our leftover pizza and drove on..
..to Thomas McIntyre (father of Joey McIntyre from NKOTB)'s house near Boston!
Tom McIntyre
20 Orchard St
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Tom answered the door smiling! We introduced ourselves, shook his hand, and the 3 of us got to chatting about the New Kids, Joey, and travel. Then he introduced us to his doggie, Paris 2! After about 10 minutes, we took a few pics together and said our goodbyes. Wow.. I was star struck!
Tom McIntyre (Joey McIntyre's dad)'s house:
Sean and me with Tom!:
Tom and me:
By the time we left Tom's, we were hungry. We tried to visit the Raising Cane's location in Boston to use some offers they'd loaded onto my Caniac Card but unfortunately that location didn't accept any kind of coupons, offers, or Caniac Cards. :(
Parking had been tough though and we didn't wanna walk away empty handed so we stopped in a grocery store on the way back to the car, got free samples (coconut water and sushi), and bought $0.50 tea and coffee from a machine in there.
Tea and coffee machine:
Then we continued to Dave (Syn) Raposo's house (aka Funky Chicken Lounge on Foursquare):
36 Charlotte Rd
Waltham, MA 02453
There, we met Dave, his girlfriend, Lisette Khalil, Lisette's father Eddie, Dave's roommate Catrina, Catrina's boyfriend Chris Balcum, the 3 cats that live there, and Dave's awesome ITG2 upgrade! We played ITG and hung around for hours. Eventually, Lisette and her father had to go home and it was just Dave and us ITGing but Catrina and Chris came down to play with us not long after. Sean and I were so out of practice with ITG it was frustrating but we still had a lot of fun!
Dave Raposo's house:
Dave preparing to beast on his ITG machine:
Dave's awesome ITG arrow tattoo:
Left to right: Dave, me, Sean, Lisette, and Lisette's father:
After we'd finally said goodnight and everyone had gone separate ways, Sean and I went to IHOP down the street for post dance game food and ordered a $7 breakfast special off a Weekday Breakfast Special menu unavailable in Vegas. We shared that and ate it with boysenberry syrup!! Neither Sean nor I had seen or tasted that before but it was delicious and I hope Vegas will get it soon or that we'll come across it during our future travels sooner than later!
Boysenberry syrup?! Yum!:
We parked by Days Inn right next to IHOP after dinner and were about to go to sleep in the car when I saw a bird fly onto a nearby electrical post. I looked a little closer to see what kind it was and IT WAS AN OWL!!!! I don't think I'd ever seen an owl in person before and definitely not in the wild! Wow.. I got closer and took some pics and it kept staring at my, it's head following me everywhere! It was the most adorable bird I'd ever seen before and I SO want one.
Look closely at the post near the center of the photo and you can just make out the owl:
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