Concord and Halloween

Oh, this was an awesome day.
First, off to Concord. Or "Concawd" if you're from Boston. This is where "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" was fired. We sat through a cool little movie at the visitors' center with a clock that moved to what time stuff happened and little colored LED lights on a map that showed where all the troops came from. It was pretty sweet. We walked to the bridge where the shots were first fired, which had a definite feeling of history radiating from it all.

Then we stopped at Downtown Concord, which was quaint and beautiful. We ate at the Main St. Cafe, where we had huge sandwiches (or half now, half for dinner) and I had New England Clam Chowder.
Which was delicious. Almost as delicious as the cornbread that came with it (oh my GOSH!). I wanted to try everything there; everything looked so delicious. One of my favorite parts of Boston was my constant internal chuckling that came with the accent. We sat next to 3 local ladies having the best conversation, and I could have listened to them talk all day.

Oh, but there was more.
The CHEESE SHOP, making cheese since 1860. This guy was so cool. Ariana is in a food class where she was told that she hadn't lived until she'd had Parmegiano Reggiano with crystals. Ok. So I went in. I asked if they had Parmegiano Reggiano with crystals. He did. Not only that, he broke a piece of, gave me a little taster of Balsalmic vinegar with it, and said, "Now this is how you want to have your fun." I wish that everybody realized my motivations so quickly. All I was in Boston to do was to "have my fun." Not to be enlightened, not to impress anyone, not to check it off my 101 things list (ok, maybe that was part of it), but really, my rationale for lots of things is to have the most fun possible, and I could have kissed this guy for realizing that the cheese shop stop was all about having fun. 

The cheese was delicious. He sliced me a bit for Ariana. He didn't want my debit card for a slice of cheese, and knowing full well I wouldn't be back from AZ for quite likely a few years, he gave it to me, telling me to come back next visit. Oh, Guy at Cheese Shop, I will. 

Next Stop. Walden Pond. Who knew it was so close? Thankfully, the little map at Concord. Walden Pond is one of those things that I knew was somewhere in New England and planned to see at some point, but I really had no idea where it actually was. It was about this time that Tessa tuckered out, so em stayed in the car and gave me about 15 minutes to go exploring alone.

I walked through the water near the shore, I (quickly) contemplated my existence and how I got lucky enough to be where I was right then, I collected leaves, I walked a path, I met a couple from Florida. I talked to a triathlete. Eight of them had their wetsuits and were training in Walden Pond. (How's that for motivation!?) Then I went to the bookstore and got shamelessly hit on by the bookstore guy who was cute enough and got a free honey stick and my first Thoreau book "Lessons for a Spiritual Seeker," which came highly recommended from the history-degreed-Thoreau-playing bookstore worker. Thanks Robert.

Then we bought Goldilocks some socks and headed back.Time for Trick or Treating. Oh, this was so fun. It was so fun using my sister's curling iron and discovering ringlets again. It was so fun watching the Bear Family getting dressed up with their fuzzy pants, cute ears, and little noses. It was even more fun walking down Chestnut Street to go trick-or-treating to 200 year old houses on brick sidewalks. To the friendliest people and exciting wine parties passing out candy and very excited to be a part of the coolest trick-or-treating street ever. Because. Hello. This is Salem. This is Halloween. This is History folks. Every single year. Tessa was darling. There was no saying trick-or-treat, but she figured out how to choose a piece of candy real quick. We had a blast.

And dad, I made my dress. Brad sewed in the zipper for me. He also took out 10 inches of the skirt material when we found out we didn't have enough ribbon to go all the way around the bottom and he helped me do the darts. I did cheat in some places. I didn't line the top. I'm still not quite sure what interfacing is. All I know is that I didn't buy any. I should have basted more before sewing so the little gold trim looked way better. The apron was nixed. The gold trim on the bottom was nixed. I still did it. And I still totally loved it. :o)

Then em and I walked the streets of Salem. Like 75,000 other people did! It was way less slutty than Scottsdale Halloween (maybe it's the cold?) and very creative. We didn't bring our dollars, so we didn't do haunted houses or hang at the bars, but I was already getting tired (At 10!), and all of our feet were (em switched me for slippers mid-way through). But I loved the fact that we were in Salem for Halloween. I'm quite certain there's no cooler place I could've been (even if I missed the nudist, the gangster, the 70's rock star, Jackie-O, and Jem the Rock Star).