Salem and Sandy

I've decided that every now and then I am going to tell a story that I should have put in a journal but never did.  I don't know what I will reminisce about, but I'm sure something in my present life will make me think back and I will write about it. (don't worry, I will use initials of people if the need anonymity) I guess you can say I'm making up for lost time and hoping my memory serves me well.

On October 27, 2012 my Mom and I took a trip to Boston, Mass.  My work sent me there for the week for our annual Radiation Therapy Conference and I asked Mom to be my traveling buddy.  We were really excited! Neither of us have ever been to Boston, but we were most excited about that fact that we would be just minutes away from Salem, the Halloween mecca.  AND we would be there during Halloween season!! I mean best case scenario for two freaks like us.  Mom LOVES Halloween and she always made it fun growing up, so naturally I LOVE Halloween.  Anyway, we landed in Boston late Saturday and settled in to our hotel (I had early morning meetings the next day).  As we watched the local news I came to realize this "hurricane Sandy" they kept talking about seemed like a bigger deal than we Okies thought.  People were throwing around the phrase "Storm of the Century" and Mom and I are thinking, "oh hell nah".  "Sandy just better calm down, we have things to do". 

Come Sunday morning we figured out Sandy didn't care about our trip and I was ready to get the hell out of there.  I've never been in a hurricane and I damn sure didn't want to be in one on the 34th floor of our hotel sitting by the Atlantic Coast!  So I frantically started calling the airline trying to get flights out.  While on hold I told Mom no matter what we are going to Salem.  So Sunday afternoon we took a taxi to Salem.

One of my top 5 days EVER!  The Halloween festival was underway.  Spook shops lined the streets and we weaved in and out of people dressed in costume all day long.  We saw places were the Salem Witch trials took place, ate a delicious meal and Mom had a psychic reading.  Which, by the way, the psychic knew she had two children and she said one of them is VERY intelligent.  Clearly she was talking about me (and I'm not even being sarcastic here).  Anyway, hurricane Sandy rained on us all day, but it didn't stop us.  The best part of the whole day happened when Mom and I found a way to be witches for the day!!  We had a blast!

                          (seriously my favorite! we are such great actors!)

That night, back at the hotel, I cried to Mom that I wanted out of there before the storm.  No flights available and the two car rental places we called were either ridiculously expensive or out of cars.  I told Mom I would give it one last try and I set a max of $500 for a rental car, said a little prayer and made the call.  By the grace of God we left the next morning at 8am in our $462 rental car and drove 15 hours straight to Indianapolis.  We barely beat the rain, wind, and snow, but we made it.  Boston didn't get hit as bad as they predicted but I'm glad we didn't stick around to find out.  Looking back, I honestly don't think I could have planned the trip any better.  It was perfect....in Salem, during Halloween with a creepy storm looming....Love it!