oh look, another glorious morning. It makes me SICK.
my Salem trip recap, 7 book reviews from my Fall TBR, and an overall reflection on why I love Halloween
post overview if you need to skip around:
PART 1: why children of divorce love Halloween (lol)
PART 2: seven book reviews from my fall TBR list
PART 3: recap of my Salem trip + 5 tips for non-locals (including must-see landmarks)
first: an ode to Halloween
~legend has it that if someone says their FAVORITE holiday is Halloween, and they are like, extremely passionate about it, they are a child of divorce (COD). If you think about it, it makes sense. It’s a widely celebrated holiday that doesn’t involve kids going back and forth between houses, towns, states, etc. If one parent missed out on seeing you it doesn’t even register and is no big deal. No hurt feelings. There’s no: “Okay we need to be finished eating by 3:00 so you can go see your dad’s family.” “Okay we have 6 hours for presents, dinner, and board games before we need to go to mom’s.”
People say Halloween is spooky, but for a COD?? Shoot, *nothing* is as haunting as your childhood-internal-dialogue on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Oh no, it’s 10PM. Mom’s gonna be upset. Dad’s gonna be bummed. Grannie’s sad. Grandmommy is waiting. The turkey is getting cold. “What’s your ETA?” Your 3rd cousins are tapping their fingers on the table waiting for the Cagle Kids to arrive. Time for a 2 hour car ride to Montgomery; a flight to Texas on Christmas day; throw your duffle bag that you’ve barely unpacked back into the trunk - it’s time to trade!!!!!
Morbid humor (sorry, parents) (it’s funny in retrospect)(I think.): Then the holiday dread is taken up another notch when your parents aren’t legally able to be within X amount of feet from each other, so you get dropped off at the bottom of the driveway and have to hike the hill with your bags and presents in the freezing cold. DEEP INHALE. OUT OF BREATH. You’re late, your hands are frozen, you’re twelve years old, and you’re apologizing even though you had no control over your transportation/arrival time, unless you took your Razor scooter… but those don’t do well on the interstate. Your grandpa then reads The Night Before Christmas bedtime story at actual-midnight because that’s the earliest you could pencil him in.
Fourth of July? Think again. Both sides of the family have some-sort-of-something going on, so… CODs hate that holiday too. Where am I eating watermelon THIS year? Am I putting on sunscreen for lake Guntersville, or packing a blanket for the park in Decatur?
You get in the car, stare out the window, check social media and see your friends in Christmas pajamas lounging around (or in bathing suits doing cannon balls). You think, “Dang, it’s dark outside and I haven’t even taken my shoes off today.”
Halloween, though? No one cares.
NO MORE TRADING.
I FEEL LIKE A NORMAL KID!
I AM FULLY INVOLVED IN THE ENTIRE DAY!
I CAN TAKE MY SHOES OFF IF I WANT TO!
HALLOWEEN IS THE GREATEST OF ALL GREAT!
(anyways!) (please laugh. I’m fine.)
next: an update on my fall TBR
Rouge (full review) - If you like WEIRD AF books that feel like a Blood Red Fever Dream Acid Trip Psychosis Spiral, this is for you. I honestly enjoyed (most of) it, but don’t know if it’s one I’d encourage my grandma to read, ya feel? Even still, I think Mona Award is a terrifying genius.
Weyward (full review) - Listed on my Fall TBR list as “Vibey.” For fans of multigenerational stories, witches, and seeing abusive men get what they deserve. *balls up my fist and punches the palm of my other hand in a threatening way*
Strange Sally Diamond (full review) - I’m going to be honest. This was not for me. But I think 90% of people will absolutely eat this up. God speed to you, friend. I want to wipe this from my memory.
First Frost (full review) - Book #2 in the Waverly family saga. I would die for these books. They’re so weird and quirky and nostalgic to me.
Spells for Forgetting (full review) - Another in the “vibey” category in my Fall TBR newsletter, and it definitely lived up to that description. It felt like walking through the dark, foggy forrest from the Twilight movies with rain boots on. The climax of the book was a littleeee over the top (for me!), but it is one I still highly recommend.
None of This is True (full review) - My first Lisa Jewell thriller did not disappoint. HIGHLY recommend this one via audiobook. The entire story is about a podcaster who has a guest that becomes… quite terrifying. As such, the audiobook sounds like a podcast, complete with intro-music for each episode, scratchy microphone sounds, etc.; it made me forget it was a book.
Bright Young Women (full review) - Based on the true story of the sorority house Ted Bundy broke into, killing and maiming numerous women. It was very well done.
BEST OF ALL: our Salem trip recap
Special shoutout to my husband (who has 0% interest in his holiday) for scheduling the entire trip and going with the flow as I be-bopped around, double-fisting apple ciders from two different shops. You’re a real one.
As you’ve already been told, anything Halloween makes me over the moon happy. The “culture” and “lore” of it all is as magical to me as Christmas is to others. Needless to say, visiting Salem has always been on my bucket list in general, but especially during Halloween.
The trip was a blast and I wanted to share a quick recap, some of the highlights and must-do’s, and helpful tips we learned along the way.
Tips:
1. Stay in Boston not Salem.
It’s a short journey there (around 30-40 mins.) with far more options in terms of places to stay (shoutout to my friend Kayla for this excellent advice). The quaint and spooky Bed and Breakfasts in Salem looked enticing – and I sort of had FOMO – but we are Reward Points People and it made the most sense for us to stay at chain hotels we had perks with back in the city.
Additionally, there is a good amount to do in Salem but it’s still a small town comparatively. Staying in Boston gave us additional options for breakfast, drinks, and dinners if/when we didn’t want to eat in Salem. Yes, there were crazy crowds and festivities in Boston too, but it has the size and quantity of restaurants to easily accommodate for it. We also did a little bit of shopping and bookstore browsing in Boston, so it was a two-in-one trip in a way.
****Recommend in Boston: Beacon Hill Books & Cafe for the absolute most picture-perfect bookstore of all time // Red Apple Farm at the Boston Public Market for apple cider slushies and apple cider donuts // walking around the Boston Public Library for the most stunning architecture // State Street Provisions near the water for a quick lunch // Brattle Book Shop for the iconic outdoor photo (and they have a multi-story inside as well) // checking out where Cheers was filmed
2. Transportation.
We got a rental car (again: Reward Point People) but parking was extremely expensive. Highly recommend utilizing the ferry. We also took the train which was really convenient.
For non-locals like myself…
Tip about the ferry: Check the arrival and departure times. If you’re using it to go there and back in the same day, know that they don’t run all day/night. Many times we had to get alternate transportation back because (example) the last return ferry departed at 6PM that day and we had plans in Salem much later than that.
Tip about the train: Buy your tickets on the train. No need to worry about trying to coordinate them in advance. This was recommended by someone on the ferry and it saved us lots of time.
3. Manage expectations + landmarks to hit
The crowds were giving… crowds. It was helpful to just accept it in advance and try be at peace with it lol. Otherwise you will get frustrated quickly.
Another thing to note: you will get something different out of it depending on the day of the week and time of the day. Mark (husband) and I actually disagreed on the best day/time to be there. (For reference, we took 4 trips to Salem and each time was a completely unique experience. Pros and cons to both, depending on who you are.)
My preference: WEEKDAY during the evening. SO few people out and I could walk straight up to Allison’s house (from Hocus Pocus), and so many other iconic landmarks without weaseling my way through a mosh pit of people to get to the front. The majority of my best photos were from the weekday evenings. Con: a vast majority of the iconic shopping spots and coffee shops closed early on weekdays.
Meanwhile, Mark’s preference was: the weekEND during the DAY. Yes, lots of crowds, but everything was open and festivities were around every single turn. The con was the pure chaos, but he didn’t mind standing in single-file lines for everything because there was so much people-watching to be done.
In summary, I’d highly encourage a trip that included weekdays as well as the weekend for the full experience (i.e. Thursday - Sunday worked perfectly).
***^^Recommended landmarks to hit: the Bewitched statue // keep walking and see the large witch at Blackcraft Cult, see top middle photo above (253 Essex St, Salem) // *continue* to keep walking and you’ll pass the Witch House AND Allison’s house from Hocus Pocus (318 Essex Street, Salem) // back in the opposite direction on the same street, see the Town Hall where the iconic adult Halloween Party took place in Hocus Pocus (161 Essex Street, Salem) // travel down an adjacent large alley for the artsy district and walk through the Witch Memorial in the cemetery // MUST DO: eat at the iconic Turner’s Seafood. It was owned by the first woman to ever be wrongly accused and hung for witchcraft. Legend has it you can see her ghost wondering around. BEST CRAB CAKE I’VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE.
4. FYI: No reservations + had to do same-day bookings for museums
Not a single restaurant or museum allowed reservations or tickets to be made/bought in advance. Attractions such as the Witch Museum opened their website at midnight each night while other places didn’t open their site till 8am the morning-of. Look ahead and make sure you know when to get online in order to snag tickets for your bucket list museums or tours. At first I was stressed about that, but I quickly changed my mind and thought it was so handy. Otherwise, everything would have been completely booked months ahead of time. This way we still had a fighting chance.
For restaurants, be prepared to wait, or beat the crowds and eat dinner at 5PM like we did most nights (lol).
5. Bring comfortable shoes.
Listen, this place is Halloween Aesthetic Goals and you’re going to want to be in your Cutest Fall ‘Fit for photos. But listen to me when I say you are going to want your most comfortable, ugliest shoes instead of those cute black knee-high suede boots.
Let’s just say Mark and I BOTH got so desperate we stopped at a random shoe store across the street from Harvard’s campus and bought brand new sneakers. What’s even funnier: they had a shoe donation station where we casually dropped the shoes we were wearing into; we told them they could keep the boxes our new shoes were in and we walked straight out the door with nothing in our hands, like nothing ever happened.
finally: 3 wishlist items we didn’t get to…
Max and Dani’s house (4 Ocean Ave, Salem)
(Still sad) It was a >30 minute walk from downtown Salem and we knew the lines would be outrageous, like they were with every other Hocus Pocus landmark. We ultimately decided it wasn’t worth a likely 2 hour adventure that day just for a picture. Next time!
I would have loved to do one of the many ghost or witch tours
Wait times for restaurants were so long that we were hesitant to book something for fear that we wouldn’t finish dinner in time. However, we did listen in from the outskirts on several occasions and they all seemed fantastic!
the Little Women house outside of Boston (399 Lexington Rd, Concord)
Because, duh?
Let the countdown to Halloween 2024 begin!
Until next time,
-AG
Loved your breakdown of Halloween. I didn't like Halloween as a child but love it now as an adult. It's one of the only holidays for me that doesn't have all this pressure to celebrate, I can do it in my own way, on my own time and enjoy myself.