We continued our journey back south today heading towards the final destination of Boston and home but we had one final overnight stop before we fly.
Salem
When we were working out our trip the company that we were booking with (hat tip The American Road Trip Company) suggested an overnight stop in Salem. Of all the places they suggested this was the only one that we rejected based purely on the online reviews of the hotel. Instead we elected to go to the town of Gloucester half an hour away on the coast.
Salem is, of course, famous for the witch trials and as such we thought it might be a good place to visit. I think that in my mind I had imagined that it would be like Godric’s Hollow, the village in Harry Potter where he lived with his parents. I was thinking oldie-worldie houses in a small village, lots of pumpkins outside and the like. What we actually got was a soulless, modern downtown city area with not a pumpkin in sight along with lots of tacky shops selling witches hats and other crap. I found it all very depressing and wasn’t sorry when we left.
Gloucester
Our final overnight stop was in the town of Gloucester and the contrast to Salem was striking. Gloucester is an attractive seaside town with some pretty streets to walk along. It had the requisite bookshop and even had a huge record shop but given the restriction on space I didn’t buy anything to bring back. A great place for a final stop.
