MyFavoriteKid and I took a drive up to Marblehead today to visit a very dear friend of mine. She is from the east coast originally, but I met her while she was living in California for a stint. She's been back in Marblehead for maybe 8 or 9 years now, and has two daughters just a couple of years younger than MyFK. I haven't seen her since she moved back.
I cannot believe I didn't get lost driving there. I printed out driving directions but nothing was labeled the same way in real life as it was online. If that wasn't the issue, then there was also the repeated problem of there just being flat out no street signs posted on the corners. It was almost like the people in Marblehead would like you to keep out. Perhaps it's the ghost witches of Salem? I dunno. But now I understand why every single person I have spoken to about getting around here has laughed at my not having a gps system. I think it might be a requirement around here.
We hung around my friend's house for most of the day. Every hour or so we'd announce that we were read to get outside, but it was very cold and rainy, and we were just having a blast catching up and sharing photos. We talked lots while the kids played. She is a massage therapist, and she treated me to some bodywork and a pot of tea. It was great.
In the afternoon we finally got ourselves motivated and headed into Salem to do another leg of MyFK's Historical '08 tour. We started off at the Pirate Museum, and both of Cathy's girls completely freaked and were scared to go tour. MyFK and I went while they kindly waited in the gift shop. They didn't miss much. There were some interesting facts about pirates given by the tour guide, but the stuff in the museum was pretty, ummm....
cheesy.
It was pretty clear the girls were spooked enough by all things Salem that they were going to need us to skip any witch related tours related, as well.
So what to do?
Seek out the LocalYarnStore, of course!
I popped in there to get goods to make egg cozies (note to Kathy: okay, okay, OKAY...I am knitting the egg cozies...sheesh! hahahaha).
Actually, MyFK says he wants to knit one of them. Pretty cool. Now that will surprise Grandma. I don't think we've told her that he knits yet. Then she'll have something knit from her GREAT grandchild, too!
I'm using the same yarn that I used to knit my last little two-toned ribbed shrug (Cascade 220 Paints), so of course I thought to myself, hey....since I'll only use a smidge of this for the egg cozy why not buy a second skein of it, and make another shrug with the leftovers? Right?! And then I'll need the contrasting color for the collar and cuffs, right? And oh, hey...they have those AddiTurbo shorty sock needles! Let's get those, too. We need those, right??!
Riiiiiight.
Well, after that, we took the kids to dinner, and in the hour we were there, my girlfriend's eldest daughter mastered the knit stitch and made a little bookmark for herself. Pretty amazing. She could even spot mistakes right away when she saw them, and she totally figured out for herself the importance of even tension. Crazy. The yarn store was already closed, or I'd have gone back and picked her up some needles. I'll have to send her something when I get home.
On the way back to my friend's house we drove through the fancy schmancy parts of Marblehead so I could drool some more over the architecture around here. I love the old homes. We also swung by the lighthouse.
I somehow made it back to Brockton without getting lost in the dark and the rain, and when we got back to the hotel, my other Uncle and his wife had just arrived so we visited them in their hotel room for a bit. More of that tomorrow, but for now....it's late here, and at night I seem to be be still partially stuck on California time. To add to my jet-lag issues, last night a wedding party was booked in our wing of the hotel, and they came banging through at 2am sounding like that had participated in one too many champagne toasts. It took me another two hours to fall asleep after that,mostly because I was so pissed off that the front desk refused to ask them to quite down a bit. They were in the hallways calling back and forth from room to room for almost 30 minutes!! I hope tonight is better!
Anyhow, as a treat while I have been typing this, guess what I've been doing?
Watching the RileyCam.
TheMostImportantGuy, who is pet sitting the new DoggieDogHead, set up his webcam so I could watch Riley chew on a rawhide bone (instead of TheMIG's amp cords---oy). But I have to say. DogCam. Very. Cool.
G'night...tomorrow more sight seeing and seafood.
1 comments:
I am SO relieved. :-)
Sounds like you're having a great trip .. enjoy!
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