Road Trip -- Part II

Continued from Part I

In the morning, I ate the couscous.  The night before, there had been so much to eat that I didn't try any couscous.  As I said in my previous post, it was amazing.  Then Jason, Mike, and I went to a diner for breakfast.  Good thing I was already full from couscous because there was nothing vegan there.  Diners generally aren't vegan-friendly.

Mike showed us a few more places, including a gift shop.  We heard our first Boston accent of the trip from one of the storekeepers.  Jason bought something for his mom.

Then, we went back to the house, said our goodbyes, and punched Boston into the GPS.  Jason noted, "It says that Salem is only 40 minutes away.  Wanna go?"
"Yeah!  That sounds fun!"
So to Salem we went.

Our first stop in Salem was at The Salem Witch Museum.  We didn't have much time (Jake wanted to be picked up in about an hour) and it cost money, which we had little of, so we just poked around the gift shop.  I thought having a gift shop in a museum such as this was tasteless.  Like, "A bunch of innocent people got killed here years ago.  Here, buy a $9 plastic spider pin."  At first glance, all of the gift shop items were tacky as the spider pin I first laid eyes on and I was fine with leaving after a few minutes.

Jason and I crossed the street to look at the park.  I tried to do cartwheels in the grass.  I remember doing cartwheels when I was little.  Apparently, I can't do them anymore.  I can't get/stay vertical enough.  I end up just going halfway up and then more or less, sitting down.  I think I may have put my hand in very old animal poo during one attempt.  I tried to wipe it on Jason but he ran away.  No, he didn't actually ran away.  I think he threatened to punch me in the face though.  

After the park, we went into a free museum that was just about the general history of Salem.  About how the town started, what kind of trading happened there, and there was a little information about the witch trials.

The last thing we did before leaving Salem was walk through a mall that had a Psychic Festival going on.  We walked through and observed people getting the fortunes read with cards and palms.  It was interesting.  Next, we walked through a small movie theater in the mall.  I think it's neat to see movie theaters in other places because we get so use to going to the same ones here.  It's cool to see what theaters other people visit.

 

Once back in the car, we punched Boston into the GPS again, and went to pick up our friend.  We picked up Jake and soon parked the car on a bridge.  We walked around a harbor, read informative plagues about Boston's history, and parroted lines from Boston-centric movies.




By 3 o'clock, we were hungry.  We ate at TGI-Fridays-type place and went home.

The drive back was uneventful until we got serious about the jams.  Jake and Jason surprised and impressed me with the knowledge of heavy, gangster rap.  It was something to hear some of the whitest people I know, know every word of a serious rap album.  After feeling their fill of rap, they gave me the iPod and I put on Weezer.  We rocked out.  And soon, we were home.   

Road Trip -- Part I

This past weekend, my roommates and my unofficial (he's been crashing with us for awhile) roommate, went on a road trip to Boston.  I've never been to Boston as an adult so I was excited for the adventure.

This road trip was inspired by my unofficial roommate's need to go home.  He's been living in Philly for about 5 years while going to school at University of the Arts and after graduating, he got a job at a local supermarket where we met as co-workers.  Soon Mike decided it was time to go home to recharge and save for coming traveling adventures.

Boo!

We left around 11am the trip started slow, but it really picked up when we found a new way to annoy my roommate, Jason.  Every year, my roommates Jake and Jason, among other friends, go to the 24-Hour Horror Movie Marathon in the city.  But Jason had told me a few nights before that he couldn't go because his mom had made other plans for him.

In the car, I asked Jake, "Did Jason tell you he can't go to the Horror-Thon this year?"
"What?! No! Why not?" he asked Jason who was sitting next to him driving.
Sitting behind him I answered, "Because his mom made other plans for him!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Do you wanna know what plans she made?" I laughed.
"What?"
"Filming her High School Reunion!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahaha!" I said, "Let's all laugh at Jason!"
Jason just sat there driving stoically and what started as joking, forced laughter turned into real, tear-wiping laughter, and the trip felt worthwhile.  Poor Jason.  We never give him a break.

If you ask Map Quest or Google how long it takes you to get from Philly to Boston it will tell you about 6 hours.  In reality, it's more like 8 hours.  And the drive is pretty monotonous.  Still, we did our best to make things interesting.  As the trip progressed, there were tunes.  There was sleeping.  Not that much talking.  We all brought snacks so there was eating.  There were gas stops and bathroom stops.   

At one gas stop, Jason went into the store front to use the bathroom and we drove away and parked across the street.  That was hilarious!  Unless you ask Jason.  He'd probably say it was predictable.

Hours later, we dropped Jake off at a small town close to Boston and then we drove to a smaller town farther from Boston where Mike lived.  On the way, Jason asked if Mike would want to go out to eat with us when we got there and Mike said, "No, my mom's making dinner for you guys."
"Awesome." Jason said.

Quietly, I dreaded the awkwardness of eating at a kind hostess' house and having to ask questions and turn things down.  I'm vegan and that can make social gatherings uncomfortable at times (though I know the animals have it much worse than occasionally uncomfortable).  Before I could worry anymore Mike said, "Don't worry, Amy.  I told her you are vegan."
"Oh, that's nice!" I replied but I don't think any words could have conveyed how much I really appreciated the thoughtfulness.

As we got closer the our final destination, Mike started saying how familiar everything looked and it was profound thinking about the life-stage that was taking place.  Over the past five years, Mike hadn't spent much time at all where he grew up for 18-years, and now he was moving back.  Scituate, Massachusetts is much different from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We finally pulled into a long, bending driveway and the word I would use to describe it is ominous.  It was dark.  The driveway was heavily wooded and there was no sight of a house.  Moments later, the house was there and it was like something out of a Better Homes Magazine rather than something out of a horror movie.  From the house, there was lots of barking.

Something like this only nicer.

We followed Mike into his house and there were four or five dogs, all different sizes and breeds and all different barks.  We met Mike's mom and were let into the kitchen where there were lots of snacks and the beginnings of a dinner.  Mike's mom soon started showing me the food she had gotten especially for me.  Carrots from her local farmers' market that had purple skins.  She got hummus that was a brand and flavor I had never gotten to try before.  She made me couscous salad (which in my years and years of couscous-eating, this was the best I ever had!  And I've never eating a bowl of couscous that I didn't think was delicious!) She also prepared falafels for me.  AND the family had a pizza oven on their porch and the bread consisted of pita bread (vegan!) so I had all this stuff to eat!  The family even got me vegan ice cream.  How nice is that?

As finishing touches were being put on dinner, we were introduced to Mike dad, brother, and other friends and one of the dogs got very friendly with Jason.  That is to say, the smallest dog would not stop humping Jason's arm.  During the act, the dog wore the silliest, most blissful expression on his face.  Everyone laughed of course, and Jason was a sport about it.

Dinner was amazing!  Dessert was a welcome surprise too.  Afterwards, Mike showed us his cat he had talked a lot about.  A beautiful stray cat he had taken in while he was living in the city but had to send home about three months ago when his lease was up in Philly.  The cat was a bit put off at his long-lost buddy suddenly reappearing but hopefully, he's gotten over it by now.

Originally, Jason and I had planned on driving to Boston and then driving back to Mike's to sleep.  Since Boston was an hour away, we decided to hang out with Mike for the night and go to the big city tomorrow.  So Mike drove us around.  We saw the country's oldest lighthouse.  We saw the beach.  I threw some sand at Jason.  Mike drove around on the really cool looking roads and we blasted and belted to music.  I searched the radio for some QUEEN tunes to go along with the QUEEN shirt I was wearing until my wish was granted with "Under Pressure".  I do love that song.  I never would have guessed that my meeting Mike last November would have gotten us to the friendship level of singing-our-heads-off-to-the-radio.  Life is full of surprises.

Lighthouse erected in 1811.  Haha...Erected. 

About an hour later, we headed back to the house.  We went to bed with the plan to get up early enough to look around the town more in daylight before making our way to Boston.

Art by Lawrence Yang

Read on to Part II. Or not.  Whatever you wanna do...