Salem

The thing about living on the East Coast is that all of these incredible cities are just a quick road trip away. So when Courtney and I were discussing our mutual love of Halloween back in September, it only made sense that we road trip it up to Salem, MA the weekend before Halloween.  It was so crazy driving up through New Jersey and seeing the Manhattan skyline.  The drive was stunningly beautiful, in the peak of New England fall. We drove through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and finally Massachusetts. Naturally, Katherine had to get in on the action so she flew into Boston where we picked her up on our way.

That big one in the middle is the new Freedom Tower

Salem only has about 3 hotels, all of which are small and get booked a year in advance so we found a room on Airbnb (my first time using it) and it was so great. Seriously, staying with Beth really made the trip. She gave us all the great tips on where to eat, where to park, local favorites, and even gave us homemade banana bread and pastries for breakfast every morning.  We stayed in Marblehead, which is about a ten minute drive from Salem, and it was stunningly beautiful. Everything was so charming and picturesque I felt like we were living in a movie set.

Friday night we had booked our Hocus Pocus tour of Salem. It was really great to get a history on the town and orient us to where all of the main attractions are in Salem like the old jail, the witch's gaol, Town Hall, the old burial hill, etc.  There were a lot of people out and about, dressed up in costume; this Gandalf and Frodo couple killed me as you can see I'm laughing in the picture.  Salem takes Halloween pretty seriously and even had a carnival set up.

Saturday was insane. There were people everywhere, dressed up in costumes, selling all kinds of random stuff, and the main square had so many fun little shops focused on magic and witchy-ness, I loved it. I even tried my first butterbeer in a completely HP-themed shop.

Sunday we walked through some gorgeous New England fall foliage woods to the historic part of Marblehead. You guys. The houses  mansions.... I can't. And the views of the ocean! It was all so gorgeous. We walked through another beautiful cemetery (where Max gets his shoes stolen by Ice) and then ate lunch at a local restaurant on the water.  That night we drove around and found Max and Danni's house (finally, it took a while), the old Pioneer village they used for the Sanderson sister's house, and saw such a gorgeous sunset on the cove, with the Boston skyline in the background.

On Monday morning we ate a big breakfast at the cutest little local place, that was an actual authentic diner car. I couldn't get over how cheap it was! Then we dropped Katherine off at the airport in Boston and made our way back to DC. We got so lucky and didn't hit any traffic.  It was such a fun trip and I can cross a few more things off my list!

Last Day

After a delicious brunch together, Lacey, Lisa and I made a quick trip over to the Capitol before metroing to the airport for their flight home. It was so much fun to see everyone, I can't remember the last time is was just the Wiseman girls together like that.  Sisters are the best!

Girls Trip - Day 3 and 4

On their third day in Washington, I took my mom and sisters to Georgetown to do a little shopping and, of course, make a little pit-stop at Georgetown Cupcake. Later that day we ventured over to Ford's Theater (which was closed), and then walked home past the FBI Building, The Old Post Office and all those lovely govt. buildings that line the mall. We ended the night at Shake Shack, where ironically, the shakes aren't actually very good. It's the burgers they are famous for.

On Saturday, we drove down to Mount Vernon. It was so wonderful as it is privately-owned and was still open during the ridiculous shutdown. (Although the dirty parks department tried to make them close down by barricading their parking lots--gotta love shady, no-good politicians--but the owners just moved them, telling the govt something along the lines of go fly a kite). Mount Vernon was incredibly crowded but so beautiful. We started by catching some lunch at the adorable little Inn that sits on the property. The food was delicious, so down-home farm fresh delicious.

Washington's estate sits on a hill overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The grounds are so beautiful and the home itself was really well preserved. I could have sat in the rocking chairs on the back porch for hours, the view is breathtaking. The women that own the estate even got a bill passed in Virginia that any homes on the other side of the river cannot be built above the treeline so that visitor's to the estate see the exact same view that Washington saw. It was a little sad to be there, at the home of easily our nation's greatest leader during a time when the leaders of this country are basically all despicable (across party lines).

On our way back from Mount Vernon we stopped at Iwa Jima (after a rude introduction to the lovely freeway and bridge system here). It was just starting to glow in the twilight. It's one of my favorite monuments.