Salem Bound Day 5, Salem Trio, No Donuts for You!
Today we had to work around the forecast. By work around, I mean we had to stay out of the rain which nature had planned to be happening most of the day.
Today’s morning walk was going to be shorter given the rainy and stormy forecast. Other motivation was we were going to try a different bakery. Ziggy and Sons Donuts. A round trip to Ziggy’s was a few km shorter than to the bakery I frequented yesterday. Rain was supposed to begin between 40 minutes and one hour of my departure time. 4km fits nicely under 40 minutes. Oh no! Ziggy and Sons Donuts is not selling donuts. The proprietor that was there told me her brother got the COVID some months ago and he was still not right. His hands aren’t working and he is the one that makes the donuts. Ziggy’s reminded me of a restaurant we went to in Arizona back in 2010. It was in a small town near the petrified forest. There were cobwebs and clutter and it just wasn’t clean. Ziggy’s is a bit like a hoarder’s shack, with baked goods. Upon learning of the donut disappointment, I had a decision to make. Risk the extra 20 minutes or so of walking and getting caught out in a storm without any rain gear or, try the other baked goods they have at Ziggy’s. I chose the latter and selected some baked items. Quality was acceptable, but overall not at all worth it. Tomorrow I shall redeem myself and hit the better bakeries further away.
After the walk I hit the shower. I think I should have a basic rating system like Captain Q, Yacht Hunter. If the shower has warm water, it get’s a one. The showers here get a solid 1. They had warm water. That’s about it. There is the sin of having a common drain shared between the two stalls. Only a flimsy shower curtain between your beauty and basically the rest of the world. What was there was somewhat clean. A solid 1.
Since it was raining heavily, we pretty much stayed cocooned in the van all morning. “We” then hatched a plan to do a bit of shopping. I awoke from my nap at the first stop and we decided to drive by the John Proctor house. John Proctor was one of the unfortunate people hanged as a witch. John Proctor is a second cousin many times removed of Mrs Milddogs. Ann Pudeator (also hung as a witch) was one of Mrs Milddogs grandparents many generations ago. The John Proctor house is a private residence so you can’t tour it. We took some pictures as we drove by.
After the drive by, we headed over to the Mega Mall nearish to Salem. We walked the halls and stopped at a few shops. We stopped at the Lego store in the mall to have a look. There was a couple taking out each “mystery pack” and squeezing them like they were palpating for a tumour. I asked the friendly store employee why this couple (mid 40’s, I’d guess) were palpating the packages and he told me they try to identify the pieces to see if they already have that mystery pack. Apparently this is a common thing. After the first couple finished, another couple stepped right in and started fondling the lego bags. It must be a great date “let’s go fondle the Lego”. Since we are discussing Lego, there is no plural of Lego. There can be many Lego pieces, a lot of Lego, 14 pieces of Lego, myriad Lego pieces, but never, ever should there be an “s” on the end to pluralize Lego. It’s kind of like putting a “s” on the end of “you” to pluralize it.
The mall has a Cheesecake Factory so we picked up some early dinner to go. Yes, I will have Chicken Caesar Salad for the next few days. It’s good.
Back at the campsite we waited out the rain. Forecast said it should stop around 1730 and it did. We threw on some warmer outdoor wear and headed for the other beach about a kilometre from here. It was neat to go over to the other side of this cove that we are near.
Alas, not all evening strolls go as planned. Literally seconds after warning Mrs Milddogs that the rocks we were walking on would be very slippery, down I went. No real warning. Just fall down, go boom. No major injuries so we continued on. I did have an Advil for my bedtime snack.
At the end of our walk we got some pictures of the sunset from the campground we are staying in.
There are so many Volvos (yes, you can pluralize Volvo, and you should) in New England. Dendog would have loved it here. I can hear his voice in my head telling me about all of the industry leading safety features in each model and how the engine programming in that model year was better because…
Tomorrow we head to Vermont to stay near Stowe. We will depart by way of the wastewater treatment plant which serves as the dump station for this campground. Another adventure awaits! Looks like the cell phone coverage will be sketchy up in Vermont so I’m unsure if I can post anything tomorrow.
And with that, we bid you good evening.
