Stacy: Day of the third!

NOTE: Again, we have horrible Wi-Fi at our hotel, so I had the foresight to Swype this whole thing on my phone. See how much I love you all??  Everyone else will contribute when they are next able. We will be in this hotel tomorrow night as well, but this is the last time we have reservations for this hotel chain for the duration of our adventure.

Today, we were able to take the day at a leisurely pace.  We "slept-in" until 9am, and took advantage of the hotel's free breakfast (we only booked hotels with free breakfast and Wi-Fi), and made our way to the House of Seven Gables.

I don't remember who lived there, etc, but it was a really neat, historically accurate, of house, originally built in the 1600s.  Everything in it was as close to the original ___ (fill in the blank--fireplace, "toaster," built-in alcohol cabinet) as could be.  Even the bed linens had a thread count accurate for an affluent master bedroom between 1600-1800.  The most exciting thing for me, though, was going up a real secret staircase!  It was probably no more than 30 inches in width, but it went directly from the first floor to the third.  The guide said one of the owners liked to act mysteriously and mischievously, quietly slinking between floors in order to startle people.

We then drove back to Salem, MA, so I could buy a Salem-specific trinket. All the stores were closed last night since the ghost tour started at 8pm.  We ended up walking around the area for a while longer, and it was really pleasant.  The drizzle burned off, and it warmed up.

Since we were later in leaving Salem, MA, than we had planned, we postponed America's Stonehenge.  They close at 4pm; we would have arrived too late.  We may be able to hit it in the way home, though.

So, we drove to Maine!  We geo-cached in each state we hit along the way.  I even found some wild raspberries near the New Hampshire Welcome Center cache.  They were tiny berries, but oh boy were they flavorful!!

Right after entering Maine, we stopped at York Beach, and saw the Nubble Light House.  I think light houses are just ok, but OH BOY was the cape the most beautiful I've ever seen!  Huge, granite rocks, strewn about by God from digging a hole on the other side of the world, with small, beautiful waves crashing over and around them.  Once again, we spent more time there than we originally anticipated, but it was well worth it.

Then, we drove down the street and had ice cream for dinner.  Yum!  We drove a little further and got to see how taffy is made.  Oh.  And then we had dinner.  ;o)

Last, but not least, we began to listen to the "Anne of Green Gables" audio book on our way to the hotel.  Now?  SLEEP.  All this traveling and walking around is quite tiring!  Plus, we have an early day tomorrow:  6am wake up for whale watching tour!