New England's Halloween

This is the time of year that I miss New England the most. Mostly because of the events that occur in the month of October.


Every year, Life is Good hosts this HUGE pumpkin festival in the Boston Common. All day long, people bring or buy pumpkins and carve them in the Common, attempting to break the World's Record for the most carved pumpkins. They line the sidewalks throughout the park for blocks. And then they have this huge scaffolding tower several stories high with levels of jackolanterns. By night time, walking through the Common, looking at all the different kinds of carvings is so much fun. Its gorgeous.

My other favorite part of New England fall's is the annual trip to Salem, MA. For those of you that learned nothing in late elementary, Salem is the home of all of the Witch Trials several centuries ago. Hangings, burnings, all that jazz. So naturally, come Halloween time, the cuckoos come out to play. Every year we took the commuter rail out to this home of darkness. Street vendors line the side walks with crazy Salem paraphanelia, yummy warm food to keep out the cold, and just generally crazy people who think Salem will be the center of the next big religious movement. There is a carnival of haunted houses and magical stuff, and tons of museums dedicated to the historic era of Salem. Most of the museums are actually quite fascinating, and worth hitting up once a year. Tim's favorite was that the Pirate Museum was also located in Salem, and therefore, for the 45 minute tour, its ok to say "ARG!" every thirty seconds.

But the BEST part of Salem was that we always timed it that we would go on the day of the Pet Costume Contest in the Salem Park. Its always held late October, early in the morning, and its the cutest thing ever. I wish Cedar Falls could pull one off. Mostly dogs, a few cats, come out, decorated from head to paw in a costume. Some were weak with bandannas or just a doggy coat. But the Mastiff pulling a red wagon with fuzzy feet like he was Budweiser Clydesdale was always classic. Pirate doggies, little pups dressed like Wizard of Oz characters, Hoover vacuum dogs. The list was never ending what these people came up to dress their pets as. So for that hour, sitting on the frozen ground of Salem, with maybe 50 other psycho pet lovers, I got my animal love in for the year.




I miss it. Fall sea air is just different. *sigh*