Salem, MA - Local 4th

It’s the 4th of July and time for fireworks. We had thought about heading down to Boston to hear the Boston Pops and view the Boston fireworks. But then I read a list of hints: get there about 9:00 am for a good spot (and what in the world are Gary and I going to do all day sitting there in the sun waiting?), no backpacks, don’t drive your car. And the list went on and on. And every word said: ‘next time rent a room in a Boston hotel that faces the Esplanade.’

So, we decided to stay in Salem today and go to the local fireworks here.

The day was quite warm and, boy, was the park full. Every tenting spot had several tents at it, every RV spot was full and there were people having picnics, people boating and people swimming on the beach. I like the park and would camp here again even though we’re pretty crowded here but - and it’s a big but - there are only 2 showers and 2 stall for women and 2 for the men. Not even close to being enough. There must be 200 people here in the park and only the facilities I mentioned.

We watched a young boy helping his grandfather hitch up their 5th wheel. ‘Bring it back, back, back, nope, forward, 3” to the left, back, back, no, no, 1/2” now, forward, back, back, NO, go forward now, just a little, NO, not that way, stop a minute, forward, back, back.’ And, on it went. Finally the grandfather got out of the truck, lifted the trailer hitch, pushed it 5” to the left and put it on the truck.

All done.

During our daily walk, we walked out on a long spit of land that used to be a 1/2 mile Derby wharf along which were loads of warehouses to store all the goods brought into to be loaded on ships for trade. The warehouses were torn down long ago but the wharf remains and is a great walking path in Salem. We walked it several times and we always met many others on it.

The warehouses are long gone but the NPS has put up 6 or 7 cute little displays for kids to learn about the history of Salem. Here I am trying to make the signal for N without flags. Note how I have to look at the pictorial alphabet on the sign to get it right. I don’t have the flags to make the letter ’N’ but it’s just as valid this way with both arms at a 45 degree angle.

Another one was about how to furl a sail. Here’s the proper position to be in - and it all depends holding yourself upright between the rope at the your feet and the crossbar where you are furling the sail. This is not a comfortable position nor a secure one - and Gary’s standing on the ground, not 40’ in the air above a swaying ship.

On the way back to the RV, we tried to get in line for the fried dough that they were selling tonight but, no go. Oh, shucks.

We were just sitting in our RV peacefully when we heard a loud thump. Some guy had been flying a remote control plane with a 6’ wingspan when he lost control and it ran into our Jeep - but, luckily, only the tire. When Gary mentioned that he might want to fly his plane in a less congested area, the guy excused his action with a flippant, ‘I’ve got insurance.’ But, what it he hit a kid? Funny - Gary got hit with a Frisbee when we were in the picnic area in Concord the next day.)

Gary worked on the blog and its connectivity problems. I’ve been having problems getting my blog online. I write the blog in one software program and it then goes to Google and their picture software. Lots of different processes involved. They Google changes something and the software programmer for my writing program has to change. But, finally we bought an upgrade to my software, Gary contacted the programmer and we got a new ‘Beta’ version which works. But, my dear husband has spent loads of time on this problem - as if he doesn’t have enough to do on his own.

Lots of nice walks around this place, through Salem, the park itself and down a point near us called the Willows. All next to the water with views of sailboats, power boats and waves on the rocks. My kind of place.

We got to the fireworks, the orchestra was playing, the crowds were gathering and, hey, look, they got a new conductor. And, while they were going we could look across the bay and see two other towns setting theirs off. Pretty cool.

The fireworks were good and they just didn’t know how to quit.

Quite a crowd walking back to their cars but all were happy and excited about the night. The ice cream store on the way back had lines a block long.