My Salem Happenings

My beautiful Salem, Goodbye……

So, it’s today. Sunday, I have to leave. I pack and go down and check out. Stupid me, I think they will put it on my American Express. I told them to do that. I don’t worry about it. I don’t give it another thought. There’s my ride. Goodbye Salem. I’ll see you next time. I did have a couple of good days, well, minus all the bullshit. That’s funny now that I think of it. I flew all the way up here only to have a run-in with an incredible asshole and to watch Hocus Pocus, a movie that I’ve seen over a 100 times. I did have popcorn though. It’s all good. Fly all the way to Salem for a movie and popcorn. Ok, I’ll stop.

I jump into my ride and he says we got to pick up another fare. That’s cool. This lady lives in the weirdest neighborhood. It looks like they cut a big hole in a huge rock and they built houses down in there, down in the hole. I guess they’ll be safe in there away from Frankenstorm …. unless it fills with water. The lady gets in and never utters a single word. Yankee.

We get to the airport and OMG, look at all those people in line at United! Looks like everyone had the same idea as me. Oh well, here I go. I get in line. I’m patient. I resign myself. I wait well. Actually it’s kind of interesting to watch people. They are mad, scared and a few are trying to buck the system by bellying up to the self-serve computers. They’re not working so they HAVE TO GET IN LINE. Why do they think they are different from those of us in line? Why do they think they can just saunter up to a computer and do what we are all standing in line to do? Well, they try, turn and alas, get at the end of the line (dumb shits).

So here we are. Not a lot to say. Just waiting our turn, thinking about Frankenstorm. Looking at the rain outside. It really looks like it’s already started out there. Wet, cold, love it. Everyone is strangely silent. Yankees! And finally, my turn. The lady is very nice to me as she says, “We are closing the airport until Thursday so there will be no flights in or out until then. Do you have anywhere to stay?” Well, she took the wind right out of my sails. I don’t know whether to be disappointed or filled with joy. I tell her yes, I have a creepy hotel to stay in over in Salem. So she schedules me a flight out on Thursday afternoon. Ok, thank you. I have to sit down and process this. Do I want to go back to the Doom and Gloom Hotel with Sir Tight Ass or do I just bop on over to the Hawthorne Hotel because I’m not mad at them anymore? I need coffee and a cinnamon roll. That’s the ticket! I sit and ponder the mess I’m in now. There’s a lot of people over here that had the same idea. I sip my coffee and get my computer booted up. I bite into my cinnamon roll and promptly spit it out. Shit, airport food. I know better! I just don’t know why I bother! I’m a bit undecided here, having some difficulty taking the next step. I look around and I don’t relish the idea of staying in this airport for 4 days so I’ve got to do something. I’m wondering how the airport would weather a hurricane and I assume it would do just fine. And then there’s me. Crap. I call Jason to tell him I’m stranded. Oh my gawd, he comes completely unglued. He sure is mad at me now. I mean MAD! Now he can’t help me and he says just that. So he asks me what I’m going to do now and I guess I didn’t answer him correctly because he went off again! He’s saying stuff like why haven’t I done anything yet and what is wrong with me? Can’t I do anything like I’m supposed to, like take the first step here to help myself? And it’s all my fault because yes, now I’m officially stranded. I tell him to quit worrying so much. I can take care of myself. I raised you by myself didn’t I? He’s not impressed and says that I am not to be trusted …. ever! I promise to call him when I get to the hotel.

While I linger a bit longer (I know exactly what I’m going to do), I get in a conversation with the lady next to me. They are 2 elderly ladies, more elderly than I, and they are having trouble because one of them has Alzheimer’s and she’s gone to the restroom and hasn’t come back although it’s been quite a long time ago. The lady I’m talking to fears her friend has gotten lost but fails to go look for her. Oh Lord, and I thought I had problems.

And now, I suddenly realize that I have to go back to the Doom and Gloom Hotel. They have all my credit cards tied up. If I try to check in at the Hawthorne, the cards will be declined. Another fine mess. So I don’t want to but I call them and ask them if I can come back and the lady says sure, she remembers me and they have plenty of rooms! Thank God. Now I’ve got to get a cab back to Salem!

Damn, it’s really raining cats and dogs out there (hee)! I jump in the cab and me and the driver really hit it off. We talk a mile a minute the whole time. Turns out he’s some sort of research scientist that is working at trying to cure breast cancer. Dang! He says he holds down 3 jobs. He has a family and a couple of kids but he doesn’t see them much. He’s an over-achiever and does the best he can for his family. Nice guy, I like him very much. We talk so much that we pass up the hotel and have to turn around and go back. We say goodbye and wish each other well. Shit, I almost hugged him. Not appropriate!

I struggle in with my bags and tell them to keep the room on my same card and give me a room higher up than the one before. Now I can see the water better in the harbor. Look at all those white-caps breaking over there already!

Now if the truth be known, I am OVERJOYED to be stranded in Salem! What a wonderful turn of events for me! I feel safe here. I’m sure this building has weathered many storms and I can’t think of a better place to be stranded! I can’t leave Salem! Oh how I love that! I tune in the Weather Channel once again and it’s looking sort of creepy and unpredictable. Maybe I am a bit nervous. I sit down and send a text to my best friend, Dash Beardsley. Yup, that’s the Ghostman of Galveston for all you kindred spirits such as we. And, of course, I include his lovely girlfriend, Tamara. She’s a bit skeptical about the ghost thing. She definitely is a lot less crazy than we are what with all the spirits Dash and I see and speak to. And I, of course, have been known to take a pretty convincing ghost photo or two, as has Jason. And I have had orbs follow me around at Dash’s ghost hunts at Ashton Villa in Galveston. All just in a day’s work as they say. I’ll have to add some of my ghostly lore here in my blog. Maybe even interview the Ghostman when the season is upon us. Yes, we do have such fun! Are you scared of ghosts? Well, we the hell are not!

Dash Stirring Up the Dead

My I do get off topic, don’t I?! Well, it’s my blog so you can just suck it up! Anyway, I text Dash and Tamara and go on to explain how the hurricane is going in below us with a winter storm coming in from the left of us. A Nor’easter as it’s called up here or the Perfect Storm. I always wanted to be in a Nor’easter, dumb shit that I am. Hmmmmm, maybe not such a good idea to be so forthcoming with Dash. He’s concerned. Gotta love him. Between Jason and Dash, I’m feeling pretty cared for at the moment. Dash wants to know if I’m safe and how am I money-wise. Bless him for being such a good and thoughtful friend.

I now call Jason and he’s resigned to my plight. He tells me NOT to leave the hotel and I say, ok, I promise. I hang up the phone and promptly go out and have dinner at the Hawthorne Hotel. Great food, warm cozy place and I snap a few photos of their pumpkins. I linger and have a couple of cocktails at the bar. This is a lovely, old hotel. When it storms and you are here in the Hawthorne, the wind whistles through the ancient eaves of the windows. With its old Victorian design and stormy sounds, well, I could not feel more at home and happy. The hotel is decked out in its Halloween trappings making the visuals perfectly complete. I am one happy girl at this juncture but try though as I may, I can’t seem to find one single orange feather here. Since my first trip here and my experiences in the hotel, well, I will always look for orange feathers at the Hawthorne Hotel. I liken it to looking for beads in New Orleans! Oh yes! For those of you who do not remember or have neglected your duty to read this blog backwards and forwards, the Hawthorne Hotel IS haunted. Yup, I had an experience right here in this wonderful hotel!

Oh my gawd, how I do run on! I almost forgot, it’s the beginning of Halloween week but first we’ve got to weather this storm. Frankenstorm!