My youngest sister is an alumni at Bentley University and during Halloween weekend, the college was having their annual homecoming and family day event. It just so happens that my older sister and I have always wanted to make a trip to Boston during the Halloween holiday. Why particularly for Halloween? Well, for one they are known for their historical witch trials. Most importantly for us, Salem is just a short drive from Boston, which is where our all time favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus was filmed! We decided to take full advantage of the college "family day excuse" and make it a fun one day get-a-way (with the terrible 2 year-old toddlers). We would spend all of Saturday visiting our baby sister's college campus and later that day touring all of Salem's famous landmarks.
As you may have already imagined, things didn't go exactly as planned much less as scheduled for us on that Saturday morning. Traveling with 2 year-olds is never an easy task, let alone a nearly 3-hour drive road trip! Due to multiple "natural delays" (car sick babies, my inability to hold my bladder like a normal human being, etc.) before we could exit NYC, we arrived to Bentley University 3 hours after the event had begun. Our little sister, unable to comprehend the daily mommy life struggles, welcomed us with a b&$%h face when we arrived. However, we did not let it ruin our plans for the day. We ignored her unappreciative comments and continued about our day. After all, we had already made the long trip and with everything we had gone through on the way there, my older sister, cousin, and I were determined to make the best of it!
The first couple of hours after our arrival consisted of, watching a few minutes of the football homecoming game which, I had no clue what was going on as I am not a fan of the sport much less understand the game at all. We met some of our sister's colleagues and she gave us a complete tour of the college campus. At this point, we were all STARVING. Yet, we noticed how enthusiastic and full of pride she was about showing us around the college so we reserved the urge to ditch her and go get some food.
This was now my 3rd time visiting the college but, it wasn't until this trip that I really noticed how privileged my sister was attending Bentley University. It honestly made my older sister, my cousin, and myself super jealous about her college experience as opposed to ours. I mean, this college had everything you could imagine a college could offer students. The classrooms literally reminded me of college classrooms I had only seen on television. Just seeing the OFFICE CHAIRS they had the luxury of sitting on in their classrooms, blew my mind. Everything in that school was legit state of the art. We just kept saying how different our college life would have been if we would have had all resources that students are given at Bentley University. After our jealousy rant, we honestly felt super proud of our little sister for all she has been able to achieve at her age. This May will be her official college graduation further qualifying her role as a model for her niece and nephew.
After the tour, our little sister seemed much more grateful and happy about us being there so, she took us to a Thai restaurant to get some dinner. Next, we needed some dessert so, she took us to her favorite place to get frozen yogurt in the area. Once we filled our bellies, we decided there was still enough time to visit Salem before we headed back home. We said our good byes to our little sister and quickly made our way towards Salem. On our way, my older sister and I turned into little 5 year olds at a candy store with the immense amount of excitement we felt to finally visit this town.
Our first stop once in Salem was, the Witch Museum. Fortunately for us, the kids had fallen asleep for the first time since our arrival at Boston! We made sure we took all precautions necessary to keep these mighty 2-year olds asleep so we adults could enjoy the few hours that was left of our day trip. Especially for my sister and myself, since this was the part of the trip we had been anticipating the most. Although, it was not exactly what any of us expected walking in, I really enjoyed the museum exhibit and show. It gave us a historical timeline in the form of a very unique and interesting show of what really occurred in the town of Salem during the time of the witch trials years ago. For me, historical truths can sometimes be more frightening than made up stories. I walked out of the museum with a totally different perspective of what witches truly symbolized.
After visiting the museum, we drove to the Ropes Mansion which was the infamous house of Allison in the movie, Hocus Pocus. This house is actually a museum today in which people can walk into for a tour. Unfortunately for us, it was already closed when we arrived. The night was freezing cold but that did not stop me from getting a picture in front of the mansion. I quickly ran out the car for a quick snapshot. Next and final stop was Danny and Max's house on Ocean Drive. It was surreal for both my sister and myself that we were actually in front of the house we had watched numerous of times from the television screen during our childhood. I was way too cold to get out the car for this one but, my sister did not hesitate to get at least one picture for the books! From the car, we could see other fans just like us making sure to get pictures in front of the house as well. We indulged the beautiful sight of the house and the waterfront view right across from it for a couple of minutes before we started on our drive back home to New York City.
On our way home all we could talk about was how beautiful the city of Boston is. As I mentioned earlier, this was not my first time visiting so I was a little more familiar with the beauties of the city. Even with the short amount of time that my older sister and cousin had spent in Boston, they were able to notice what a clean, organized, and friendly place it was compared to NYC. Stepping out of the crazy, busy, and most of the time overwhelming environment that is New York City just puts life and where you want to be in the future into perspective. It makes you realize that we have to cherish and nurture the love we have for each other as a family because that is what is ultimately important. My family and building memorable moments such as these, will always be of utmost value to me...
...Sew This is Life!
