Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Salem, Massachusetts

My purpose for going to Salem from Sept. 10 to 12 was to meet up with two ladies I have enjoyed corresponding with online, Sharon and Rhonda. During this visit I also added to my friends, Sharon's friend Margaret.

Margaret owns her own Armageddon vehicle that is ready to go off road and stay for quite sometime.  She is considering full timing but whether she does are not, I do hope to meet her again.



I met Rhonda, , at Coveted Yarns in Gloucester, MA. This is truly a wonderful yarn store.  I forgot that Rhonda said it was a yarn tasting and this place knows how to host one.  There was a piano player in one corner playing the most beautiful music:

and of course food this was set out in different locations in the store.
Yummy!!!!!!

The yarn tasting was of Cascade Yarns.  
There was needles and scissors so you could try the different yarns that were displayed so beautifully.

The other highlight was meeting a marvelous lady who's card I have misplaced but will add her name as soon as I locate it.  She was making shawl pins for free.  She even made my friend Collin a cocoa stirrer which I have just mailed off to him. She had said that she would only do what I was doing if she had a cute young man with her.  I told her that I did for about two weeks and showed her his picture.  She totally agreed with me and then made the stirrer and asked me to give it to him.  I  also received an absolutely lovely shawl pin that I will cherish.

I was able to spend each day in Salem with Sharon. Upon my arrival, we went out for pizza and I got to see her lovely home that she just sold to hit the open road herself in November.  The highlight was that she took me on a private tour of the only tall ship that still sails, The Friendship. Sharon is a crew member and actually climbed the mast.  Go Sharon!
File:Friendship of Salem - Salem, Massachusetts.JPG

I felt like a celebrity walking around the beautiful ship and learning about all the features with my own very knowledgeable guide. "Friendship" is a 171 foot replica of the ship East Indiaman. The ship is fully functional and is run by the National Park Service.  The ship is operated by a volunteer crew and a park ranger. The ship is stunning however down below really impressed me.

On the tour, Sharon took me below to explain the working of the ship and I got to see her bunk and was amazed at the lack of privacy but in those days, having a clean bunk after working so hard would have been a luxury.
 

 She also showed me the navigation equipment. Sailors would throw the chip log (the wedge looking thing) wood panel in the water behind the ship which was tied to a rope with knots of equal distance, and the rope would start unwinding from the reel.  The faster the ship moved forward, the faster the rope would unwind.  By counting the number of knots that went overboard in a given time, measured by an hour glass, they could tell the ships speed.

This cannon was non operative and was for show to scare away pirates.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not.

Sharon showing me around the ship.

The campground that I stayed at was located in Winter Island Park which was really just a parking at a small park. It was expensive since you did not get full hookup but the the view was very pretty.  This is the view from my bedroom window the first morning. Yes it was foggy but still very lovely.

Once the day wore on I did take a picture of Miss Kitty in her spot.
  

I did not do any sightseeing except for taking ] the trolley which stops at the campground so I hopped on and did the hour tour but did not get off.  You can get off and on all day if you wanted to.


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