Now that I got the part of our trip to Salem out of the way that most arcade geeks are interested in, I’ll tell you a little bit about what else we did there.

Last year, we opted to stay there overnight so we wouldn’t have to drive up and back all in one day and could spend more time there. I started calling about 6 months before Halloween, and none of the places right in Salem had any rooms left! We ended up booking a room at a Day’s Inn in Danvers 6 months in advance.

We went to check in late at night, around 11PM. The lady looked up the reservation and said it was for the following weekend and that they had no rooms available. We came very close to having to just head home that night. After I got all up in her grill, she ended up giving us a room they normally don’t rent because it had no heat (and because it was probably a former murder scene).

After that fiasco, we decided to stay somewhere nicer. While there last year ,we stopped in at Hawthorne Hotel right in downtown Salem and booked our room for this year, for 2 nights.

Here’s the hallway to our room on the sixth floor…I was really itching to ride my big wheel down it but I didn’t pack it this year.

We discovered during a ghost tour that a guy jumped off the roof (above our room?) to his death. There have also been reports of a ghost in the bathroom in room 325. I bet he leaves the seat up.

The room we had was one of their regular rooms. While it was nice, it wasn’t anything spectacular and was $179/night. We got room service for breakfast and it was around $55 for 2 people. Between eating there at the restaurant one night, drinks, etc…it came to $609 for a 2 night stay. If you aren’t raking in the cash, I’d recommend staying somewhere a little cheaper like we are going to do next year.

One of our favorite restaurants is Salem Beer Works:

They make their own beer on the premises and the food is great. If you go, get the sour cream & chive fries. They kick serious ass. Seriously.

I think we’ve taken a ghost tour from everyone that gives them now. The best one in my opinion is the one we did this year. It is run by the people at the store “Remember Salem” on Essex st. Sadly, we didn’t catch any ghosts on film, so here is a consolation one.

We checked out all the stores, and the vendors setup outside on Essex street. Before we left Sunday, we had breakfast at Red’s:

You have to go early or you will be in for a long wait. They open at 6AM. The food was really good - fast, hot, and cheap (like my women).