From Ipswich Charm to Salem Spooks: A Halloween Journey

Falling in Love with Ipswich & Salem: East Coast Road Trip

Welcome to the latest episode of the We Should Move Here travels podcast! Join hosts Brittany and Josh as they share their delightful experiences from their recent road trip to Massachusetts. Listen in as they recount their adventures in the charming small town of Ipswich and the historically rich Salem. With stays at a cozy B&B, delicious local cuisine, playful road trip games, a variety of haunted attractions, and touching the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, this episode is packed with personal anecdotes and travel tips. They also discuss the educational reputation of Massachusetts and its welcoming vibe. Don't miss out on their epic laughter-filled moment at 'Circle Q' and the memorable visits to local eateries, breweries, and interactive tours. Stay tuned till the end to hear about the ongoing vote for their next travel destination between Ireland and Finland! 

Vote for our February trip: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5ZL5NDW

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast

00:43 Falling in Love with Ipswich

01:46 The Start of Our East Coast Road Trip

07:03 Exploring Salem Before Halloween

09:25 Halloween in Salem

17:40 Dining and Drinking in Salem

29:24 Reflections on Ipswich

32:02 Exploring Ipswich: Crane Beach and Friendly Locals

33:31 Touring the Crane Estate: A Step Back in Time

36:28 River Walk and Historic Bridges

37:21 Russell Orchards and 1634 Meadery

39:48 Sunset at Rockport: A Scenic Drive

41:30 Ipswich's Welcoming Vibe and Progressive Community

48:20 Culinary Adventures in Ipswich

56:39 Yoga and Reflections on the Trip

01:03:36 Final Thoughts and Future Plan

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm Josh

brit 0:18

and we are your hosts. Today we are gonna be talking about Massachusetts. We recently took a trip there and it was incredible.

josh 0:29

It was amazing. Yeah, absolutely loved it. First time really dedicating some. Extended time on the East Coast for us. We've been over there before, but for this podcast,

brit 0:40

yeah.

josh 0:41

Yeah,

brit 0:41

it was really nice. I didn't expect to absolutely fall in love with the small town that we stayed in. Mm-hmm. Which was Ipswich. Mm-hmm. Massachusetts. And it was such a cute little town. it was honestly Gilmore girls vibes. A hundred percent. And it was beautiful. And it was a small town and it just felt like, I mean, I got the feeling there. I did.

josh 1:08

You did?

brit 1:09

I did.

josh 1:10

Oh boy. Mm-hmm. I don't know if it's

brit 1:12

gonna crack my top three, because it's still in the US and I'm like fighting with myself about that.

josh 1:18

Right.

brit 1:18

But I, I love it.

josh 1:20

Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I thought it was amazing as well. Like you said, very Gilmore girl vibes and we just had so many things. Fall right for us there. Mm-hmm. Like we stayed at a great B&B just happened to pick this town out of all the towns. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I just loved it. It was great.

brit 1:42

Me too. It was very expensive.

josh 1:46

Oh my gosh.

brit 1:46

And we'll talk about that throughout the next couple episodes because this was the start of our East coast trip. Mm-hmm. Um, so we went from Massachusetts to Maine and then to Vermont. So you can imagine that this was quite an expensive trip for us. Yeah. Because it's very expensive over there. plus we got like lobster and, we'd had to try all the things

josh 2:09

Right. Yeah, absolutely. Had to, and like you said, yeah. Was very expensive. But so worth it. Mm-hmm. So worth it. Mm-hmm.

brit 2:17

Agreed.

josh 2:18

Glad we did everything we did.

brit 2:19

Yeah. And Massachusetts, if I remember correctly, has the number one education system in America? Uh,

josh 2:27

I believe so. Yeah. I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure it does. Yeah. It has the best ranked education from top to bottom.

brit 2:34

Yeah.

josh 2:35

As far as like elementary or pre pre-K. Through college, so

brit 2:39

That's amazing. I love that for them.

josh 2:41

Mm-hmm.

brit 2:42

Where do you wanna start?

josh 2:44

Well, so we did this trip as a road trip.

brit 2:48

Yeah.

josh 2:48

And we love road trips, coming from where we are and getting to Massachusetts was about 18 hours of driving time. Mm-hmm. We stayed overnight in Syracuse, um, New York on the way there, which someone mispronounced as Sarah

brit 3:08

Cruz. I was tired. We were also playing the A BC game.

josh 3:18

We were. This is, um, a great part of this story. We were playing the A BC game, which if you don't know, when you're driving, you try to get from A to Z by pointing out a letter on a license plate or a sign.

brit 3:35

It has to be outside. It can't be in the car.

josh 3:37

Correct, yeah. Anywhere where you're driving. And so we get to q I'm like, oh, we just need a Quality Inn to pop up. Or a, a quick stop QuickTrip, something like that. Spelled with a Q and Britt's. Like, oh, we just gotta wait for a Circle Q.

brit 3:56

Okay. I was tired again.

josh 3:59

Why you mean a circle K. She was very convinced it was Circle Q and then within like 10 minutes we passed a circle K.

brit 4:09

And he is like, oh look, it's Circle Q.

josh 4:12

So that was a running joke throughout the trip was every time we saw a circle K like, oh, circle

brit 4:16

QI love a good running joke throughout a trip. Yeah. That's one of my favorite things. I love it so much. Mm-hmm. Because you can always come back to it and laugh about it throughout the trip and it's just, it's so fun.

josh 4:28

We had a couple of those, so yeah, that one was pretty good.

brit 4:31

Yeah.

josh 4:32

But yeah, so we did the road trip Stayed overnight in Sarah Cruz, also known as Syracuse, New York. And then woke up, got by midday, got to Ipswich and. We stayed in our first ever B&B A, true. B&B not Airbnb. A B&B And I believe it's pronounced Kade. I could be pronouncing that wrong, But it is a, mom and pop run place, and they run it with their daughter and they were just the nicest people during our stay. And this place was some place that when we initially booked it, we were a little skeptical being our first B&B we've ever stayed in.

brit 5:18

Yeah.

josh 5:19

But it was amazing. Yeah. And definitely like a different experience from a hotel or Airbnb, but it was great. Like we had a nice sized room, private bathroom in our room tv. They did serve breakfast each day you were there and that was delicious. We had breakfast there our last two or three mornings.

brit 5:40

Yeah. They served a traditional Japanese breakfast. Mm-hmm.

josh 5:43

Yeah.

brit 5:43

Uh, which had like a lot of veggies and just a great way to start your day. Mm-hmm. It was delicious. And then they also had a french toast. That was really good. Yeah. And pancakes. Yeah. That were amazing.

josh 5:54

Yeah. They were all delicious. Loved it. We didn't have that until our last two or three days there. And then after we did, we're like, oh man, we should have been having this earlier. But yeah. But for this podcast we always try to, you know, we try to spread the love, get some different places in there. So, yeah. But was was just amazing. So Kade and Ipswich, and it was such a great location too.

brit 6:16

It was right in the center mm-hmm. Of Ipswich. It was on the top of a hill. Which was also a running joke while we were there because we were like, oh God, we have to go to the top of this hill again while we're walking around. Right. But it was good. It, yeah. Yeah. It was good to get some movement in.

josh 6:34

No, absolutely. And we spent most of the time walking again, as we usually do, and like you said, right in the center of town. In the mornings, we were able to walk out and walk down the little hill to a local coffee shop, local bakery, the train station or the train platform. Mm-hmm. I should say.'cause it wasn't a station, but was, that was only like a eight, 10 minute walk away. And we took that to and from Salem twice. And we actually, that's what we did our first day, first full day.

brit 7:06

Mm-hmm.

josh 7:07

Was go to Salem,

brit 7:08

which was so fun. It

josh 7:10

was fun.

brit 7:11

We had a blast that day. Mm-hmm. It was two days before Halloween. Mm-hmm. And it was during a weekday, so I think it was like a Wednesday. Yep. I'm pretty sure it was a Wednesday. Yeah. Yeah. And we got so much done there, like we explored everything that we wanted to basically. Mm-hmm. Except for the witch house, which we actually did get tickets for on Halloween.

josh 7:32

That was crazy. cause I remembered we had it on our like podcast calendar. Mm-hmm. Like wake up at 8:00 AM and book these.

brit 7:42

Mm-hmm.

josh 7:43

And at like 8 0 4, I was like, oh, we need to book those. And you're like, yeah, go on there. 8 0 6, sold out for the day. Sold

brit 7:49

out. Yeah. Just crazy. Yeah. So then on Halloween we were like, we have to be on top of this if we wanna go to the witch house. Mm-hmm. Like, I am gonna go so freaking fast with this. And we did. We got in at the time that we wanted, but it was sold out within four minutes.

josh 8:06

It was like Taylor Swift eras tour tickets. You just said that you and me were both there. Like refresh, refresh, refresh as soon as it popped up. Yeah. And even that one too, as soon as we bought it, I went back in refreshed and they were sold out within five minutes and it was,

brit 8:22

yeah, I definitely would recommend that. Museum because it was, it was really cool to see all of the different, items around the house. Mm-hmm. And it was a house owned by the judge, or one of the judges in the Salem witch trials. Right. So it's, I think one of the only houses that is still standing to this day from the Salem Witch trials that was owned by the people that were involved.

josh 8:51

Yeah. Something like that. Yeah.

brit 8:53

Yeah.

josh 8:53

It was a self-guided, at least on the days we were there. I don't know, off season, maybe they do a guided mm-hmm. Tour through a house. But we went in, they gave us like a five minute spiel, basically. Don't touch anything. Yeah. And then we were left to our own walking around. Reading little plaques about stuff that they had found around the area or in the house, and, um, just a little history about it. But yeah, it was super cool. Yeah.

brit 9:18

Yeah, it definitely had some like spooky heavy energy mm-hmm. As well.

josh 9:25

So, But that was on Halloween, so on the weekday that we went,

brit 9:30

yeah,

josh 9:31

it was, I wouldn't say quiet, but it was definitely. Mellow. Mm-hmm. We were not crammed in any places we could get into anywhere we wanted to go minus the witch house. And yeah.

brit 9:45

I mean, we did have black craft coffee. Mm-hmm. We had, um,

josh 9:49

that we did book ahead of time though. We did.

brit 9:51

Yes. Mm-hmm. So if you want to do black craft coffee, you have to book it beforehand. Mm-hmm. Because it will fill up, especially in October and I think even in September as well. Yeah. Yeah.

josh 10:04

They were saying, and maybe

brit 10:04

November,

josh 10:05

they were saying September and October are just

brit 10:07

Yeah.

josh 10:08

Mad there.

brit 10:09

So definitely if you're going, you have to book that ahead of time. But we looked that up and we did that and it was really good coffee.

josh 10:18

Amazing coffee.

brit 10:19

Yeah. I mean. I am not a huge like sweet coffee person. Mm-hmm. So I got just a regular latte. Mm-hmm. And that's how I, I think I've said this before, that's how I judge a coffee place Right. Is by their lattes. Yeah. You know, by their just straight espresso oat milk. That's it. And it was really good.

josh 10:37

Yeah. And I had one of their October spooky special drinks, and that was, that was delicious. The difference between days of going to Black craft during a weekday. Yeah. And this was the week of Halloween. So even that Wednesday before Halloween, Wednesday or Thursday, whatever day it was, we went, the difference between going then versus on Halloween was

brit 11:01

mm-hmm.

josh 11:01

Mind boggling because we, it was so wild. We went to the haunted house there

brit 11:06

mm-hmm. On

josh 11:06

Halloween. And which we

brit 11:08

also booked ahead of time. We

josh 11:10

booked ahead of time and we took like a video of a line and a picture. It was out the door just to get into their, I don't know what do you I'm blanking on the word. The

brit 11:21

entrance?

josh 11:21

Yeah. But it's their shop.

brit 11:24

Oh yeah. I think it's just like the black craft store. Yeah. Or something like that.

josh 11:29

The line just to get into that black craft store was out the door. It's so wrong. Down, down the block, like 50 yards. It was

brit 11:38

crazy. Yeah.

josh 11:40

Just to get in, like there's a line. You have to, like we said, you have to pre-book to get coffee'cause they don't do walk-ins during this time.'cause so many people wanna get it. For good reason. It's good coffee and it's such a cool, it's such a cool vibe in there.

brit 11:55

It is. It's a very small room. Mm-hmm. In the back of the store. Mm-hmm. And you walk in and there's like, there's like dried flowers and the ceiling, and there's like a portrait of witches and there's also just like a bunch of spooky stuff around it. Mm-hmm. And it just gives like a very spooky vibe. It's so fun.

josh 12:21

Yeah. It's very fun. Everything's painted black, you know, it's, it's really cool to be in there. So if you're, if you're going. It's worth going to see. It's worth getting a cup of coffee. If you're going on Halloween, good luck. And it's that, that's a bold move

brit 12:39

booked way ahead of time.

josh 12:40

Yeah, absolutely.'cause we booked that in September.

brit 12:44

Mm-hmm.

josh 12:45

Early September

brit 12:46

before we left for our Europe trip, I think. Yeah.

josh 12:49

It might've been, it might've been even late August.

brit 12:52

Yeah. Late

josh 12:52

August, early September before we went on our Europe trip and we just barely got some of these things booked.

brit 12:58

Mm-hmm.

josh 12:59

Like they were not, at times we were like, oh, we could go at this time. And then we looked. It's like, we either go at this time or we don't get it.

brit 13:04

Yeah.

josh 13:04

But there. Their haunted house was pretty fun as well.

brit 13:08

It was that

josh 13:09

we did on Halloween.

brit 13:10

Yeah. Mm-hmm. That was really fun. I think. My favorite one was the Frankenstein haunted house that we did. Oh, yes. On that Wednesday. That one, I think because there weren't like a whole lot of people and it was the morning. Mm-hmm. So PE they were like just opening, just getting started. Yeah. All of their attention was on us. Mm-hmm. So they scared the shit out of us.

josh 13:32

Yeah. I think they opened at 10 and then we were there at 10 15 and there was no one in line, no one waiting. And we went, went out there and they're like, oh, you wanna go in? We're like, yeah, we'll go in. So we were the first ones of the day. So they were, the actors were full of energy.

brit 13:47

Yeah. That Frankenstein haunted house really got me.

josh 13:49

Mm-hmm. That one was good. The. Black craft one was good. We went to another one that was a little further away from the main avenue, which was okay as well. there's multiple haunted houses Yeah. Running throughout the area that we went to.

brit 14:05

Fun things to do. Yeah.

josh 14:07

Yeah. Uh, what else did we do that day there in Salem?

brit 14:10

We did the tour that day. The Booze and Booze tour, that was super fun. We went to two different spots and got drinks with the group, and along the way we learned like spooky history, haunted happenings, things like that. And just like a lot of historical information, we also stopped by the cemetery. Mm. And we stopped by the witch trials memorial site, which those are right next to each other. The witch trials memorial site, I will say is so cool. It has such a heavy kind of. Energy around it. Yeah. There's definitely a heaviness, but they name the people on these stones that were, killed in the Salem witch trials. Mm-hmm. And how they were killed and then, um, almost like a grave site. Yeah. But people still to this day, like put flowers and items on these stones mm-hmm. To memorialize these people. Yeah. Really beautiful. Really beautiful. I would highly recommend checking that out.

josh 15:22

Yeah. I thought the tour was okay. Overall, we had some good drinks at the places we stopped, but what really made the tour good was our guide Mason.

brit 15:33

Yeah. The guide Mason. He, he had a lot of like stories and, knew a lot about the history of Salem. Mm-hmm. He was a local, so he has been there his whole life.

josh 15:45

Yeah. Yep. He said he grew up there and we talked to him a little bit about Salem during Halloween season, outside of Halloween season. Yeah. And he's talking about, you know, how he's very grateful for this job that he gets to do. He says he doesn't do it on the weekends during Halloween season, just because of how crazy it gets. Yeah. But, um,

brit 16:06

I could imagine it gets really crazy.

josh 16:08

But he also wishes that, uh, people visited Salem outside of just Halloween, because there's Lots more to the city than just the witch trials. Mm-hmm. So, but he was great. Great guide. Made the tour really fun,

brit 16:23

yeah, I agree.

josh 16:24

So we also, on this day, we went to the Ouija Museum, oui Board Museum. And that was fun. And that was another one where you could go in and you could just explore around but you could also stand around and talk about the Ouija boards with the gentleman who like ran the museum, basically, or it was his, his museum essentially,

brit 16:50

His name was John.

josh 16:52

Yeah. And so John was fantastic, answered all of our questions, provided a lot of good information. It felt genuine. It didn't feel like touristy. John loves to do this. He says he travels the world to talk about Ouija boards and, pick up new Ouija boards when he finds them. But his collection is pretty solid if you go there. There's so many Ouija boards.

brit 17:17

Yeah. John is so passionate about Ouija boards and witch boards. He is so passionate about what he does. So I would definitely recommend, you know, talking to him a little bit and getting his kind of spiel about the Ouija board because it was so cool to learn about it.

josh 17:35

Yeah. Yeah. He was fantastic. Loved it.

brit 17:38

Yeah, I would agree.

josh 17:40

We, when we were there as far as like food and drinks, we, when we first got there, we went to odd meter coffee.

brit 17:49

Yeah. Great coffee. Mm-hmm. Again, I judged the Coffee by Latte and that's what I got and it was fantastic.

josh 17:55

Yep. Coffee was great.

brit 17:57

We had a a muffin tap top. And then we had a ham and cheese croissant there. Ah, both of those were really delicious. Mm-hmm. Uh, the ham and cheese croissant, I would say I liked a lot better. Yeah. It was very gooey. Mm-hmm. And delicious. I love a good ham and cheese croissant, so, yeah.

josh 18:17

Did you like odd meter more than black craft? Or was black craft better coffee?

brit 18:22

I would say, I would have to taste them being in front of me, but from what I'm remembering I believe that black craft. Was stronger. Therefore I liked it more. But I did also get an extra shot in the black craft one. Mm. Because I think I got the odd meter one and I was like, oh, I should have asked for an extra shot because it wasn't strong enough for me. Sure.

josh 18:50

So not a fair comparison.

brit 18:51

Not a fair comparison. No.

josh 18:53

That's fair enough.

brit 18:53

But I did like the flavor of it.

josh 18:55

Yeah. We also went to, for lunch, we went to Dire Wolf Tavern.

brit 19:00

Yes. That was super fun. And in the basement there's a speakeasy. Mm-hmm. in the alleyway, there is a little entrance mm-hmm. For the speakeasy. And you can like see the red light when it's open, and you can just, go in. Mm-hmm. Um, I don't know if there's a specific way that you get in, because we went in with somebody else. Mm-hmm. And then we tried to go in another time and it wouldn't open, but there's numbers on the door, so I don't know how that works, but we got in Yeah. Somehow. And that was really fun to go to as well. Mm-hmm. I don't remember what that place was called.

josh 19:42

Hollowed ground.

brit 19:43

Hollowed Ground. Yes. Yeah, that was a really good place. Dire Wolf Tavern was really good. We got the shrimp tacos. Mm-hmm. And a Caesar salad. Mm-hmm.

josh 19:56

Yeah. Both good. Again, something that we were just able to walk into no reservation and get a table on the Wednesday or Thursday when we were there. But however,

brit 20:06

yeah. If we were to have gone on Halloween, that would've been so crazy. We, we wouldn't have gotten it.

josh 20:12

No. We walked by a couple times and again, lines out the door.

brit 20:16

Yeah.

josh 20:17

we also stopped at a chocolate house. It's called, uh, Kamala Chocolate House and we had little bits of chocolate there and some hot chocolate that was really delicious. The day was kind of gloomy, little rainy, little cool. So it was really nice. And they had some good hot chocolate and some good chocolate truffles there.

brit 20:38

Yeah. And the hot chocolate was like real hot chocolate. Oh

josh 20:42

yes.

brit 20:43

It was thick and it was, we got the dark chocolate, so it was really bitter. Yeah, it was so delicious. Yeah, it was so good.

josh 20:51

We ordered it'cause they, they can servee it just in kind of like little tiny sipper glasses. And the one person working the counter was like, you sure you want this one? Because they got different levels and we went for like 98%. She's like, it's really bitter. We're like, oh yeah. Uh, she's like, I could put a little whipped cream on top, so it mixes in. We're like, okay, that'll, that'll work too. But yeah, that was delicious.

brit 21:15

Yeah.

josh 21:15

Where else did we go there? Oh, we went to the, uh, the ledger for dinner.

brit 21:21

The ledger was incredible. Oh my God. It was so good. Mm-hmm. Uh, we got, what did we get there? We got the pasta. And was it like a basil pasta? I don't remember.

josh 21:34

Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was like a, a basil mushroom. Oh yes. Yep.

brit 21:40

So delicious. Mm-hmm. And then we got a steak.

josh 21:44

Yep.

brit 21:44

Uh, that's what the waitress recommended. Yes. Those two. So mm-hmm. That's what we got. And then I got a drink that came with like a little broom and witch hat. Yeah. It was so cute.

josh 21:55

Very cute.

brit 21:56

And we also got that like dirt cake. Mm-hmm. Dessert.

josh 22:01

Yeah. And it was a cemetery theme. Yeah. It had like a little cracker with a headstone on it and some bones laying about, and that was delicious. That, and that was on theme with the rest of the East coast. It was a pricey restaurant and one we booked ahead of time'cause we had looked it up and had good reviews on it. Uh, and it was very good.

brit 22:22

Yeah. So it was delicious. I mean, I would definitely recommend those places that we did go to. I don't think we really missed here at all.

josh 22:30

As far as being in Salem.

brit 22:32

Yeah.

josh 22:33

Yeah. I don't think so. Between that day and when we went on Halloween. Halloween, we mainly just went for witch, the witch house. And what else did we do? We just walked around a little bit.

brit 22:47

Mm-hmm.

josh 22:48

I don't think we really did anything. Oh, we did the witch house and we did black craft's. Haunted house.

brit 22:56

Yeah.

josh 22:57

And outside of that, we just kind of walked around, watched all the activity going. There were quite a few christian protestors Yeah. Is the only way I could describe'em. There were so many of

brit 23:08

them with megaphones and then there was, so there were costumes all over the place. Mm-hmm. But there was Satan. Yep. Um mm-hmm. Who was dressed up as Satan, and he held a sign that said Free hugs from Satan. Mm-hmm. And then there was a dude dressed as Jesus right next to him. Yep. And they were standing in front of these guys that were spewing Christian hate and saying that we're all gonna die and like, were not gonna, whatever. They were just using, using like fear tactics and, Satan and Jesus were giving hugs to people mm-hmm. Right in front of them. It was actually really funny.

josh 23:48

It was really funny.

brit 23:49

Speaking of costumes though, there was one guy that was dressed up as the witch city mall restrooms. Mm-hmm. And he like had a piece of cardboard and a toilet seat of like things that he had found.

josh 24:03

Yeah.

brit 24:04

On the floor of the witch city mall restroom. Disgusting. Like so gross.

josh 24:09

Yeah, like just garbage. And then used needles, used condoms, just all sorts of dis So

brit 24:18

disgusting.

josh 24:18

Disgusting things. Yeah, because apparently the city of Salem. Just lets this bathroom just go. They just don't really care about it apparently. Or whoever runs the mall.

brit 24:31

Yeah. If you are on Essex Street and you need to use the bathroom right across the street from the witch city mall is the chocolate shop. Oh yeah. You can buy a single truffle and use their bathroom. Mm-hmm. Plus, you know, you get chocolate out of it, so Might as well just do that. Yeah. They have pretty clean bathrooms, so

josh 24:49

yeah. Very clean bathroom. If you're okay with porta-potties, the city lines several streets with'em, so there are porta-potties all over the place too. That

brit 25:00

is only in October.

josh 25:01

Only October, okay. Yeah. Well, there you go. But yeah, that was, there, there are a lot of great costumes walking around. It was again, like a rainy drizzly day and so Halloween maybe it wasn't as busy as. Other times if it's really nice, but mm-hmm. We took the train from Ipswich to Salem both times, and that was fantastic because we looked ahead ahead of time and they're like the city officials post everywhere, like, please do not try to drive your car here and park in Salem unless you're staying in a hotel that gives you parking. Don't try to do it because parking's insane. So many of the streets are closed off because of Halloween. Don't do it. So that's part of the reason why we picked Ipswitch as well, was because they have a train stop and it was a 20 minute train ride to Salem.

brit 25:57

Yeah.

josh 25:57

And round trip per person was I think$8 during this Halloween time. So really easy, very convenient. But also on Halloween when we went there, totally fine. We went in the morning, not many people walked around. By the time we left, it was getting pretty busy and we went and waited at the train stop. There were thousands of people on the platform and we waited while a few trains came and left from the, the Boston area. And they were stuffed full of people.

brit 26:34

Yeah. It was actually scary at one point I was kind of scared of the crowd. Mm-hmm. And I don't know, there were some people that were clearly, you know, intoxicated or mm-hmm. On drugs or

josh 26:49

Yeah.

brit 26:49

There

josh 26:50

were a bunch of substances

brit 26:52

Yeah. That

josh 26:52

people were on.

brit 26:53

It was very clear.

josh 26:53

Mm-hmm.

brit 26:54

And there were certain points where I got scared for people. Yeah. There was one guy that, I swear to God, he almost fell onto the tracks. Mm-hmm. Like dude was. Stumbling hard. Yeah. But on that Wednesday it was super clear. Yeah. Like it was so easy.

josh 27:13

Very chill.

brit 27:14

I don't think I would recommend going on Halloween. I just, I don't think I would do that again.

josh 27:19

No. I think if, unless you are going for the after party and all the bands Yeah. And fireworks and everything that happens special. Just on Halloween night, if you're a person that wants to have quite a few drinks, stay out, listen to those bands. Be out late, then go on Halloween.

brit 27:41

Yes. But stay in Salem because those trains.

josh 27:44

Oh yeah.

brit 27:45

You would not be able to get back?

josh 27:47

No. It would be very difficult. And if you're get on that train, you'd be lucky to find a seat because we were watching these trains come in from Boston and they were full and people were standing up. And that's a, that's double the amount of time. I think it's a 40 minute ride.

brit 28:04

Mm-hmm.

josh 28:04

From Salem to Ipswich maybe. I don't know. It's a longer ride. It's a longer time. From Salem to ifs Oh, Salem to Massachusetts. It's what? Salem to Boston, Massachusetts is a longer ride. Any who like Brittany said would not recommend to come on Halloween. Oh. Would not recommend to come on Halloween unless you're gonna be there for parties. And if you're gonna do that. Try to book ahead of time and be with a group probably.'cause there's so many people be with a group book ahead of time, a hotel room or Airbnb, something. And just stay there.

brit 28:53

Yeah.

josh 28:53

Because otherwise it is packed. It's so packed.

brit 28:57

And I think I would wanna check out Salem outside of October. Absolutely. Just to see, you know, the vibe because I did love it. Mm-hmm. And I kind of got the feeling there. Mm. I did, I ki I kind of got it. I think it was just the mass crowd. Sure. And if we had to deal with that for two months out of the year, like I would be okay with that. Mm-hmm. If it was worth it. Yeah. I do think I liked Ipswich more,

josh 29:26

Let's talk a little bit more about Ipswich then, since we covered both our days in Salem. Pretty much.

brit 29:31

Yeah.

josh 29:32

it's such a. Cute town and we came at a great time because it was a mixture of, the leaves changed. Were still on the trees.

brit 29:45

Yes.

josh 29:46

And on the ground it looked like fall vibes just threw up on this place. It was so awesome.

brit 29:54

It was so cute. I loved it. Again, like I cannot say enough good things about it. I don't know. I, I still have to let it digest to see if it's gonna crack the top three. It's so far up there for me. I love it so much.

josh 30:11

Yeah. I'm sure if it's not in your top three it's Right. It's battling.

brit 30:16

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll have to pick a top five. Yeah. Because I, I feel like it needs to be, it needs to have some credit. You know,

josh 30:24

I definitely think it does it might just be cause everything was so perfect. Like I said the b and b was amazing. We had some great food while we were there in Ipswich and in the surrounding towns. We did use our car to drive places, which totally fine. It's a US city.

brit 30:48

Yeah.

josh 30:49

Pretty much. Gotta do that. Anyways, and our first day there, we we got some coffee and then we went to the crane beach.

brit 31:00

Oh my gosh. The crane beach was so. Beautiful. I have some pictures on the website that are some of my favorite pictures that I've literally ever taken. They're so pretty. Mm-hmm. Like this beach. It was really cold. So

josh 31:15

cold, windy, rainy.

brit 31:17

Yes. But it was so fun to go and experience the Atlantic Ocean. Mm-hmm. And it was your first time ever touching the ocean? It was. Can you believe that? Out of all of the trips that we've taken, it was his first time ever touching the ocean.

josh 31:32

Yeah. I've been to beaches on the ocean before. I don't know why. It was a thing where I was just like. I don't need to touch ocean water, but I mean, we've been to beaches all over the world and I've just been like, eh,

brit 31:46

I think you're just scared of the ocean, which, who wouldn't be? But also like, we're about to go to New Zealand too, so we're gonna go swimming in the ocean. Yeah.

josh 31:57

This, this was my break the ice moment. Yeah. I had to just go touch it.

brit 32:02

And it was so fun to watch you get excited about that.

josh 32:06

Thanks. But you're right, the beach was so pretty. We were one of very few people out there because it was cold and windy and rainy. But we saw so many people with their dogs, talked a few, got a picture with this massive dog.

brit 32:21

Yeah.

josh 32:21

Uh, he was just the biggest teddy bear in the world. He was. And everyone there, Ipswich and all the surrounding areas. Incredibly nice people.

brit 32:33

Mm-hmm.

josh 32:34

Just the ni, we didn't run into a single person. I think that, you know, was unkind or not willing to give us their time. Talk to us. Even when we were crossing this street in Ipswich, which was probably the only crazy thing about Ipswich, was this one kind of stop sign area where it was like five different roads converging.

brit 32:59

It was crazy. It that needs a stoplight or a traffic circle like it is. Yeah.

josh 33:07

Besides that, everything else was perfect, but even when we were walking and crossing this, we got up to it and everyone stopped.

brit 33:14

Mm-hmm. And let us through. Yeah. I felt like I was back in Europe.

josh 33:16

Yeah.

brit 33:17

Everybody stops for pedestrians there. Mm-hmm. And everybody did here as well.

josh 33:22

Yeah. Even though it was an extremely busy. Like crosswalk, everyone would stop.

brit 33:28

Mm-hmm.

josh 33:28

And let Walkers go across.

brit 33:30

Yeah. so right above, or right next to Crane Beach mm-hmm. Is the crane estate. Yes. Which we went to a couple days after we went to the Crane Beach. Mm-hmm. Um, and we booked like a tour of it. Yeah. And it was a really fun and interactive tour. Mm-hmm. We got these cards where we were different people for the day. I was Amelia Earhart. And you were some rich dude.

josh 33:59

Some rich dude that was best friends with the crane and had his, crane. Yeah. Son was named after him. So yes, a rich dude, but. A good friend of the, the wealthy people

brit 34:13

Yeah. That owned the estate,

josh 34:16

right?

brit 34:16

And it was really fun to tour the house. Yeah. It is said that it's haunted, which was kind of fun. The lights kind of flickered in the dining room area a couple of times, so I was like yeah. I wonder if that's what we're seeing. But then you can also walk outside and tour the grounds and there's like three really big hills leading out to a viewpoint of the ocean. Mm-hmm. And it is stunning.

josh 34:44

Beautiful.

brit 34:45

It's gorgeous.

josh 34:46

Yeah. Yeah. The whole grounds that walk out there. The tour was fantastic. Tour guide was amazing. With those cards, you kind of play along occasionally. They're like, oh, what are you, what are you doing here, princess da da da. Or What are you doing here, Amelia? And you answer questions off the card and

brit 35:05

yeah.

josh 35:05

You know, a big deal is made up because this family was so wealthy because they owned a like, um, a toilet or a bathroom business. So

brit 35:14

a plumbing. A plumbing. They were, they were a plumbing family.

josh 35:17

Yeah. So like the bathrooms were pristine with beautiful tubs and showers and toilets and stuff. And they're big sailing families. So each room had like a. wind indicator lights that showed which direction the wind was blowing and how many knots it was blowing at. So it was a really, really fun tour to do. Um, it was, and it was, it wasn't that long. The one we booked it, I think was hour and a half, two hours. And you can do like full, full on experiences that I think last like four or five hours. There, but that one we did was really cool.

brit 35:56

Yeah. It was so fun. Mm-hmm. I would definitely do that one again and I would tour the grounds again, I think. Mm-hmm. That was such a fun thing to do.

josh 36:04

Yeah. We didn't scratch the surface of the grounds. We barely did. We started driving to leave and all of a sudden there was more parts of the estate that we were passing we're like, oh my gosh. Ew. We didn't even know this was over here.

brit 36:18

Yeah. We saw it and we're like do we wanna stop? But at that point we were like really hungry and we're like, no, let's go get food. But it was so fun. Mm-hmm. It was a blast. So this day we also did the river walk, which was really fun and really beautiful. There's like a small dam there and then there's also murals on some of the walls that you get to see.

josh 36:41

Yeah. Really fun. Beautiful. Kind of tell some of the history of Ipswich as well, and then you also get a better view of the, I think it's the longest standing double arch bridge.

brit 36:54

Mm-hmm.

josh 36:56

In the US In the United, in the United States. Yeah.

brit 36:57

Yeah. Really beautiful.

josh 36:59

Yeah, just kind of like interesting tidbits of his Ipswich. And it's crazy that it's lasted all this time and it, it's holding vehicles like obviously it's been fixed and updated a little bit, but still like the main supports I guess, are what they were when it was built and

brit 37:15

Yeah.

josh 37:16

You know, it holds, you know, two lanes of traffic and everything. So that, that was really cool. We also just outside of, I, they might still be an Ipswich, but just kind of outside the main area we went to. Russell Orchards, And we did some wine tasting there. Had some apple cider donuts and some pastries they had. And that was really fun.

brit 37:41

It was. Mm-hmm. It was a blast. I really enjoyed, being able to be there and see what orchards are like there.'cause we love picking apples at home. Mm-hmm. And knowing that that's so close, that's a, a pretty cool thing. So, if we did ever live in Ipswich mm-hmm. That's probably where we would go to pick apples.

josh 38:03

Yeah. Yeah. And they had some good ciders, some good wines, but our favorite place. To get drinks while we were there was 1634 meadery.

brit 38:15

Oh my gosh. This meadery has the nicest owner. Mm-hmm. And it's so delicious. If you don't know what mead is, it's fermented honey. Mm-hmm. And I think it's like one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in the world.

josh 38:31

Yeah. That and cider, like two of the oldest I think.

brit 38:34

Yeah. So good. Mm-hmm. I would definitely recommend going here.

josh 38:38

Yeah. Amazing. Like you said, owners super friendly. We actually went there on Halloween nights because they had posted on their social that they were gonna have a, kinda like a drop in. People could come and do some tastings and they had some food available for people. So we went there. They had some food for us. They had some mead that was warmed up with. Uh, apple cider. Mm-hmm. That was put together. That was amazing. And we did some more tastings. Uh, we actually bought some mead and brought it home for us to share with our families during Thanksgiving, great people, great place. No, we went there multiple times. Staff knew our names and were talking to us about the podcast and just asking us questions the whole time, you know, saying that, oh, we can't wait for you to make another trip back here and visit us in the future. So,

brit 39:30

yeah, they were so kind. I loved getting to know them and talking to them.

josh 39:34

Mm-hmm.

brit 39:35

They're really sweet people. So if you're listening, hey, shout out.

josh 39:39

Thanks for being amazing. Yeah. And thanks for listening. Gosh, where else did we go? We went, we were able to go to so many places.

brit 39:49

We went on a little drive, And we watched the sunset. Oh yeah. At this little like, viewpoint area. Mm-hmm. It was like a little parking lot, but it was out in, on almost like an island. it was Rockport, granite Pierre. a half an hour away from Ipswich and it was. So beautiful. I mean, I will never get these images out of my mind of this sunset over the Atlantic. It was so stunning. And there were boats coming in and there were so many different colors in the sky. Like it was incredible.

josh 40:24

Yeah. Such a, like you said, beautiful sunset. Really nice that we were able to just pull up, park the car and kind of sit there and watch boats come in and out and, mm-hmm. Yeah. Really fun spot. It seemed like there were so many of those, which guess is kind of obvious being right on the ocean. But just so many places that you can go and just get a stunning view of the ocean. For me, and I guess you as well, being born and raised in Wisconsin. We got massive lakes, but it's just different looking over the ocean. Yeah. Like that. It's just something I really enjoyed us doing multiple times.

brit 41:04

Yeah. Me as well. I think it was such a cool feeling. It was a really good vibe. I loved the views. Mm-hmm. I think it would be cool to live by the ocean. I also think it would be kind of scary because of like weather stuff. Right. And like hurricane possibilities. Mm-hmm. Stuff like that. Yeah. That's kind of scary to me. But I think it would depend on, where we are.

josh 41:29

Right. For sure. And I mean we talked about that that severe weather potential.'cause both of us were like, this place is amazing. Ipswich is, yeah. But you

brit 41:38

got the feeling too, didn't you? Oh

josh 41:40

yeah, for sure. For sure. It's got everything. That we like, we like the small town. It's got some public transportation, but it's also got freedom to be able to go around and see spots like this. but yeah, the, the extreme weather possibilities is a big factor that, along with the cost, and we've said it's very expensive, but also to live there, we looked up, how much a house or a condo? Apartment. Very expensive.

brit 42:11

Yeah. So expensive to live

josh 42:13

there

brit 42:14

way out of our price range.

josh 42:15

Yeah. But, and. I mean when we did that drive out to the granite pier that we were just talking about the houses that we saw along the water's edge and just in from the water, we were like, oh no,

brit 42:30

they have huge houses.

josh 42:32

Huge houses. Like beautiful houses, but huge.

brit 42:36

Yeah. Like I could not fathom living in a house that big. I couldn't even imagine it. Like I love our smaller home. It's still is, you know, three bedrooms and it's not like super small, but I love our home.

josh 42:52

Yeah. Yeah. These were massive homes on the water. And I mean, we did quite a bit of walking around in Ipswich and, One of the kinda main predominant streets there is High Street. And we walked down that on Halloween night and on another day, because it was what we took to get to the meadery. Yeah.'cause we walked to it a couple times. again Street, I'm pretty sure they said it's the largest collection of, like old homes or historic homes in the United States. Yeah. On this one street. And we got some pictures of it. Houses that are like early, mid 16 hundreds. You know, they got plaques on'em, like official plaques that say maybe who the original homeowner was and mm-hmm. What year it was built, stuff like that. And we, when we were looking up like the cost of living there, some of those houses, like 1.2, 1.6 million, just

brit 43:52

yeah. Also off of that street is a graveyard that has similar stones to the graveyard in Salem. Mm-hmm. And these stones are so old and they they're really thin and long. Mm-hmm. They are so cool to look at. I would definitely recommend climbing up the stairs. It is kind of steep and uneven at some points. Mm-hmm. Um, but if you can do it, I would definitely recommend doing it because up at the top there are some views. There was a road up there, so I wonder if you could drive up there somehow. But it was, it was so beautiful. I would definitely recommend doing that. And we did it in the fall, so there were like fall leaves everywhere and these old gravestones just absolutely stunning. Mm. I love a good, you know, cemetary view.

josh 44:47

Yeah.

brit 44:48

So beautiful.

josh 44:50

Yeah, and like you said, cause it was so old and the headstones were so thin, we got to see some of those dates on those as well. Yeah. Being really old and just being around that made you feel something.

brit 45:00

Yeah.

josh 45:01

Yeah.

brit 45:02

I think we saw one from like the 15 hundreds.

josh 45:04

It could have been, I don't remember exactly, but they were definitely some old ones. Yeah. Yeah. Which we talk, we talked about a lot and I've mentioned like my family and friends, but. You experience it in Europe, being in places older than the United States. Yeah. But to be in the United States and be in a place where there are landmarks that are clearly older than the state of Wisconsin is established. About 200 years older than the state of Wisconsin has established it is just blows my mind.

brit 45:37

Yeah. And it's only 18 hours away.

josh 45:40

Yeah. Only an 18 hour drive away. Which maybe the next time we do this trip, we might have to go the other way because where we're located, very central Wisconsin, There's really three ways we could have gone. Not so much at the time of year we did, but we went down into Illinois and then around that way you can also

brit 46:02

down Lake Michigan.

josh 46:03

Yep. Yeah. You can also go north into Canada. And then take Canada all the way there, which I would love to do.

brit 46:09

That would be so fun. We could stop in Montreal.

josh 46:12

Mm-hmm.

brit 46:13

That would be really fun.

josh 46:14

Stop off in Toronto. You could make a little dip down after you get past Michigan and go into Toronto. Gotta

brit 46:20

get that flaming hot pickled donut from Toronto. Oh yes.

josh 46:26

Just for that.

brit 46:27

Yep. And then go to Montreal and then we would go back to Ipswich.

josh 46:31

Yeah.

brit 46:31

Or maybe stop in Vermont somewhere.

josh 46:34

Northern, Northern Maine.

brit 46:36

Yep.

josh 46:36

Come Vermont. Go back to Ipswich.

brit 46:38

Although we didn't do Connecticut or Road Island either. So those could be stops.

josh 46:43

Yeah.

brit 46:44

Because we loved the East Coast feel.

josh 46:46

Yeah.

brit 46:47

It was incredible.

josh 46:48

On like the second or third day, there was a massive No. Kings protest.

brit 46:55

Yeah.

josh 46:55

Huge. And for Ipswich, which is very small, very small. There's a good amount of people in surrounding areas, but there was a massive No Kings protest.

brit 47:04

Mm-hmm.

josh 47:05

And people gathering cans of food for people on stamps and giving out support, you know, information if anyone needed help with anything. Yeah. It was just so friendly, very comforting opening to people. Very progressive, I would say. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Very

brit 47:27

open-minded. Mm-hmm. I wouldn't say that I felt, judged by anyone. Yeah. Just a very. Very good vibe there. And us coming from Wisconsin, which, has it's fair share of hate directed at people. I think that the East Coast in general just had a really good vibe towards people.

josh 47:51

Yeah.

brit 47:52

Um, and I really appreciated that.

josh 47:55

Yeah, same. Absolutely. And that was, I mean, we're talking about Ipswich and Salem, but that was all over. We, were in very small towns, poorer towns, and they, we still got that feeling as far as progressive. We didn't see, a lot of the kind of hateful signs that we might see other places. It, it felt very welcoming. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Throughout.

brit 48:20

So as far as food. Mm-hmm. And Ipswich, we went to a couple different places. We started our first night there, we went to Luna Mare. Mm-hmm. And that was like kind of small plates. It was tapas. and it was really good. I am a bit picky when it comes to meat some of that was like a little gamey for me, but you loved it. And I would definitely take your recommendation over mine when it comes to meat, because I'm just not a huge, you know, meat eater. it was really good. And then we got two desserts there because we couldn't decide. Yeah. And it was delicious. Mm-hmm. Definitely recommend the two dessert thing. Mm-hmm. But we were too full afterwards, so. Maybe we'd take away one of the plates that we had and still get the two desserts.

josh 49:12

Yeah.

brit 49:13

One of the plates was like a lamb. one of them was Brussels sprouts, I believe.

josh 49:18

Yeah. Brussels sprouts lamb. But yeah, those dishes were delicious. Tuna tartar was great. The brussel sprouts amazing. Everything there was really good. And I think here is where we'd established for the trip that we just need to trust the waiters and waitresses.

brit 49:38

Yeah.

josh 49:39

Because we were like. They know what's up. They know what's good on menus. Let's just ask them.

brit 49:44

We also went to the boathouse. Mm-hmm. Which was delicious. Yeah. We had a Caesar salad, some clam chowder, and then we had this chicken dish. I don't remember what was all in it, but it's like a saucy potato chicken dish.

josh 50:04

Yeah. It was basically like a Thanksgiving dinner

brit 50:08

Yeah.

josh 50:09

Plate. It was really good. It was really good. A lot of food.

brit 50:12

So much food. Mm-hmm. And that was so delicious. Mm-hmm. We went to the brewery as well.

josh 50:22

The Ipswich Ale,

brit 50:24

the IP Switch Ale Brewery. Mm-hmm. And that was, they had some really good beer. And we tried their Turkey egg roll. Mm-hmm. You have to get that. The guy from the meadery actually told us to get that. Yeah. And we were like, okay, we're gonna trust his judgment. And he was so. Right. It's delicious. You have to get that. Yeah. It's like Thanksgiving in an egg roll, and then there's like a, a dip, a cranberry sauce dip. And I wish I could make this. It was so good.

josh 50:56

It was delicious. Loved it. Yeah. Where else did we go? I think both 1634 owner as well as our b and b host, they both recommended CK Pearl.

brit 51:10

Mm. Yes.

josh 51:11

And

brit 51:12

we got fried clams there.

josh 51:14

Yes. Yeah.'cause we were told that was kind of a local, kind of delicacy, or not a local delicacy, but a dish, a common dish that they have there. And so we had that there as well as, We had salmon with brussel sprouts, which was delicious. And then I think we had a salad there as well.

brit 51:35

Yeah, we did. And then we had the key lime pie for dessert because the waiter recommended that. And that key lime pie was to die for,

josh 51:43

if I remember correctly. Is that the one with the biscoff cookie?

brit 51:47

Yes. Yeah. Biscoff cookie crust, creamy key lime filling and whipped cream on top. We should have ordered two of those because I would've eaten one to myself.

josh 52:00

I'm so glad we started doing that.'cause you and me, we have a tendency, we love chocolate. Yeah, chocolate fans. So anytime we see a dessert menu that's got like a chocolate cake, we're both like, Hmm.

brit 52:12

Chocolate cake.

josh 52:14

But then, so we kind of make those decisions half time. We're like, if they say chocolate cake is great, we're getting it. Mm-hmm. Anything else? We're gonna get that. And he was like, the key lime pie is where it's at. He's like, this is good. The key lime pie is amazing. So we got that. And it was, it was fantastic.

brit 52:31

Yeah. Really delicious.

josh 52:33

Mm-hmm.

brit 52:35

Um, we got key lime pie at the second place too. What was that called?

josh 52:39

was it lobster pool? Lobster pool, yep. The lobster pool.

brit 52:43

Yes. That was in Rockport. Mm-hmm. When we went there. Yep. And the lobster pool was also really delicious. The waiter had told us to get the fried shrimp. Mm-hmm. And oh, those shrimps were so big. Yeah. They were delicious. And then we also got the

josh 53:05

seafood risotto.

brit 53:06

Seafood risotto. Mm-hmm. That had so much seafood in it. It had like lobster and clams and scallops. Oh, those scallops.

josh 53:16

Mm-hmm. Fantastic. yeah, and then the key lime pie for dessert there.

brit 53:23

Mm-hmm.

josh 53:24

Delicious.

brit 53:24

Yeah, I definitely liked the key lime pie more at CK Pearl. Mm-hmm. But the key lime pie here was still good. Yeah. It just, it didn't have the biscoff cookie crust. Right. Yeah. It didn't taste like you're on an airplane.

josh 53:37

We love that. And our waitress there was very nice. She was, um, she asked us, you know, where we were visiting from and we told her and we told her where we were going next, and she gave us some recommendations on where to go, a couple places that we or a place that we had already planned on going. But then another place that she said, um, she had worked with a gentleman prior. Super nice place. Great staff, great food.

brit 54:05

Yeah. Would definitely recommend.

josh 54:07

So one of my favorite places that we got food at was Sandpiper Bakery in Ipswitch, this place had a fantastic breakfast sandwich pastries. Pretty good coffee there. It was very busy when we went, but really great place. I enjoyed it.

brit 54:26

Oh, they did have a homemade Oreo.

josh 54:29

Yes.

brit 54:30

The homemade Oreo was so delicious. That was amazing. It was like very creamy. Mm-hmm. It was double stuffed. It was triple stuffed. This thing was thick. It was good.

josh 54:41

It was a great bakery item. And when you cross the street from our b and b that we stayed in to there, the, there's a local myth that an old like priest or something had a fight with the devil on top of the church and it, and the priest knocked it off the top of the church and it fell, landed on this big rock formation that's there and left a footprint. Mm-hmm. So there's what. Locals called the Devil's footprint and we took a picture of it and as we walked by to the bakery. So that was a cool local legend that we got to see.

brit 55:19

Yeah, honestly, it was same size as my foot, so,

josh 55:26

which is devil's hell, you know, eat at the same dinner table. That's what it

brit 55:31

maybe

josh 55:31

Yeah. We also went to a cafe called Zoomies and Little Wolf. Where was your favorite coffee?

brit 55:38

My favorite coffee was a latte. It was like a maple latte at, uh, little Wolf. Mm-hmm. It had maple syrup in it, and you could still taste the coffee flavor. Mm-hmm. So I did like it, it wasn't too sweet for me. Sure. It was delicious. What was your favorite?

josh 55:57

I think I like Zoomies for multiple reasons. I thought of where it was was great. We went there multiple times. Mm-hmm. And I got a couple different of their kind of fall flavor coffees, and they were really good. Just location, it seemed like a very like kind of hometown coffee shop.

brit 56:16

Yeah.

josh 56:16

And I guess they had a popup where Ed Sheeran.

brit 56:22

Yeah.

josh 56:22

Served coffee there or served some drinks there one time.

brit 56:26

Yeah. That would've been so fun to experience that,

josh 56:29

but mm-hmm.

brit 56:30

They had like a picture of Ed Shean in front of the cash register.

josh 56:35

Yeah. That was super cool. And just like a cute cafe.

brit 56:38

Yeah.

josh 56:39

We also, we did get to do yoga while we were here. We went to elephant Tree Yoga. Yes.

brit 56:46

That was a pretty good yoga class. Um, it was hot yoga. Mm-hmm. I would consider it a little like more warm yoga. It wasn't like super hot, but we were in the back corner that was a little drifty. So, yeah. Maybe that's why, but. And I also didn't have a red light. But I did like the class. Mm-hmm. And we went to a beginner's class because the times just didn't work out for the others. And I'm glad that we did that because it helped us like focus a little bit more on each pose. Right. So I'm glad that we took it a little slower there. But then we didn't do yoga again for another week and came back home and I am so sore. Yeah. Still, still from yoga classes, so.

josh 57:37

Yeah, I've definitely been struggling as well.

brit 57:39

We should have done more yoga. Yeah.

josh 57:42

It's hard though'cause we changed up the format of our trips to do so We could get to more cities in a shorter period of time, which I think worked. We did have a longer stay in Ipswich because we dedicated two essentially full days to Salem. And because we booked that b and b beforehand, we were just gonna have those extra days. And also having that extra day because we had a full day and a half of driving beforehand, having extra day to just kind of relax. I think that worked out well. So

brit 58:17

yeah, I agree.

josh 58:18

But yeah, with those shortest days, it's hard to commit more time and more days to be able to go to yoga more often. That being said, I totally agree. I wish we would've gone to more because it's been a struggle since we've been back.

brit 58:31

It has been a struggle and it's gonna be a struggle after New Zealand too.'cause that's two and a half weeks now. I don't think we're doing yoga at all there,

josh 58:38

like a 40 hour travel day to get there.

brit 58:41

But I think that, I think we have to be more intentional on our trips to do yoga on our own. Mm-hmm. Uh, when we can, when it makes sense. Right. So, yeah, I think I'm gonna push us to the, do that a little bit Yeah. In New Zealand.

josh 58:55

Yeah.

brit 58:56

Just so we're not as sore. Yeah,

josh 58:58

for sure. For sure.

brit 58:59

Yeah. But anyways any other food places or things that you wanna talk about with Ipswich?

josh 59:08

Man, I don't think so. There, we've repeated, it's such a great small town. I think a lot of people would benefit from taking a little vacation here.

brit 59:19

Yeah,

josh 59:19

you can. It's kind of like a, just a get away from home sort of place and you, you can have some things to do. You can get to the ocean really easy. Couple museums, couple art galleries. If you wanna stay there to get to Boston, the train station's right there, you can get to and from Boston. No problem. Or Salem. Yeah. Or Salem. I think it's a great spot.

brit 59:44

I do too. if I had to pick a place in the US I think this would be it.

josh 59:51

Yeah. Yeah, I, I might agree with you. I don't know. I, I think it's gotta ruminate with me for a little bit. I will say I already miss it.

brit 59:58

I miss it so much. I was going through pictures to kind of prep for the pod, and we have some amazing photos. We have. We, I wish that we captured the vibe of Ipswich a little bit more in some of our photos and videos. Mm-hmm. But I mean, we're still really new at this and still learning a lot, so I think we can give ourselves a lot of grace on that. But it is just beautiful. I can see us there. I can, I wish it wasn't so darn expensive.

josh 1:00:30

Yeah. I'm sure people in Ipswich wish it wasn't so expensive as well. Yeah. there is some, offsetting. Prices to be paid for having high quality schools, you know? Yeah. Lower crime rates, stuff like that. There's, it, it comes out of your pocket somehow when you have that. So if that's what it would cost, you know, and if that was a place that we were like, oh, we wanna move here, and we had to figure out how to make it work money-wise, like, I'd be okay with that. looking at all of those benefits, and I can see someone with a family who's looking to get their kids into like really good schools and then have immediate access to great colleges. Mm-hmm. If they want, their kids to be located in. The same state as them, like moving to Massachusetts.'cause we actually, we ran into couple people at the meadery and throughout Ipswich that essentially that's, I think what they were there for was their kids had moved there or came there after college or for college and then just stayed. And then the parents were like, oh, we wanna be near our kids, so we're gonna move here. Which is just such a great feeling too, that people feel comfortable enough to do that.

brit 1:01:49

Yeah. It, like you said before, it is really welcoming. It is so warm and cozy, even though it was cold when we were there, I got a like warm and cozy vibe from it. Mm-hmm. And it's all local businesses. Mm-hmm. Which also feels really great that Yeah. When you're spending money, it's going back into these local places. I think there was even a grocery store, like a small little shop.

josh 1:02:16

Yeah.

brit 1:02:17

That was a locally owned store. Yeah. So

josh 1:02:20

like a local market. Yeah.

brit 1:02:21

Yeah. I can't say enough good things about it. Go there. Yeah. Go there. Yeah.

josh 1:02:26

Yeah. And I, I think it's definitely, if not there, somewhere else in Massachusetts will. Be a place that we will want to go back to as well.

brit 1:02:37

Agreed.

josh 1:02:38

Because when we drove in and we were driving out, there were so many small little towns that were like, fall, just was here. Like you can tell Fall was here. It's cute. Mm-hmm. It's got those vibes.

brit 1:02:49

I think we would have to travel there during maybe a different season. Mm-hmm. As much as I don't want to, because I loved fall there. Yeah. I do think we would have to like check it out. Right. Um, during another season, like maybe in the summer or even in the spring.

josh 1:03:07

Yeah. Yeah. I could see that. But then we would be able to go to the beach and swim in the ocean, so,

brit 1:03:13

yeah.

josh 1:03:14

Yeah. So benefits of that.'cause the water was way too cold to potentially do that when we were just there, but we could maybe do that in the spring. Yeah, I'm okay to book a trip there. Like you said, it's only 18 hours away. Only 18 hours.

brit 1:03:30

It's like, not even a full day.

josh 1:03:32

We can stop any at so many circle Q's on the way there.

brit 1:03:35

We can.

josh 1:03:36

Anything else that you wanna say about Ipswich or Salem?

brit 1:03:41

I don't think so. I think I, this was such a fantastic trip. Yeah, I mean, I definitely got the feeling here. And when I say the feeling I've talked about it before, it's like, it's just so undescribable. Mm-hmm. Um. It just felt like this is where I'm supposed to be. Mm-hmm. Right now.

josh 1:04:01

Yeah.

brit 1:04:01

And maybe this is where we could be. Yeah.

josh 1:04:05

Yeah. Totally agree.

brit 1:04:06

And it's weird to get that feeling in the US'cause I haven't had that yet. Mm. I mean, I slightly did for Seattle. I do love Seattle. Mm-hmm. Uh, loved, loved Ipswich way more, which is fair.'cause you know, Seattle's a huge freaking city. an Ipswich is so small. But yeah. I just got it so much more in Ipswich.

josh 1:04:29

Thought it was a great stop on this trip and I can't wait to talk about our next two stops in our next episodes.

brit 1:04:36

Yeah. Well actually next episode, we will be discussing the winner of our vote. Ooh. So if you have not listened to episode 13 definitely listen to that and then cast your vote. It will be up until December 10th. And then we will talk about who the winner is. So you get to choose between Ireland and Finland. we presented our ideas of where we want to go, and I presented Finland and Josh presented Ireland. So please cast your vote.

josh 1:05:15

Yeah, we're already getting people voting, so one of the places is in the lead currently. We don't need to talk about it, but woo woo in that I'm pushing for Ireland to pull through. I think there's gonna be a, a late voting surge. So You

brit 1:05:29

think so?

josh 1:05:29

Yeah, I think so.

brit 1:05:30

Mm. We'll see An

josh 1:05:32

up, an upset might be coming. Who knows?

brit 1:05:34

We'll see about that. Go Finland. Um, um, But then the episode after that, we will continue talking about this East Coast trip. and we will talk about Portland, Maine

josh 1:05:49

Make sure you are following us on our social media pages on Instagram and TikTok@wsmhtravels You can also find this podcast on YouTube where we include some videos and pictures from the travels, so you can find us there at WSMH travels as well.

brit 1:06:06

also, if you have any ideas of where you want us to travel to in the future, please let us know. You can DM us or you can email us Our website is also up to date, so you can go on our website and check it out. It is wsm h travels.com where we have pictures of all of our trips and our recommendations of where to go. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.