"Yes'm, old friends is always best, 'less you can catch a new one that's fit to make an old one out of." - Sarah Orne Jewett
Initially my stop in Salem was supposed to be brief. I was meant to come and stay for two nights - mostly owing to the fact I figured Salem would be really boring. Little did I know I would encounter two of the most awesome hosts of the trip! Aj and his room mate Bob were spectacular hosts. I could not find a host in Seattle (which was my next destination) and so they just let me stay. I ended up staying for six nights - one of which included a fantastic Halloween party (minus the guy high on heroin trying to attack me...).
Unfortunately I did not take a lot of pictures during any of my stay in Salem. So here are some details... Aj and Bob had a couple of house guests. One of them was Aj's Marine buddy Dean. For those of you wanting to know, Dean was awesome! He is obnoxious (like me, so I enjoyed it) and hilarious and just an all around good time. His girlfriend, Kate, also came to town! She is from Canada - and similar to all the other Canadians I have met on this trip - she rocks! Dean was kind enough to take Kate and I to our first gun store (eek), which was an adventure. Kate is amazingly creative - just check out Dean's hand made Halloween costume and adorable. Her laugh is completely contagious.
I met some other friends of theirs one night when we went to dinner. Everyone I met while I was in Salem, from my hosts, to their friends to the senior citizens I met at yoga - was kind, generous and amazing. I hope I stay friends with Aj and clan for a long time. I already want to go back to Salem for Halloween 2011!
So here are the few pictures I have (all of the party ones I stole from Aj)...enjoy!
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We went to Goodwill in search of best costume trophies...keep reading to see the final product. |
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Dean hard at work. |
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If you knew you would get to take home The Death Metal Gold Baby, wouldn't you try harder at your next costume endeavor? |
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Carving pumpkins! |
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This is a sideways Aj carving his pumpkin...in the background is the prison rapebow. Yeah, I composed a rainbow full of prison rape haikus (no, we did not write them ourselves) - what's scarier than that?! All you need to know is this: Mayonnaise is not / A sexual lubricant / Except in prison. | | |
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Zombie nurse! |
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Bob (aka Hunter S. Thompson) making home made grain alcohol (which I never ended up trying). |
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James and Kara (scarecrow and Rainbow Brite [which is totally what I wanted to be so I was devastated]). |
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Beer pong! The mess of hair at the bottom is mine - I won eight straight games before I had to stop due to some crazy dude on heroin thinking he needed to beat people up (thanks boys for saving me). I played with whiskey - which is why it is a good thing I didn't also try some of Bob's grain alcohol or the riot juice! |
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We had live bands playing for most of the night! |
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Kate's home made Falcor costume for Dean - impressive, no? Of course Hunter S. Thompson wanted to shoot him. |
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Sobriety played a big role in our party. |
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Kate, myself and Dean! |
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The couch (which I actually remembered to take a picture of) I slept on all week. |
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Thanks so much for everything Aj and Bob. I really enjoyed you guys and hope we see each other again. If you want to fly me to Salem to do the cob webs and rapebow next year - I am totally game! Love to you both!