Amesbury Sports Park

We attended a North of Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau meeting (Yes, really, a meeting. Business was conducted.) at Amesbury Sports Park yesterday, and after the meeting we were invited to have a bit of fun.

Amesbury Sports Park less than an hour north of Salem in Amesbury, MA. They do winter tubing and summer tubing, priding themselves on the steepest tubing hill in New England. In the summer, they also OGO, which is the 11' plastic orb that people climb into. There are to options for the OGO - dry and in a 7-point harness, or in a suit with 5 gallons of water (think indoor private water slide). We were dressed for work, so the water option was out yesterday. I may have to go back to try it, though. They say you can put two or three people in with the water... and then they push you off the hill.

Here are a few pics from our experience. It's a great family-friendly option if you're staying in Salem for a few days. There's a restaurant on site, too, so you can grab a bite to eat and then head back out to the tubing hill.

Here's the tubing hill. The trails are lined in plastic and have berms, so your tubes stay on track as you race down the hill. The tubing is fast (at least for my mind). And wear sneakers!

Here's Susan from the CVB heading up the hill. One of the best parts about Amesbury Sports Park is the lifts! You ride a conveyor belt to the top of the hill. No huffing and puffing!

Climbing into the OGO.


This is Destination Salem's fabulous summer intern, Tatyana, strapped into the OGO and ready to go!


And here is the OGO coming down the hill. You roll head-over-heels inside of the orb for about 45 seconds. Notice the other OGO being pulled back to the top on the right.

This is a fun place to check out. I have it on good authority from a 9-year-old that the summer tubing is, "Wicked!"

17th Century Saturdays Return

Seventeenth Century Saturdays return for their third year this weekend. Beginning Saturday, June 6, First Period properties throughout the north of Boston region will be open to the public.

This Saturday, June 6, they will all be open free of charge!

Here is a list of the properties in Salem that are participating. Visit EscapesNorth.org for complete information on the program and to download the brochure.

Here are the properties in Salem that are participating:

Gedney House, 1665

21 High Street

June, July, August, Sept., Oct.

(pictured, right)

The House of the Seven Gables, 1668

115 Derby Street

June, July, August, Sept.

Kalmar Nyckel Replica, 1638 ship

Docked at Central Wharf
August only

Narbonne House, 1675

71 Essex Street

June, July, August, Sept., Oct.

Peabody Essex Museum

161 Essex Street

A Point in Time: 1692 tour

June: 1 p.m. only

John Ward House, ca. 1684

(pictured, right)

June: Open house 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Tour at 11:30 a.m. only on other dates

Salem in 1630 (Pioneer Village), 1930 (Replica of 1630)

Forest River Park

June, July, August, Sept.

The Witch House (Jonathan Corwin House), Before 1675

310 Essex Street

June, July, August, Sept., Oct.

Destination Salem at NH Leisure Expo this weekend!

Come visit Destination Salem and the North of Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau at the New Hampshire Leisure Travel show in Portsmouth, NH, this weekend. We will be there on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7.

Representatives from the Hawthorne Hotel, History Alive, The House of the Seven Gables, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Salem Ferry, and the Salem Witch Museum will be staffing the booth for Salem. In addition to North of Boston CVB staff, representatives from the Atlantis Ocean Front Inn (Gloucester), Seaport Gloucester, the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, Ipswich, Marblehead, Marriott hotels, and the Essex National Heritage Commission will be there.

Admission is $10, kids under 12 are free, and your admission ticket is also a raffle ticket (check out the raffle prizes on NHLeisureExpo.com... the Hawthorne Hotel and the Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites both donated prizes).

We will have fun and games and prizes all weekend long. Stop by and enter to win destination packages for Salem and the North of Boston region. Under the fun-and-games category - On Sunday (only Sunday) the Peabody Essex Museum will have two people at the booth doing interactive crafts from recycled material to upcoming Trash Menagerie exhibit.

It's going to be lots of fun. Hope to see you there!

Make Salem your vacation hub

How many days should we plan to stay in Salem?

I hear that a lot. And I can honestly tell you: As many as you have! If you have the time to spend four or five days in Salem, there are an awful lot of options for how to spend your time. Here's how you might fill the hours...

Find your accommodations and check in to Salem on day one. If you check in at 3pm, you have time for one attraction or museum (but do save the Peabody Essex Museum for day two when you have a few hours to spend). Grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant - if you have come from inland, search for terrific seafood on Pickering Wharf. After dinner, muster up your energy for a walking tour of Salem - Salem has tour companies that will share history or haunts, it's up to you! (If your energy is truly waning, grab an historic tour with Historic Salem Pedicab Tours - and leave the exercise to your guide!)

On day two grab one of the trolleys and take their one-hour tour of Salem and then you can use your ticket for an on-again-off-again shuttle service throughout the day. Explore Salem's museums and attractions, take a sail aboard Schooner Fame, stop by one of our confectioners for a treat, and save a bit of time for shopping. After dinner, sample some local music at Rockafellas, The Lobster Shanty, or Gulu Gulu Cafe.

This brings us to day three - the day you head out of Salem. I would spend day three in Boston. Hop on The Salem Ferry in the morning and enjoy the 45-minute ride to Central Wharf in Boston. Make sure to pick up Cruise-and-Dine information and have your ticket stamped so you can save some money on lunch or dinner - in Boston or Salem! If you are traveling with kids, the New England Aquarium is adjacent to the Ferry landing in Boston. Faneuil Hall and Quincy (remember - it's pronounced "Quin-Zee") are across the street and will entertain all ages. Visit the National Park Service visitor center on State Street, and grab a Freedom Trail tour. Boston is a very walkable city with incredible museums, distinctive neighborhoods, theatre, restaurants, and great shopping. If you don't want to walk, hop on the T - Boston's subway system. You'll have no problem filling your day, and you can snooze on the Ferry ride back to Salem. You won't miss your stop, it's the only one!

On day four, after a very good night's sleep, you have the region north of Salem to explore! Head up to Gloucester - the MBTA Commuter Rail can take you there, or you can drive via scenic Rte. 127 or the slightly faster Rte. 128 - and head out on a whale watch with Capt. Bill & Sons. The whale watching is incredible this year, and all of the trips have naturalists on board. Arts enthusiasts will love the art colonies in Gloucester in Rockport, and architectural buffs will be in seventh heavan in Ipswich and Newburyport. Those traveling wiht kids should check out CoCoKey in Danvers. It's an indoor water park, and the kids will love you for adding it to your experience. If you're goal is to add to the shopping you started in Salem, head toward Marblehead, Newburyport, and Rockport. For more information on the region, visit the North of Boston CVB and the Essex National Heritage Area web sites.

I didn't get into the region's beaches - and we have stunning, sandy beaches in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Ipswich, Marblehead, Gloucester, and Rockport. Your innkeepers will certainly be able to point you to the beach that fits your needs.

Salem is a fantastic, unique, historic destination, and it is fortunate to be located in an incredible region of Massachusetts and New England. Enjoy your exploration!

17th Century Saturdays

17th Century Saturdays is (are!) one of my favorite events in the region. Salem and the entire Essex National Heritage Area, or north of Boston region, is incredibly rich in architectural treasures. There are dozens upon dozens of historic properties that are, on occasion, open to the public. The challenge for you, the patient visitor, has always been knowing just when such a historic site is open for visitation and exploration.

Many of the properties are staffed by volunteers who graciously give their time to sharing the sites they love with the public. There are a couple of cases where there is a paid staff, but a single person is responsible for staffing two, three, or five houses. (These are talented site managers, each and every one!)

Well, 17th Century Saturdays takes the guesswork out of the exploration of architectural treasures north of Boston. The program coordinates the first-period properties throughout the region so they are all (or most) open on the first Saturday of the month, June through October. This weekend, on July 5th, the following houses in Salem will be open to the public:

• The Gedney House, 21 High Street. Built in 1665, the well-crafted and sophisticated timber framed house attests to the wealth and social standing of the home's builder and first owner, Eleazor Gedney. Gedney was a successful shipwright related by marriage to John Turner, builder of The House of the Seven Gables.
• The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street. The House of the Seven Gables, also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, built in 1668, is the oldest surviving 17th century wooden mansion in New England. The House of the Seven Gables inspired author Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his legendary novel of the same name.
• The Narbonne House, 71 Essex Street. The house is named after Sarah Narbonne, whose grandfather Jonathan Andrews purchased the house in 1780. Sarah was born in the Narbonne house, and lived there for her entire life, which stretched nearly the length of the 19th century.
• The John Ward House at The Peabody Essex Museum (10:30 tour only). Begun about 1684 and added to on several occasions by John Ward, this frame house is an excellent example of the organic, additive process by which most such dwellings developed, growing and changing as family needs and finances dictated.
• Salem in 1630 (Pioneer Village), Forest River Park. Salem's oldest living history museum is a recreation of the English colony established by Roger Conant and his intrepid band of settlers. From these humble beginnings, the seeds of Revolution were planted.
• The Witch House (Jonathan Corwin House), 310 Essex Street. The Witch House is the only surviving building in Salem with ties to the Salem Witch Trials,

If you can't make it this Saturday, many of the sites are open again on Aug. 2, Sept. 6, and Oct. 4. For more information, visit www.EscapesNorth.com.

Photos: Gedney House, 1665; Kitchen hearth in The Corwin House, ca. 1642.