"Weekend" Explorations Pt. 1 (and garden update!)

Because Mike works the traditional Saturday/Sunday weekend, our weekend is Thursday/Friday...and this "weekend" we decided to do a little local exploration. We used to go on little trips all the time, but haven't in a while. April from Flourish and Debonair's blog post was just the kick in the butt we needed to get out!
And I think we lucked out majorly, because the weather Thursday and Friday was gorgeous, and it's been raining all Saturday and Sunday!

First stop: The North Shore. We love the quaint New England shore towns like Glouster and Essex, so we drove up that way on the hunt for three things: sea glass, old cemeteries, and antiques.


We went to a beach in Glouster to do some sea glass hunting. It was pretty quiet and we found some sea glass, but not a whole lot. Of course I forgot to bring a sweatshirt and had to commandeer Mike's, so we didn't stay for too long.
After that we zipped over to one of my favorite antique stores, the White Elephant in Essex. I got some great new sheet music for future projects there, score!
Right behind the White Elephant is a very old cemetery dating back to the 1600's.


We've tried to go there before but were driven out by mosquitoes. But today it was bright and sunny and perfect! There are some really amazing old graves there.
By this time we were pretty ravenous. The North Shore has tons of wonderful restaurants, but the majority of them around Essex are seafood...not particularly good for veggies! As we were driving around aimlessly with increasingly growling stomachs we passed the sign for a family farm we've been to in the past.
"RUSSEL ORCHARDS! TURN THE CAR AROUND!" I screamed as Mike slammed the breaks and pulled a U-ie. You see, Russel Orchards is a magical place where they produce sunshine and happiness. Well, almost. They have a giant old barn that is an open store with all sorts of handmade goodness. Warm cider donuts, fresh cider, homemade salsa and spreads, CANDY, soap...you name it. They are also home to some of the world's cutest animals.
We bought some donuts, cider, roasted red pepper salsa and crackers and had the most satisfying impromptu picnic right there. Then we walked around and I touched too many stinky animals.


On Friday we went down to the South Shore and continued to have even more amazing adventures, but I think I will bore you with those another time.

I did, however, want to give a quick update on the progress of our little deck garden, now a week later.
Everything is growing really well so far! The morning glory seeds have already started to sprout, and the topsy-turvy tomato plant has it's first buds. My flowers are growing like weeds (especially the lavender) and will probably need even bigger pots at some point. It's really fun to watch everything's progress everyday!