Salem Willows

Skipping out on the standard Friday post to bring you some photos from a favorite spot of mine in Salem: the Salem Willows "amusement park." That's what they call it on the signs leading you there, but once you get there it's just Salem Willows Park. I think if this was my first time (far from it!) going here I would be seriously disappointed at the use of the phrase "amusement park" to describe this small area. It's bigger than it looks below though. Off to the right is a large grassy area right on the water perfect for picnics and other outdoorsy family activity, there are even a few tables.

I didn't grab individual photos of the food stands because they're not visually noteworthy. However, there is a decent variety of junk food: burgers, a pizza place, ice cream, a Chinese place that's popular with the locals for its chop suey sandwiches and a stand that sells popcorn and a multitude of flavored taffy. I think it's required if you have any kind of park near the water on the East Coast, you must sell taffy somewhere.

Aside from needing to get out of the house, the inspiration for this photo shoot was a recent post over at Lair of the Dork Horde about finding a retro game haven. The arcade here isn't bad considering how hard it is to find 80s' video games around here. They have more games that I didn't take pictures of including a few more recent shooting and racing games and about 8 pinball machines. There was one that I forget the name of but it had a ton of classics built into it and you can select which game you want to play. In addition to the "big kids" arcade, there is a place next to it with ticket redemption games.

There is also a run down, "blink and you'll walk right by it" mini-golf course and the "kiddie" area with rides and a very cool carousel which was built in 1866. I don't know what it is about these car carousels but I can't get enough photos of it!

Watch out for that shifty mouse in the back corner

You can check out the entire gallery of Salem Willows photos on Flickr.
and here's a couple of bonus photos from my Twitter feed in case you missed them
Galaga high score!
Down by the water