I Suck At Lime Rickey's Beach Food

today, my bff (kerry) asked if i wanted to do lunch.

kerry is off this entire week. as she had some free time today (and since because she was in neighboring salem), she thought it would be a good idea to grab a bite to eat together.

we decided to grab lunch at lime rickey's beach food in marblehead. now, i suck at lime rickey's beach food. i have never been to lime rickey's. i had heard of the place from the phantom gourmet one day when i was flipping channels (because i don't normally watch the phantom gourmet). in fact, the only reason the phantom gourmet caught my attention (aside from the food of course) was that it had mentioned the town of marblehead which is where i work.

the phantom gourmet gave lime rickey's a favorable review, so i had suggested it to kerry. i actually drive by lime rickey's whenever i commute to work. i pass by the swampscott location in the morning. there are only two lime rickey's locations and the marblehead location is... well... supposedly the fancier one because it resides on what is referred to as "the neck" in marblehead. "the neck" in marblehead is the fancier side of marblehead with the big huge houses. apparently, i just work in the 'hood of marblehead.

anyway, kerry picked me up at my company. she could probably tell you... getting to my place of employment... very convoluted and difficult. but she was able to find it. so we headed off to devereaux beach, which is where the marblehead location of lime rickey's is.

(pictured below is kerry during our lunch.)


i will agree with the phantom gourmet. the food was pretty good. i had a fried fish sandwich and a raspberry lime rickey. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) i had to have the lime rickey... because that's their name... and that's what they are supposed to be good at making. truth be told, i would have preferred if the cup were larger with less ice... but it was good nonetheless. (while i'm at it, i probably would have preferred the tuna melt too, which was my original choice for lunch. unfortunately, they were out of tuna today.) all in all, the food was good. i would even say that the fish sandwich was better than king's in salem.

in addition to the good food, the weather was great... it was a perfect day to spend at the beach. the only problem... devereaux beach... not too clean. kerry was a little horrified, to say the least, at the amount of litter on the beach. apparently, marblehead "neck"ers should spend less time necking... and more time cleaning... although i suppose if i were given the choice, i'd probably choose necking too.

litter aside, i had a great time with my bff. i'd love to do lunch again with kerry.

I Suck At The 1727 Old Town House

today, i finally finished the marblehead walking tour that i had downloaded from marblehead's chamber of commerce website (complete with accompanying marblehead map). the download from the chamber of commerce website was an .mp3 file that could be listened to via the ipod. (basically, someone narrates the tour while you walk around marblehead.)

i must say, i'm glad that the walking tour is finally over. even though i enjoyed sight-seeing and learning about the town of marblehead, i felt a little silly standing by myself in front of certain residential houses or whatnot, looking at the exterior of the house, and listening to my ipod of the downloaded walking tour with map in hand. for anyone who did not know i was doing the walking tour (which is the entire population of marblehead), i must have appeared to be that strange creepy guy.

regardless, there really was not much to see today. after a while, every old house looks like the next one. don't get me wrong, the old houses of marblehead look amazing with its exquisite details and whatnot. (not to sound old, but things were definitely built better back in the day... the fact that these old houses are still standing and inhabitable is a testament to that.) if i were into architecture more, perhaps i could truly appreciate the house designs. as it is, all i can really say is... "that's a pretty house".

anyway, the highlight from today is the 1727 old town house (yes, it was a slow day). now i suck at the 1727 old town house. the old town house is apparently referred to as "marblehead's cradle of liberty" because there were many pre-revolutionary war meetings held there. it is also one of the oldest town halls in america that is still in use.

(pictured below is the 1727 old town house.)


it's funny. everything in marblehead is "old". there's the old brig; the old burial hill; the old north church (not the one in boston); the old town house. (i wonder at what point does the moniker "old" get used. when i reach that point, i may want to refer to myself as "old mike".) anyway, i guess the whole historic thing is what gives marblehead its charm. marblehead is like trip back in time.

needless to say, i had fun walking around marblehead and getting to know the town. now if only i can sell my friends on that picnic idea.

I Suck At Old Burial Hill

today was day three of my walking tour of marblehead. i didn't know there would be that many things to see around the town of marblehead. lucky for me, the weather was beautiful today for my tour.

anyway, today i got to see the town wharf, lovis cove, fort sewall (again), the gas house beach, the old burial hill, redd's pond, the old north church (not the one in boston), and the elbridge gerry house (for anyone who is curious, elbridge gerry was a signer of the declaration of independence. he was also one of three men who refused to sign the constitution unless it had a bill of rights. he was also the 5th vice president of the united states under james madison and a governor of massachusetts. he is also the namesake for "gerrymandering", a process by which electoral districts are drawn with the aim of aiding the party in power. yes, it's that elbridge gerry who was born in marblehead.) interestingly enough... with all the places seen today, i still have yet to complete the entire tour. i am guessing that i have one more day left before completing the walking tour of marblehead.

the highlight from today is the old burial hill. (the actual highlight would have been fort sewall had i not already visited fort sewall earlier.) anyway i suck at old burial hill. i've never been one for graveyards. i always thought it was a little odd to take pictures of graveyards. and yet, i couldn't resist taking a picture myself because it was... well... pretty... and i like pretty things. i have also been known to be drawn to shiny objects.

(pictured below is the old burial hill.)


apparently, old burial hill is one of the most picturesque graveyards in new england as it has views of marblehead harbor. old burial hill is also the burial site of approximately 600 revolutionary soldiers. (i don't know how they all fit up there because the place is not that big.) even though there are 600 soldiers buried there, only a few of those graves are marked. the place apparently was also the site of the first meeting house in marblehead... i can't think of a better place to meet than a graveyard...

needless to say, even though old burial hill is quite scenic and pretty, i would still choose fort sewall and crocker park for a picnic with my friends.

I Suck At Crocker Park

today, i covered a lot of ground during my continuation of the walking tour of marblehead. as luck would have it, the rain did not come until after my lunch break. i guess mother nature felt bad for me yesterday.

picking up from where i left off (the abbot house), i visited the mansion of col. jeremiah lee a few blocks down. apparently, col. jeremiah lee was the wealthiest man in massachusetts in 1771. he was a merchant who owned one of the largest fleets of vessels at the time. in addition to leading such a tough life as the wealthiest man, col. jeremiah lee served on the revolutionary committee responsible for amassing men, supplies, food, provisions, and weapons for rebel militia companies in massachusetts. apparenly, he also did a lot of undercover activities like procuring weapons from france and spain and meeting with john hancock and sam adams. unfortunately, he had an early death and was thus thrown into historical obscurity (just not in marblehead of course).

from there, i visited the king hooper mansion. king hooper was not a king, although he was a wealthy shipping merchant. (i am thinking everyone in marblehead was wealthy.) robert hooper was given the title "king" by local seamen because of his reputation for being fair. king hooper mansion is currently the home of the marblehead arts assocation. so, there are tons of paintings and artwork throughout the mansion. the main attraction of king hooper mansion is the basement. (yes, i know, it sounds like a cheap ploy to lure people for some x-rated activity.) the basement is... simply old. there's an old kettle and fireplace down there... and some hanky panky action... just kidding.

along the way, there were other interesting looking houses. one of the more interesting houses was herreschoff castle, which is a residential home built to look like... a castle. it looked neat.

the most attractive site today, however, was crocker park. yes, i suck at crocker park. crocker park has some amazing views of marblehead harbor. the park was originally known as bartoll's head, but was renamed after uriel crocker who donated a large portion of the land to marblehead.

(pictured below is the view from crocker park.)


one of the things i actually like about crocker park is that there is a bench known as "bud's bench". according to the plaque on bud's bench, bud courted his wife on the bench. the bench was his favorite spot because of the happiness he found in his marriage and life. there is even a quote from bud: "do a good deed every day and find something to smile about". it's a very nice quote.

needless to say, i'd settle for a picnic at crocker park as well.

I Suck At Abbot Hall

after today, i am considering a career change. i am thinking that i should work for the post office. after all, "neither rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow nor heat of day nor dark of night shall keep this carrier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds." in this case, my appointed rounds is the marblehead walking tour.

(in case any of you are curious, the above quote is from the greek historian, herodotus. it is not the official slogan of the postal service. the us postal service does not have an official slogan. apparently, the reason the quote is associated with the post office is because the new york city general post office has herodotus's saying engraved all around it... and it just stuck.)

anyway, i started my walking tour around the town of marblehead during my lunch break. even though it was raining, i was not going to let the weather stop me. all right, so maybe i was not thinking correctly when i decided to go walking in the rain. it wouldn't be the first time that i got caught in the pouring rain during work hours. i was just so excited about learning about the town of marblehead that i was determined to see the sights. too bad i began the tour by getting lost through the mean streets of marblehead.

when i finally found my way, i ended up at abbot hall. now, i suck at abbot hall. i've never been to abbot hall... in part because i've never been to the town of marblehead up until my new job there.

according to my friend wikipedia, "Abbot Hall contains the original of the widely-reproduced Spirit of '76 painting by Archibald MacNeal Willard, the deed to Marblehead from the Nanapashemet tribe of Native Americans (dated 1684), and a number of other historical artifacts." one of the other intriguing things about abbot hall is that it has a huge clock tower with a functional clock that is wound weekly.

(pictured below is the famous spirit of '76 paining... also known as yankee doodle.)


i must say... the painting... is ginormous. it takes up almost the entire wall of the room. the painting really is quite patriotic (which i suppose it is meant to be since it is commemorating us indenpendence). i believe the model for the old man in the picture is willard's father; the fifer a friend and civil war veteran hugh moser; and the drummer a military school cadet from cleveland named harry deveraux. there is actually a painting of general deveraux also in the room. unfortunately, i forget how he is related to the town of marblehead (other than being the inspiration for the drummer boy).

anyway, after abbot hall i had to return back to work. (i spent too much time wandering around the mean streets of marblehead looking for the starting point of the walking tour in the rain. i realized i was headed in the wrong direction when i noticed i was exiting the entire town of marblehead.)

needless to say, i'm looking forward to continuing with the rest of the walking tour. i'm hoping to learn more about the town of marblehead.