Halloween is my favorite holiday so when my friend Aki suggested meeting up in Lambertville to check out the decked out houses, I was more than on board.
Our first stop of course was lunch. I really liked this place, but the staff seemed a bit overwhelmed with the Saturday crowd. Also my Guinness beef pie took forever to heat up (which I wouldn’t have minded if I had been given the heads up), and parts of the inside were still cold. Regardless it was tasty. On our way out, I couldn’t resist a huge double chocolate cookie to save for later.
A day out with Aki wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a winery. I loved this place. It was very low-key and a lot of fun.
Because Aki’s a member, we were able to have a free tasting of seven wines each. We decided we liked the rose best and got a bottle to share. We sat at a table outside drinking, eating, and chatting.
Antiques Center at the People’s Store
Before checking out the decorated houses, we stopped at this antique shop. Aki had heard they had an exhibition of “vampire hunting kits” and thought I’d be interested. HELL YES. My friend knows me well.
Admittedly, I had no idea there were real-life vampire hunters. I thought it was all fiction. Of course whether or not the vampires they were hunting were real is another story.
We talked with the owner of the collection quite a bit. Besides all the vampire hunting stuff, he told us a creepy story of a kind of “devil’s bust” he used to own. He sold it to two people who promptly gave it back. One didn’t even want a refund. Apparently with the first buyer, they heard disembodied voices and noises. With the other, they saw actual apparitions. He showed us a picture, and I’m sorry to say it looked fake. Or it could have been a person or not. Of course if I had seen it in real life, I would have plotzed.
We also talked about ouija boards. While he has a vast collection of them, he’s also scared of them. I started telling him about that Spanish horror movie, Veronica, and he was like, “I don’t want to hear about it!” The reason we got on the topic is because he had out a gorgeous oujia board which was painted by Aleister Crowley. I had taken a bunch of pictures, but after my conversation with the guy, I was suddenly creeped out by the idea that I had these on my phone. I said, “Maybe I should delete those photos from my phone.” He agreed.
His reasoning is that while the vampire killing stuff have an intention for good (even if possibly innocent people have been killed) and use the power of God, ouija boards are a gateway to demons and stuff. ‘Nuff said.
Halloween houses
Next were all the decorated houses. I took a zillion pictures. Here are some of the highlights. We also randomly got a tour of the INSIDE of someone’s house. The outside was decorated really cool —
— which we commented on to the guys hanging out outside. The next thing we knew, he was inviting us in. They were getting ready for a party, and the guests weren’t do yet so we had a few minutes to see it all gussied up.
Oh you know, just going into some random person’s house on Halloween.
Art gallery and pho
Something Aki and I both like to do is crash art exhibition openings and partake of free booze and snacks. She knew of one in Princeton and so we headed there as one of our last stops.
The art was somewhat interesting, but I didn’t have any wine. I think the combo of the wine with the sugar of the cookie was a bad idea. I had a terrible headache and also got carsick. At the reception I had a bunch of pretzels and crackers, hoping salty carbs would save the day.
In the end they did, in the form of pho.
Aki assured me it would hit the spot, and it really did. I ate the whole thing. The broth was really tasty. The whole thing was tasty. When we got back in the car to walk around downtown before my train, I felt a billion times better. My headache was gone, and I was no longer feeling like I was going to throw up.
As we started to walk around, we both saw across the street a bus going to the city. I still had a half an hour wait for my train, and we both thought, How about that bus? We went up and it turned out 1) it was leaving right that minute, and 2) I could buy a ticket on the bus without a fee. Score! The bus line was the same as the one that goes to my mom’s, which means comfy and roomy seats. Plus, unlike the train, it was dark and quiet. The train on a weekend night is always rowdy and also very bright.
A comfy end to a superfun day.