Salem, Massachusetts
Our first stop on the “Test Drive” vacation. We rented a 28A from Cruise America. Note the graphics :). We were a rolling billboard, but we didn’t mind. It was a fantastic trip. Winter Island park is a retired Coast Guard Rescue Station. Donated to the town of Salem, it was refurbished and now serves as a campground and boat launch. The facilities were awesome. We had a great spot right next to the boat ramp. Water & electric, no sewer though. There is an off site dump station and campers get a free coupon to use it. The restrooms and showers were very well maintained and there was also a well stocked camp store. Ideally located on the outskirts of town, it is served by a local trolley system. Running on a regular schedule, the trolley is pet friendly and the ticket gets you unlimited on-off access over the entire route. Running from Winter Island Park, it makes several stops throughout historic Salem before looping back to the park. We used it to explore Salem and had a wonderful day. The highlight of our stay though had to be the POP-UP Drive-In Movie! They set up a huge screen on the side of the old Seaplane Hanger. Jurassic Park was the movie and wow did they do a great job. The sound system was fantastic and the pre-movie activities were absolutely hysterical. There was a Dinosaur Race before the movie started and several food trucks were on site featuring some really delicious local fare. I apologize in advance for the lack of photos. I’ll be correcting that in the future, adding video as well. For our first stop, Winter Island certainly set the bar pretty high!! I’ve linked their brochure at the bottom of this post. I highly recommend Winter Island Park. We plan on returning next summer for sure.
