Borderland State Park, MA

Today started off in Foxboro MA, home of the New England Patriots, Go Pats!,

At the Commons

at the Commons Restaurant and even though it was one of those Sunday mornings where we had to wait for a table we (I) maintained our humor and let the time and worries roll away. Nana and I were served coffee right away by a cheerful waitress, we ordered and the food seemed as though it had been waiting for us on the back shelf..good friendly fast service. (Once we got seated). Nana had the breakfast burrito and I broke from tradition and had a Western Omelet...hmmm... I see why people like these things. I have discovered that some other tiny traditions have crept into our breakfast outings.. I always take a bit of Grape Jam on my toast while Nana is an Orange Marmalade woman...seems to be consistent. I checked out the driving time to the Park I had selected and it was only about 12 minutes away. Once we paid and made one last tour of the restrooms we set off for Borderland State Park, somewhere new as is always the goal. It was an easy drive and SIRI gave us great directions so we arrived in the predicted 12 minutes. Technology is getting to be so good at thinking for us that we will soon forget how to use maps or the Dewey Decimal System -- and I know that anyone reading this has fewer than three phone numbers committed to memory.  To my surprise when, we arrived at the park, there was a fee of $6.00 to be paid and it was a fully automated system requiring 

 

$6 to Park!

me to exit the car and approach an unfamiliar bit of technology and have a conversation with this machine by pressing buttons, declaring statehood and inserting plastic money. It then spat out a receipt and I was instructed to place it on my dashboard in full view so the dashboard police and make sure I am not violating any rules.  All in all a good system, and I don't really begrudge the six bucks, as it turned out that this was a beautiful place for Nana and Pappa to walk. We found our way to the park headquarters and got a free map of the trails and grounds, and made use of the facilities one more time..too much coffee I guess.

At the trailhead.

We started off on the West Side Trail and wandered to the French Trail and by the time we made it to the Granite Rock Trail where we discovered a huge bolder field and the walking had more of an uphill, down hill personality. Not real huff and puffing walking but noticeable. At some point we wandered back toward the lake, then on and on until we made our way to some very large fields on the east side of the lake. Upon leaving the fields we met a couple of guys who were walking several very large dogs. Bothe the men and the dogs were very friendly. I wish I could retain the breed of dogs a couple of them were but I cannot recall what we were told but they were very large dogs - maybe black bear sized dogs - very friendly. We pressed on and the young men told us that it was just about a mile back to the parking area, but also said it was going to 'really rain in about 20 minutes' so we picked up the pace. It never rained. 

The big house

These grounds were made by the Ames's in around 1910-ish  - you can look it up. But the long and the short of it was that they made this place their home and later left it to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - the name Borderland comes for the fact that it is on the border of a couple of towns - Easton and Sharon, MA. It is quite a beautiful place and they have a Frisbee Golf course and apparently hold public events frequently in the big house. Nice!

Nana and I hike around the whole grounds surrounding the house which is lush with gardens and sculptures and waterfalls. Very nice ending for a day on the trail.  As usual I was completely wet for the walk and Nana had the presence of mind to pack an extra shirt for me to change into so I wouldn't embarrass myself, or her, should we meet up with anyone. As it turned out we were near a Woodcraft Store, and I can't pass one of those, meaning we did stop on our way back home..so thanks Nana for thinking of me. Now a few more pictures.

Bolders along the trail

Special birding spot

Near the big house

Our trek

Nana on the trail