Weetamoo Woods, Tiverton - October 23, 2016

Patriot Fan

Closer to home this weekend. Up early and out of the house without even one cup of coffee...busy day ahead. We decided to go back to Weetamoo Woods in Tiverton this Sunday, it's close by and it is very pretty. I chose a restaurant in Island Park (Portsmouth), Rhode Island which is right on the beach. . . a perfect place to start the morning. It turned out to be a great choice. The food was fantastic, great eggs, spuds with chourico hash and perfect toast. Nana said her veggie omelet was also made to perfection. We will come back here. As it turned out it was also only about ten minutes form the woods. When we arrived there was only one other car parked in the lot - we have it to our selves. I have made another video  of our hike and since I didn't get any complaints from the last video I will stick it in here.

I have fun making videos so let me know what I am doing right or what I am doing wrong or what kinds of information you would like to include in the videos. Saturday was a wet day with torrents of rain and Sunday morning (hiking day) started off with a roaring west wind which continued to build

Lots of stone walls

 as the day progressed.  Once we stepped onto the trail there was no sound or any effect from the wind at all..these are nice dense woods. There is a great variety of trees and bushes and mushrooms and all sorts of plants. The trail is easy walking and well marked. Highly recommended. We are always amazed at the number of stone walls there are deep in the woods. You might ask "Why would they take the time to build all of these walls in the woods?" Well they didn't of course. These were all fields and the walls were made from the stones they removed from the fields. Coming from Illinois where the soil is rich and black and virtually without a stone, I cannot fathom the hardships of farming in New England back in the 'olden days'. What is also surprising is that the ground is still filled with stone!

Pappa and his silly hat

It must have been back breaking work to dig the stone and transport it to the fence. During todays's walk we met several people and a few dogs and people on their mountain bikes. There are Holly trees here that are the size of Oaks and an area filled with Rhododendrons. Way back in the woods we came upon the foundations of something which was very large at one time. It was built along side of a very small stream which we guessed must have been used either as a power supply or to cool the building somehow. All in all a great walk today. Nana and I figured that the total distance was 3.8 miles on the route that we took, and there is lots more to explore here.

Pix

Little white mushroom

Nana on the trail

Nana & Pappa

Nice fungus

Back on th eRed Dot trail

New Hampshire - October 15-16 2016

Nana in Nashua

A bit different this weekend, as Nana and I went off to New Hampshire to visit with a long lost cousin. However, on the way we stopped in Nashua at Bud's Restaurant for breakfast (which was great) before we went on to the Airstream dealer. Yes, we are still thinking of traveling this great country of ours by the blue highways and back roads.

Our dream Airstream 25'FB

And we are thinking about traveling in style, an Airstream. Whether or not this comes to pass is yet to be seen but the dream is alive and all we really have to do is workout the finer points and then commit to it. We did this once before and ended up cruising for about four years which you can read about here. So the search has begun and the dilemmas mount... all feedback is welcome.  The Airstream seems to be the best trailer we have found so far...a bit pricey but they seem to hold their value and are very solidly built. wouldn't you know that right near by was an electric bike shop, so we also stopped there and tried out electric bikes..now these are the height of laziness, but would make a fine dinghy for a trailer. After our morning of daydreams we made our way of to our cousins house for a good reunion and out to dinner. Sunday morning we arrived at

View from Mount Kearsage

Mount Kearsage and did a bit of a climb there although not a long climb we had a great time and the foliage was spectacular. The walking got a bit tough and although we did not make the summit we got a good feel for the mountain. We also had lunch on the mountainside.

View from our lunch site.

From Mount Kearsage we headed to the farm where the great poet and author, Robert Frost lived. His farm is in Derry, New Hampshire and although the home was closed up for the season there was some great hiking on the farm's grounds. We got in another two and a half miles in the forest around the farm and spent some time exploring the grounds and had a good walk around the house. I even got in a bit of time sketching. And the a long drive home with the New England Patriots keeping up excited on the radio. This was the third consecutive weekend of listening to the game rather than watching it --- and even though we won the game, it would have been better on tv.

Some pix

on the farm trail

Robert Frost's home

This says it all

Robert Frost Farm, Derry, New Hampshire

My sketch of the barn

Conners Farm, Smithfield, RI - October 10, 2016

Mug Shot Again!

Today started off at Laura's Pleasant View Diner in Smithfield. We think this is our third time at Laura's and we still like the food and the service, and will likely return again. We have been here that many times because the hiking is very good in this part of Rhode Island and today we returning to a place we hiked last winter when the leaves were gone, Conners Farm. This spot is a good easy hike about two and a half miles long, not too strenuous but yet not flat by any means. Breakfast for Nana and Pappa today was omelets, Nana with a veggie and Pappa with a western..and they got the toast just right.. and lots of good hot coffee. We arrived at the parking area at Conners Farm about ten minutes after we left the diner and donned our packs and started off to the trail. The scenery here is fantastic even without wide expansive views, the rock strewn trail provides a wonderful visual and the variety of plants is just fantastic. Lots of mushrooms along the trail today. There has been a lot of rain here the

Rocks along the trail

past couple of days so the ground is ripe for mushrooms to pop up, and they have.  I know I have said it before but we are so fortunate to have so many places like this within reach of home, this place is about 20 minutes from our house. To to try something new I recorded the hike today and have edited a short piece to share the walk with you. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know if you would like me to post more like this. I have fun putting it together, The music is by an artist named Shaun Paul, a cello instructor in Washington State, I love his mellow sound. So take a few minutes, sit back and come along for a hike with Nana and Pappa.

Conners Farm Hike - with Nana and Pappa from Edward Huff on Vimeo.
Best to watch this full screen.


Conners Farm Trail - 30 Second Guide

A couple more photos:

Nana along the trail

The trails are well marked and well maintained.

Uxbridge - September 25, 2016

The Mug Shot

Out in good time today and off to Uxbridge Massachusetts for breakfast at Mom's Restaurant on Main Street. When we arrived there was no line (we got in ahead of the church crowd I think) and a table was being cleaned..the prior patron had left one penny on the table, so I made some wisecracks to the waitress and she took them in good nature. Breakfast was served in an expedient manner and we both had omelets this morning along with our coffee.

Main Street - Uxbridge MA

Clean, friendly and not at all expensive..our kind of place. So when the waitress came to pick up the table, the tip she found was generous, and it had an extra penny on top. We got a goos smile and were on our way. Five minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot of the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Trail at the River Bend Farm. We saw a car with some cool inflatable kayaks - I took a pic to research later. The visitor center was nice and as with all Massachusetts State Parks a map is available, and nicely done too. I chatted with a ranger and she gave us some good information for a 3 mile walk. This is not a challenging walk, but nice and flat, but pretty and tranquil with few people along the trail. The trail is the old towpath along the Blackstone Canal and it passes several interesting spots. We hiked from the farm down to a mill complex which look as though it is being converted to commercial and residential use. I would love to have a studio there.

It looked as though the exterior was completely done and the interior was gutted and waiting to be finished. Nana and I walked all around the place and imagines what it must have been like in it's hay day of manufacturing with water power and moving goods along the canal..a different time indeed.  Along the tow path there was a flood/control gate that maintained the level of the canal.

Flood gate

It is no longer operable and the water beyond the gate was all green with algae. As we were leaving the mill making our way back to the tow path there was three steps of granite and I

Green scum stuff

managed to tip my foot on one of the steps which triggered a great slow motion fall. It is curious how the mind works at a moment like this. I knew instantly that I was going to fall, and knew that I WAS falling and it was all in slow motion, yet I had absolutely no capacity to catch myself or avert the fall or change direction. But I had plenty of time to think about what I should be doing. Luckily I was able to break my fall with my face into a nice soft bush. Of course no one had a video camera running, drat - I would have liked to see what Nana saw. . . must have been awesome. Back on the trail I lamented that no one was around to cheer and Nana didn't have the foresight to videotape my misadventure, oh well. We walked to the far end of the trail where there was a small waterfall and a pond-ish area with stone bridges and such. Pretty cool spot with promise of more trails across the road, next time.  More pix,

Entrance to the tow path

Pond and stone bridge

Flattest 3 miles ever

Uphill - Wachusett Mountain - 8/7/16

122 Diner

Up and out of the house early-ish today and on the road by about 8:15 headed north - on our way to find Wachusett Mountain in the middle of Massachusetts. But first, a stop in Holden, MA at the 122 Diner, on route 122, duh. . . We were seated promptly by friendly happy people and coffee arrived very quickly and once we ordered it seemed as though only seconds passed when breakfast arrived. I had my eggs and toast, which by the way the toast was perfect and I added bacon this time too as I knew I would be putting out some energy on the mountain. Nana's breakfast did not live up to her expectations and she left a bit disappointed in the food, but no complaints about the service. The waitress had a strange accent and neither Nana nor I could place it, kind of a midwestern valley girl sound.. .  strange for New England. The price was good and the service was good but the home fries were a bit mushy. So, once we refreshed and paid we were off to find the mountain. A short 12 minute drive delivered us to the entrance to find the lot at the visitor center full, so we found the second lot and a friendly ranger took six bucks from us to allow us to park.

Entrance

 We walked back to the visitors center and read all the good stuff and picked up a trail map. This trail was no slacker. It started up right from the trail head in the parking lot. I only took me a few minutes to start puffing and wheezing - Nana on the other hand didn't seem to crack a sweat. And neither did those young girls that passed us by, and did I mention the six year old and his father that just walked right past. . . damn but I gotta get back in shape. The trail was a jumble of rock and stone which had been arranged loosely into 'steps', kind of. I can only say that it was headed up the side of the mountain. I have to admit at this point,  that Wachusett Mountain is a weenie mountain, as mountains go. I know all the other mountains in Massachusetts laugh at Wachusett and New Hampshire and Maine mountains won't even talk to Wachusett, but it felt pretty large to me. Nana kind of left me in the dust a few times but was feeling sorry for me and would wait up as I came puffing along.

Nana on the climb

The steepness of the trail did not hold much appeal to Nana as she has a natural and understandable fear of falling down. Nana can sometimes be a bit unsure on steep rocky trails and this one made her a bit uncomfortable. Near the summit we crossed the road to the top and went separate ways..Nana took the road to the summit and I pushed on toward the summit on the trail, just because I wasn't completely wet yet, projectile sweating championships here I come. As it turned out we both arrived at the top of the mountain at the same time. Once out of the woods and on flatter ground my heart rate began to return to normal - It peaked at 124, normal for me is mid to low 50's - 53 - 54 is about what it normally is when resting. Nana and I walked around the open area at the top and were is the company of several hundred other people that had hiked, biked and drove up there.

Made it!

I would guess that there are at least eight trails that come to the summit and of course we took the steepest most direct trail. Looking to the East we could clearly make out Boston about 40 miles away and to the northwest we could see Mount Monadnock in Keene New Hampshire. The clouds were fantastic. We walked up to the observation tower and found a place to sit on a bench. I asked Nana to help me off with my backpack and she was shocked by how heavy it was. "What do you have in there" She asked. I told her that I had thought it would be a good place to shoot a time lapse so I packed my gear, tripod, camera lenses, filters and intervalometer.. you know the basics. I unpacked and sat up my tripod where I thought I had a good view of the clouds passing by to the North. The play of the shadows over the hills was fascinating to watch. I got the tripod stable and hung my backpack on the bottom hook to help stabilized the tripod, it was very

Time lapse gear

windy. We sat on the bench while my camera clicked away, eating trail mix and dried pineapple and I think I downed a large bottle of water. The fifteen minutes or so that we sat there yielded the time lapse below. It is only 10 seconds long but shows the motion of the clouds. We packed everything back into our packs and started the descent. We took a trail for a short distance but decided to return by the road which certainly was a beautiful walk down the mountain.

Harlow Lookout

We passed the Harlow Lookout shelter, what a beautiful place with a fantastic view. Nana and I both took many photos and panoramas. The walk back down was only about a mile and a half or so but it was still steep enough that I felt as though I was slipping into the toe of my boots. Today we walked a bit over three miles, maybe three and a half..going up it felt longer -- coming down it felt too short. It was good to get back to the car and get the air conditioning on -- it was a hot day. . .  Driving home we spotted a road sign that said Nana Trail..
Below are some pix and the time lapse I made at the summit

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."  Edmund Hillary

It is best to watch the time lapse full screen

Wachusett Mountain Time lapse from Edward Huff on Vimeo.

Ski Lift in summer - looks sad

Part of the Mid-State Trail

Panorama from Harlow Lookout

App says 3.7 miles..taken with a grain of salt

The road sign says Nana Trail!

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

Warm Sunday - Bluff Point State Park, Groton, CT

Buford's Family Restaurant

We got out of the house in good time this week and drove to Groton, Connecticut for a great breakfast at Buford's Family Restaurant. We parked in front of the Happy Tails Dog Grooming shop directly across the street from Buford's and wen we arrived, all the seats were taken so we sat at the counter. I have to say that this was  one of the friendliest places we had been in quite some time. It seems like everyone that was working at Buford's was genuinely happy to be there. This is just a small hole in the wall, neighborhood diner but it gets a five star rating from me.

Nana and Pappa at the counter

It was great sitting at the counter as this is where all the action is.  We had a great chat with the waitresses and the food was great, prompt and generous portions. Nana had a reuben omelet and I had my usual and they got the toast right. so score one for the small town diner. Nana and I chatted and caught up on all the happenings of the past week. Sunday mornings are always great this way as the week days are busy and it can be difficult to get it all said, so we get it all out on Sunday mornings, over eggs and coffees and home fries. Once we were fortified we set off to find Bluff Point State Park. We had hiked here once before, (before this blog) back in late November of last year and have great memories of that time. The big loop part of the trail is 

just over 4 miles starting in a dusty parking area. We chose this spot because it is near the water and has beaches on Long Island Sound. Nana needed to be by the water and this seemed to be just the spot.

Nana gets her bearings

It was building into another hot day as we started up the path but we walked in comfort in the shade of Hickory and Oak and had a great breeze coming in off the Sound. The trail here is wide and well traveled and there is no need of trail markers. No blazes on the trees here.

Out on the point, overlooking the Sound.

As is usually the case I began to perspire heavily a short way into the walk, it is just what I do...  but this time Nana had reminded me to bring my hat so the sweat wouldn't run into my eyes. It worked! Thanks Nana! However there was at least one noticeable drawback. The picture on the right taken at the diner turned out pretty good and Nana wanted a copy to send to our son who lives on the far shore in California. When I went to send it to her (it was on my iPhone) I had to look down at my screen and when I did that a puddle of water formed on my screen. Yep, I had sweat my hat completely full, so when I tipped my head down, it would run in a stream from the bill. I was able to overcome these hardships and press on. As the sun got higher in the sky, more and more fun seekers arrives along the trail and we passed quite a few heading for the beach with arms full of beach toys and towing wagons and baskets behind. We made it back to the start having logged over 4 miles. The apps are still in conflict - I am guessing 4 miles even. Once back to the car we swapped out our backpacks for beach chairs and found a great spot in the shade. Nana was reading and I was sketching and all the while we had a good conversation going. Once when I needed to go the the mens room (they actually had a solar powered mens room) I was fortunate to have a hot dog stand in my path, so on my return trip I made the acquaintance of the purveyor of fine dogs. He was a large guy who was falling asleep in his chair while playing Sudoko - I think I save him from the pain of boredom. We ended up chatting for quite a while. Not only does he sell hot dogs but raises champion 'coon hounds. Growing up in Illinois my neighbor had several runs of hounds and 'coon hunting was a big sport in my childhood. Even though we became kindred spirits, he still charged me full retail for the dog. I took my dog back to my spot in the shade and Nana and I were in a cool, breezy spot on a hot summer day. Oh and did I mention that there is a Dairy Queen at the entrance to the park. . . 

Some Pictures

On the 'trail' 

By the beach

Even though it sys 4.5 I bet it was only 4

The view from my chair