Since we weren’t able to eat lunch or dinner at the Sharpe Hill Vineyard, we decided to head out towards the Harvest Restaurant in Pomfret, CT. Laura and I had eaten there before and found it very nice.
On our way to the restaurant, we passed a little sign that said something like “State Park Campgrounds.” My parents have a long history of camping, so they really wanted to pull in to see what was going on. I was driving down a kind of busy road, so when we saw the next sign that said, “Mashamoquet Brook State Park Entrance,” they were only too happy to pull in there. I am glad we did, because we discovered a neat new state park with an awesome trail system. There are rivers and lakes and trails all over the place. We have to add this park on our growing list of great Connecticut state parks to hike in.
I took some photos for you to browse through.
Man-made pond at Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret, CT
Man-made pond at Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret, CT – view 2
Looking down the road at Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret, CT
This must be Mashamoquet Brook in Pomfret, CT
Some sort of snake that tried to attack me
Mashamoquet Brook in Pomfret, CT
Some wild flowers mixed in with grass
Sign for hiking trails and Mashamoquet campgrounds
As you may already know, my personality type parallels that of the great adventurists of the world…Richard Branson, the Wright brothers, Ranulph Fiennes, etc… Yes, that’s right, my story will most likely have its own Wikipedia page someday. I don’t see how it couldn’t. With all the exciting tales I endure throughout my days (usually within an acre of land), I am sure I will go down in history as one of the greats.
Okay, let’s come back to reality. I’m just a guy who likes to write from time to time.
I had a grand thought the other day. I was walking and thinking about how I hate Winter. I don’t really have a problem with Spring, Summer and Autumn, but Winter is hard for me.
One problem I have with Winter is with the lack of daylight. That bugs me. Last week, I had to rush back from playing tennis so we could go for a walk up the road before it got dark outside. It was only 3:15 in the afternoon. That’s annoying. I always hated the dark. Not because I am scared of it (which I’m not), but because people go inside and hide when it gets dark. It’s like the show is over and everyone goes home. That’s depressing. Also, the dark stops me from fiddling around outside. It forces me to go in and wind down for the next 7 hours before I go to sleep. I have always hated going to sleep. Who ever thought that I would be as old as I am and still fight about going to sleep.
Another problem I have with Winter is the cold. Things don’t grow in the cold. I can’t go to the store and dream about what I am going to plant next when it’s cold. I have no visions in my mind. It gets a little boring. Also, as you may have noticed, there are fewer pictures to take because I am doing less and things don’t change that much. I am sure I can take pictures of a dying lawn, but I am sure you would get sick of that.
I remember when I used to live back in my home town in the house I grew up in. We lived on a great road that had a nice amount of walkers that would use it for…well, walking. I like to chat it up with people, so I would spend a lot of time sitting at the end of my sidewalk, waiting for people to walk by. Since this would happen from May through October, I accomplished a fair amount socializing. I’m not sure if the walkers appreciated it, but I sure did.
I always remember the times when I would go out to the road, look up and down, and realize the season was over. There was no one walking and there would be no more walkers until the next season. That thought would always be felt in my stomach.
One more depressing short story and then I will get to the point, I promise.
As some of my readers will agree, the lake in my home town was the bomb-diggity when we were growing up. I have no idea if people still use the lake for swimming today, but when I was a kid, it sure was the place to be. From June 27 through September 3, I would pretty much somehow end up at that lake to swim…every day. My friends and I walked, rode skateboards, rode bicycles…whatever, to get down there and hang out.
I usually had the best times right in the middle of July. Everyone in the area had somewhat committed to the fact that the beach was where it’s at. I remember my friend Brian’s mom showing up in her station wagon full of people, Russell’s mom showing up in her maroon Pontiac and some people even walking. You know, those lucky people who lived close by.
We would all do our thing and swim all day. I remember swimming back from the raft one day and standing up in the shallow water. My lungs were starting to hurt because I was so water logged. I recall looking up past the sand at the big tree that stood near the clubhouse and watching the wind blow the leaves. Everything was kind of hazy because my eyes were so used to being open under the water. This is the era of zinc oxide sunscreen and turtle hunting (we would let them go). This was also the era of Ocean Pacific t-shirts and wondering what the people over at the town beach were doing. Man, I would probably be happy if I could just live those days over and over again for the rest of my life. It really didn’t get any better than that. But, things just refuse to stay the same.
One day, late in the season, I decided to go down to the beach. I knew there wouldn’t be many people there because the sky was a bit cloudy, but I gave it a shot anyway. When I arrived, the place was empty. I was completely alone. I decided to walk past the fence and take a stroll to the end of the dock. I thought I would just hang out until someone showed up. All I really needed was for a few people to come by and we would get something going. Well, no one ever came.
I decided to take my shoes off and hang my feet in the water. I untied my sneakers and finally got my socks off. I walked over to sit at the edge of the dock, but when I looked at the water, I was horrified at what I saw. Little specks of “lake” were floating around beneath me. It was turning. That was the sure sign that the season was over. Once the lake turned, it was time to go home to return only when it was warm again the next year. For anyone who remembers those days, you’ll also remember that school was about to start soon as well. That always gave me a sick feeling.
At that time in my life, I was too young to realize that Winter was just a short hop, skip and a jump away. Now, I understand that the time between the end of the Summer and the beginning of Winter is short…very short. Time seems to really fly by these days.
These are just a few of the memories that have moulded me into the person I am today. I have a strong sense of my past and I truly miss things. I guess when it comes to weather, I prefer to play. I really, really like to play. Laura always looks at me like I am crazy for the words that come out of my mouth, but when I think back and daydream about all my best friends and me riding our bikes as fast as we could down the Road to get some pizza at the corner, I get a little sad.
Maybe that’s why I never liked the idea of high school reunions. Seeing everyone so different would probably break my heart. It’s a reminder of how much we’ve changed. Worst of all, it’s a reminder that much of my past is never going to happen again.
Okay, time to get back on track. I just love it when I look up after a half-hour and realize I wrote absolutely nothing I had planned on.
Back to what I was thinking during my walk the other day. I decided it was time to come up with a plan that would take me away from the Winter blues I experience every year. I had to think of what types of activities I like to do during the Winter. Well, writing on this blog certainly is one of them, but unfortunately, that doesn’t get me out of the house. Playing indoor tennis is most definitely going to help, but what else have I enjoyed in my past that I really got a kick out of? Ahhh, snowboarding.
Back when I was living in Binghamton, my friend and I decided to buy snowboards and all the equipment that came with them. We bought the boards, bindings and boots. I also got all the apparel that made my days on the mountainside comfortable. I always said that if I stayed warm while riding on a snowmobile at midnight in mid January, that was good enough to stay warm while snowboarding. Luckily, I still have everything I started with.
When I first started snowboarding back in 1997, I was hooked. You couldn’t stop me. Since I was in college, I was flat broke, but somehow I always had money for a lift ticket. That first year, I went to Catamount, Hunter (about 10 times), Scotch Valley, Jiminy Peak, Greek Peak and some others I am sure I am forgetting. I remember that I would be able to snowboard for 9 hours straight. The next season, we went to all those mountains again as well as a few others, like Stratton, up in Vermont. It was awesome.
After I graduated college and moved to Atlanta, there was no more snowboarding for a few years. I guess my body lost its snowboard-ism, because the next time I went snowboarding up at Bristol Mountain, near the finger lakes of New york, I went with an 18 year old kid. He was on fire and I only made it down the mountain twice. I felt like a smoker of 40 years. It’s amazing how fast the body can fall apart.
I called a few friends over the past couple of days. One of them is a skier who is willing to learn how to snowboard. The other is Rob. Rob told me that he will hit the mountain with me. I am sure that it won’t be too often, so it shouldn’t conflict with his busy schedule.
I think this will make for a more exciting Winter. At the very least, it will make some some really neat pictures of various mountain tops and ski trails. I bet you can’t wait for that.
Today, we hopped in the car and went for a little ride.
First, we stopped by the local library so Laura could get a library card and pick up a book. The town library is newly renovated, expanded and really very nice. I haven’t been in a library in years. You should have seen me…I was astounded. I went to the back of the fiction aisle and found whole sections of my favorite authors…Ridley Pearson, John Grisham, James Patterson. I was floored. So this is what libraries do…ahhh.
After that little chore was done, we got back in the car and started our trip up to Putnam and Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner.” First off, let me just say that this has got to be the most colorful Autumn I have ever lived through. I have never seen so much orange in the leaves. I am used to yellow and red, but it’s the orange that really gets to me. It is so bright, it knocks my socks off. I have to pull over to put them back on.
I didn’t expect the trip to be so much fun. Usually, I focus on getting somewhere, but today, it was hard to ignore the peace and tranquility of the area. I once asked Laura where everyone was. It was cool driving fast through all those country roads with no one around.
We went through a bunch of towns, but one really caught our attention. It’s called Pomfret and it hosts the “Pomfret School.” If you don’t know this about me, I’ll tell you that I love private schools. I don’t know why. I guess it’s because everything is so neat and clean and taken care of so well. The students look presentable and the money is just falling out of people’s pockets. I get a big kick out of it. Fortunately, Laura and I have a knack for finding these places. Connecticut seems to be full of them. People must laugh as I do a double and triple take while driving through.
We drove through the school and headed up to Putnam. Putnam, CT is known for its antiques. The story goes like this…”Putnam fell on hard times during the early part of the century and reinvented itself”…you know, the typical tale. I have heard the story before and know the drill. When visiting these places, I use a cautious eye.
We arrived in Putnam and I noticed that the actual main street area was a little smaller that what I expected. It was a cute town though. I definitely noticed that it had fallen on hard times and noticed a few vacant shops. What shops were there were pretty interesting.
We spent a little time in probably the largest antique shop in the town. I can’t seem to find the name of it, because it just said, “Antiques” above the roof line. They had some pretty nice furniture at semi-reasonable prices.
A few more steps and I saw a really intriguing alley. I took some pics of that, but they didn’t come out so well. What did come out well was my pics of an old window and the huge Coca-Cola painting on the side of a building.
Old window
Coca-Cola painting on building
We spent a while in Putnam and decided to head out. On our way back, we grabbed a picture of The Harvest Restaurant sign in Pomfret, so I could remember the name of the place. We have been searching for a nice restaurant like this that offers brunch. Since this restaurant looks nice and is in a nice area, we are going to give it a shot.
This is a pretty cool park. It has a large lake and trails all over the place. We walked around part of the lake and up to the rail trail. There was a huge field. I am thinking of getting another super frisbee to throw around. The last time I played with mine, Rob threw it in to a tree. I don’t blame him, the tree was about a quarter mile away and it was one of those crazy frisbees that go really far. Rob is going to have to come over so was can play again.
When we were done with the hike, we headed out and wrapped up a rather nice Autumn day.
For quite some time, Laura and I have been planning a trip to Tanglewood this Summer. Every time it came up, there was something else to do. I think there may have even been a time or two where I was just too lazy to get up and go.
Last night was the night. We decided that we would go on Friday and on Saturday I went to the food store for all the goodies. You know, we get all the good food to eat while listening to the music.
The weather was supposed to be a little chilly in central Connecticut on Saturday night. What I wasn’t expecting was the downright cold air that was hovering in the Berkshires. I mean, I guess at this point, 45 degrees feels cold to anyone. I brought an extra shirt, but wish I brought my fleece as well.
On schedule last night was the “All-Mozart Program” in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. We grabbed our usual spot in front of the visitor’s center and spread out everything we had. I lit the four “bug” candles, but didn’t really need them due to the chilly weather. Mosquitoes and gnats like the heat and I guess it wasn’t optimal conditions for them to be biting people. That was nice.
The music was ok. I seem to remember our previous visits being more thunderous, while this one was pretty quiet. I like a roar and this time was more like a meow. I explained to Laura this morning that I felt it was more entertaining to the people sitting in the shed, not for us on the lawn. I would still choose to lay under that stars any day.
About half way through, I decided to take a few photos of the area at night. I am sure you could have guessed I was going to do that.
As I have mentioned before, Connecticut is the place to be if you like parks, hiking, mountain biking and recreation in general. We are learning that people around here take this stuff very seriously. When driving around, it’s hard not to see people jogging, riding bikes, playing golf…whatever.
Last week, we decided to drive down to East Haddam to visit Devil’s Hopyard State Park. I looked at this park’s trail map online and it looked good. The thing that really attracted me was the waterfall. As usual, I opened up Google Earth and checked it out from above. Well, all it looked like was woods. I don’t know, after seeing the satellite view, I didn’t think it looked all that great. We went anyway. I am usually wrong about these things.
I was really wrong about this one. I have been to many state parks in my life and I have to say this one was the best so far. The water does it for me. It’s a very low-key park. There are no highways around and it’s tucked back in the woods. The waterfall is great and the river adds a lot to the hike. This park is going to be on our list for a long time. They also offer camping, which is cool.
I took a bunch of pictures and will add captions where I think they would fit.
We parked on Helon Cone Rd., right off of Hopyard Rd. This was the enterance sign to Devil's Hopyard State Park.
Chapman Falls on Helon Cone Rd.
Stone bridge on Hopyard Rd.
Random photo of stones that make the stone bridge.
Nice rock I found.
The beginning of the unblazed trail heading towards the bottom of Chapman Falls.
Well, it’s another year for the Bear Mountain Dogs Walk for Cancer. I think it might be the “Dogswalk” for Cancer though. I did a post on this last year, so you already may have an idea of what goes on with the walk, but I may have better photos this time. Of course, I brought the camera with this in mind.
So basically what happens is this…you register for the walk and you go there and walk. Around the lake that is. Of course, there is the whole park to explore afterwards if you want, but the basic jist is the walk around the lake. If the Bear Mountain Inn is open, you can hang out in there too. Today, the Inn was closed for renovations.
Ahh, the walk begins. The photo above is the first leg of the walk around Hessian Lake. The whole walk isn’t even that long…maybe 3/4 of a mile.
Who else but Holly and me? Laura took about five pictures of us on this bench, but this was the best one. Holly freaks out a little bit when the camera comes out.
These are just more pictures of Hessian Lake, from different angles. In the last one, you can see the top part of Bear Mountain Bridge.
This is a very important shot that Laura took. Doesn’t it look like I am standing on the edge of the picture?
Another important shot by Laura. Her whole family was impressed by my balancing skill.
Here we go down the last leg of the walk. This is a slight decline heading towards the canoe area and back to the big field.
Finally done. I don’t think we were as tired as the dog in the picture, but it’s a decent little workout.
After the walk is finished, some people come up to you and hand you a bag with little goodies in it. Mostly it is promotional items for dog food companies, but sometimes you get lucky with a frisbee or something. Also, the big thing is to walk around and visit all the tables giving out free stuff.
Another year down and a good tradition followed. Till next year!
