A Step Back in Time - Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts

Day three of my East Coast Vacation was a fantastic day and I can not do it justice with one blog so here is Part 1 of 3 which begins at the historic Walden Pond once home to Henry David Thoreau.

Henry David Thoreau was born July 12, 1817 and died on May 6, 1862. He was a well known author of many books including Walden and Civil Disobedience. His book Walden was written during his time that he lived in a cabin at Walden Pond which was the property of fellow author Ralph Waldo Emerson. He lived there from July 4, 1845 to September 6, 1847.

The hike begins a short distance from the parking lot at a replica of the cabin Thoreau built in 1845 which includes a statue of Thoreau out front.

Me and Henry hanging out!

A path takes you through a beautiful woods toward the pond and Thoreau’s original home site.

A short detour takes you to Thoreau’s bean field

Back at the home site trail another short detour gives you your first look at the famous Walden Pond

Back up the hill a short distance is the site of the famous author where he lived for over two years.

I chose to hike the loop trail around the pond with a detour to go to the top of Emerson’s Cliff. I had several good views of the pond along the way

I took a trail around to the other side of Emerson’s Cliff and came out at Heywoods Meadow which at this time was more of a wetland.

Opposite the meadow was the trail and the beginning of my ascent up Emerson’s Cliff

 

 There were no views from the top, but I did stop to read some passages from Walden

And play a little music

On the way back down I got my last look at the famous Pond

Looking at my GPS I noticed a short distance on the other side of the road was Pine Hill. So I crossed the road, found a trail which lead me to a service road. There were no signs indicating that I could not go up - so I did!

I kept hearing noise up the hill and when I got up I saw a lawn mowing crew and the hill top fenced in.

The fence was open with a guy mowing inside. It did say no trespassing past the gate but the whole top was flat so I walked to the gate and called it good!

I did talk to a guy up there and told him I was one of those crazy peak bagging guys who has to go to the top of mountains. We chatted a minute and I made my way back down to the visitor center to buy some merch

We had stayed the night at the Minuteman Hotel just a few minutes away so my wife could sleep in and I could do this beautiful and historical hike before checkout. The hotel was good and perfect for what I wanted to do. So after the rough start in Boston the next couple days were going much smoother. After I got Shelly and we checked out, the Minuteman National Historical Park was also minutes away. But that is Part 2 of our third day on the road!

 

 

Beavertail State Park and Fun with Friends in Rhode Island

 

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Day Two of our vacation was a much better day thanks to good friends John and Emily. I have had the honor of knowing Bass extraordinaire John Ferrara for a few years now. I met John through his band Consider the Source, the greatest band you may not have heard of. Three of the greatest musicians on the planet. John has some solo albums and another great band Mono Means One. Check these bands out and be amazed! I had been wanting to meet Emily for some time now and the day had arrived. Emily is the Park Naturalist and runs the aquarium located right next to the active Lighthouse. She has exhibits featuring local fish, turtles, crabs, lobsters, eels and snakes.

 

Emily also has a beautiful garden that you should check out as well

 

And don’t forget to check out the Lighthouse and museum!

 

 There are some hiking trails at the park, but today we had the privilege of taking a four wheel cruise with Emily around the Island. I hung out with John by the ocean while Shelly took the first spin around the park.

 

After a stressful day in Boston, it was so nice to sit back and cruise around this beautiful Jamestown State Park.

Thank you so much John and Emily for your hospitality!

 

But we were not done yet! We headed for the town of Wickford for a lovely lunch, some history about the town and other surprises. And just before we got in out cars this Osprey flew over with his evening meal!

We had an excellent meal complete with Clam Chowder and the best Crab Cakes I have ever eaten at Wickford on the Water. What a treat!

After we ate, Emily showed me something of interest just a short walk from the restaurant.

The Narragansett Rune Stone!

After a short stroll we went back to John and Emily’s house for a short visit and as all good things do - had to bid adieu. Our Rhode Island visit was one we will happily do again. Shelly has already said she wants to go back to Beavertail State Park!

And as if this wasn’t the perfect day already, John and Emily suggested we stop right down the road at the Lotus Pond. What an amazing sight to see!

Pictures just don’t do it justice!

Our second night we stayed at the Minuteman Inn near Concord, Massachusetts so that I could be close to a highlight of the trip and the first of several hikes in the woods! Stay tuned!

And please check out Consider the Source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL7PsmFo4oo&list=RDEMmqnwDPRfgpo1MOcBWIuxSg&start_radio=1

And Mono Means One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7jbjvj3q7I

 

The First Day of My Summer Vacation (Boston or Bust)

 The first day of my summer vacation...I woke up...and got out of bed. Pretty exciting so far huh? My wife, Shelly and myself had started planning this vacation back in February. I started booking hotels and researching things to do. The original plan was to fly into Hartford, Connecticut; go to Rhode Island, up to Boston and eventually end up in Acadia National Park in Maine. At a friends suggestion we decided to fly into Boston and spend day one on the famed Freedom Trail.

 

(BTW if you click on the picture it will enlarge)

While this is not a hiking trail in a wooded forest, we treked almost 4 miles on hot pavement on the streets of Boston. We had an early flight so we were there by lunchtime.

We were greeted by a group of hippies dressed in funky attire!

We hung out and waited on a shuttle bus to take us to our rental car. Immediately we had a view of Boston in the distance.

Next, we hoped on the bus with some guy named Gus and went to find our rental car.

Interestingly, way back in February, I had a difficult time finding a parking garage with available spaces. I did find one that seemed a short distance to the Freedom Trail. But first we had to go on an adventure to find the garage. Let me tell you some sage advice...DO NOT MISS A TURN IN BOSTON! Google Maps is a great thing; however, in Boston we found GPS to be rather WONKY! The city is a maze of turns and streets going in every direction and I soon discovered that missing a turn sent me on a crazy drive in figure eights around the city until I eventually found the garage!

 

By this time we were hungry and hoped to find one of the many street vendors with local delights that we had heard about. All we ever saw on the street was tacos and burgers. So we dashed into a small restaurant that had Greek food and had some lunch. I asked our server how close we were to the Freedom Trail and she said that she did not know anything about it??? So I ate my Gyro and we headed UP the pavement looking for the Freedom Trail. It was a long few blocks before we hit the State House. This was a beautiful building with lots of art, statues and history.

Now friends, I spent numerous hours loading waypoints and tracks on my Garmin prior to our trip. But as I looked at my GPS along our urban trek I noticed some stuff missing. As you might imagine there were already a ton of “Points of Interest” on my map; thus, I really had to zoom out to locate anything down the street. It wasn’t until the next day that I came to the realization that my tracks and waypoints were mysteriously MISSING! Thankfully, I had a back up on my laptop! But for today, I was missing them. I had three cemeteries that I wanted to visit and we thought we were walking to one of them when I finally asked someone only to discover we had walked several blocks in the wrong direction! In the heart of the city I found my GPS was doing flip flops and just acting plain WONKY! But we managed to find #1 on my list, the Granary Burial Ground. This cemetery has Three signers of the Declaration of Independence and the grave of Paul Revere.

And did I mention that Mother Goose is buried here?

Well folks, by this time me and the wife were plumb tucked out. We scampered back to out rental just in time for the rush hour!

We had a heart wrenching, triple the time Google said drive to Ramada by Wyndham in Seekonk, Massachusetts where we were told there was no hot water or AC. We were so tired that we were gonna stay anyway; but the desk manager insisted that we find another hotel and that I need to have Hotels.com call him and he would approve the refund. So we booked another hotel down the road and I called Hotels.com. The next day they sent me an email saying that my refund was denied! So our day one was one of not getting to do hardly anything I had planned in Boston, drives from HELL, and a lying desk manager and a hotel that doesn’t care about honoring the word of their employees. And Hotels.com continues to tell me that my review doesn’t meet their guidelines. So I kept updating it and they keep denying it! So how’s that for day one of my summer vacation! Needless to say I have no desire to ever step foot in Boston again! Well, except to fly out of it!