Over the summer, our hikes were tough to manage. Without gymnastics blocking out the time, we either had to hike as a family, or hike when Evie was otherwise occupied, which wasn’t often. Given the heat and the bugs, we didn’t get out nearly as often as we had hoped. But Fall is here, and with it comes cooler temperatures, fewer bugs, and a renewed presence in gymnastics for our little bundle of energy. ...
Summer vacation means more family time, and we used that time at the start of July for a hike at Wells State Park in Sturbridge. I’ve written a few posts in the past about hiking here; it’s a massive property with fairly long trails, and it’s possible to get over 6 miles of hiking in a day fairly easily as I demonstrated in a prior post. But this hike was a shorter journey, with our daughter dragging her feet a bit (perhaps because nothing is quite as fun as exploring Purgatory Chasm!). ...
Our family feet have been eagerly dashing around, but not anywhere that was worth blogging about. This weekend, summer officially began in our household as Evie’s gymnastics schedule changed and Saturdays are officially free for the whole family. We celebrated by heading somewhere where Evie could explore and adventure – Purgatory Chasm State Reservation. This was not a hiking trip, it was an exploring trip. Our goal was to let Evie climb rocks, wriggle through caves, and feel the freedom of summer. It was a clear success. ...
This Memorial Day, we took a long weekend trip to Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont with some friends. Vermont is a great state; they’ve really figured out quite a bit about what makes New England great (other than, I guess, beaches), their mountains are more inviting and approachable than New Hampshire’s, and they have some of the best beer in the country. On Saturday, we had breakfast in town and then browsed at a farm store across the street. Our friend Sean talked up someone selling local honey, and found out about a nearby short hike that would lead us to a waterfall. We made it our next stop. ...
Spring fever is in full swing, and when I found myself with a free afternoon I knew I had to spend some of it in the woods. I debated my options for a while but ended up returning to Opacum Woods, a site I’d been to a few times before (last time, with Jess, was in the fall). ...
Last time we hiked in Brimfield, it was December and fresh snow was on the ground. Now, it’s April, and on a beautiful sunny day we wanted a hike without too much mud (it rained all week, and snow is still melting) and without too much strain on the legs. Brimfield seemed to fit the bill again. As you can see, it was a beautiful early Spring day. The sky was rich blue with a bright warm sun, and giant puffy clouds drifted overhead. ...
This is our second trip to the Sibley Farm property. The first trip is described in a previous post. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors yesterday, as far as winter days go. The cold temperatures didn’t seem too bitter since the skies were clear and the air was calm. With errands to run we only had a short window to enjoy the outdoors, so we returned to Sibley Farm to explore some of the trails we missed two weeks ago. ...
For the second day in a row, we were able to get out for a hike. Today was our usual Saturday, with a couple hour break while Evie was in gymnastics. We were forced to leave a bit later than usual due to a delivery (my snowblower has been repaired; you can all thank me later when we get no snow this year) so we picked a spot close to home which was new to us. ...
Our first hike of 2015 was a spur-of-the-moment excursion in Northboro, a town we once called home and where my mother still lives. We were already in town and ended up able to drop our daughter off with Grandma for a couple hours. I pulled up the Northboro Trails Committee website and looked for something close by. We ended up starting at the Coyote Trail, which meanders through the Yellick Conservation Area. You can read more about the area in this news article I found later, which pointed me nicely to this updated map. ...
Two Saturdays in a row, holiday activities kept Jess and I from our now-weekly outdoor explorations. When on the third Saturday, the last before Christmas, she departed for a family shopping excursion, I decided to get out into the woods, even if only for an hour or so. Trying to stay close to home and not lose the whole day, I picked the South Spencer Rail Trail (read about it briefly at the Spencer Parks and Recreation web page), also called the Depot Trail. It is a two-mile, mostly-flat trail connecting South Spencer Rd. and Chestnut St. in the center of Spencer, built along the abandoned South Spencer Railway (built in 1878 to connect two rail stations in Spencer). We’d been here once before as a family to explore some geocaches, though we only covered half the trail that day. ...