Wednesday, October 4th, 2006
I have been holding on to this post for a while. As you may have noticed from some earlier posts, Laura and I like to skirt the border of Connecticut and New York. There are some pretty cool areas along the line. Every time we go there, we see something new. This time, I wanted to head up Lime Rock Park and Lakeville, CT to enjoy the drive.
Now, just to give you a reference point, the Lakeville/Salisbury area is the most Northwest part of Connecticut. If you drive north from Lakeville into Salisbury and look to your left, you will see the Berkshires. Don’t be fooled by these tree-filled looking mountains…there is tons of stuff to do in there. One day, a while back, we drove for about 10 miles down a dirt road on the very top of the Berkshires. We had no idea where we were, but couldn’t turn around because the road was so thin. Good thing another car wasn’t coming in the opposite direction. We passed so many camping areas and a few much hidden resorts. We finally headed down a paved road and popped out right in Salisbury. It’s a very cute town, so that’s why I wanted to go back and visit the area. I am not sure I would be able to find the road back up into the mountains today…that’s how well it was hidden. We visited this area towards the end of the trip.
We started out by heading up Rt.7 in Connecticut…past New Milford, Sherman and Kent, where we stopped for a few minutes at Kent Falls State Park.
I used to visit Kent Falls when I was a kid, but like so many other things we do when we are kids, the memory was a bit blurry. I wanted to visit again. This is a great park to visit with kids. They can run around and create all sorts of havoc in the front field and then everyone can walk to the top of the falls on very woodsy stairs. It’s not a very far hike, but quite scenic. Make sure to bring your camera.
We continued North on Rt.7 and quickly made a visit into Cornwall over the covered bridge, which is very cute.
The great thing about driving through New England is that they take very good care of their covered bridges. This was a very small, but functional town, although it is quite a distance from a major food store or mall. Back on the road, we came across an area that reminded me of why I like this area so much…its beauty.
People travel out West to see the beauty of the landscape and forget about what is right in their backyard.
If you have never been to Lime Rock Park, you should really make it a destination. There is a really cool race track with lots of turns and a straightaway. You can watch motorcycles and many different types of cars racing around the track. There are even days where you can bring your own car or bike there to get timed. It’s pretty exciting. The last time I went, I was with my cousin Joe and we just chilled on the lawn watching the cars all afternoon. The best part is that this park is very casual. You pull in, park and walk to the spot you want to sit yourself for the rest of the day.
A few miles past Lime Rock is the “Lake” in Lakeville. It is called Lake Wononscopomuc. Say that 3 times fast…or once for that matter.
We had to pull in here to check it out. There was no one swimming at the lake today due to the clouds, but we were really interested in how a place this nice gets paid for up here where the population is pretty low. I walked inside the building to talk to someone. A woman inside explained to me that since there were many people from New York City who had summer houses here, there was good tax revenue generated for the town. Also, there are a few private schools in the area that bring in some money. She was actually pretty excited to tell me about how the native residents get all of the good benefits and great schools for their children paid for by out-of-towners. Seemed like a good deal to me. There were some really nice houses up here in this area…
On the way out of the lake area, we noticed a really interesting restaurant called “West Main.”
This really has nothing to do with our trip, but thought it would be cool to show you what you can do with an old school house looking building.
After spending some time in Lakeville, we started to head home taking Rt.41 into Sharon, CT and through Amenia Union, NY on to Rt.22 South.
If you decide to take a trip like this, make sure you bring your camera, plenty of food and a good map. It will most likely take all day, but will be worth the drive!
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Wednesday, October 4th, 2006
This lesson was awesome. I got to fly the plane I really wanted to fly…a Cessna 172. This is a larger airplane than the Piper Cherokee I usually fly. There is more interior room and it has a high-wing configuration as compared to the low wing. The Cherokee had more power due to the engine modifications, so which is better is really up to the pilot.
We did more touch and goes today. The weather was good for it, so there were 3 other planes in the pattern. I did six take offs and landings. The touch and go teaches you a few important things…take offs, climbs, patterns, descent, turns, landings, runway management and communications. It also teaches you how to manage the cockpit with a passenger. Yigal likes to throw a lot at you when you are practicing. He was trying to distract me while I was flying to show me what is going to happen when I start flying with friends. He tried, but didn’t succeed. I am like an arrow heading towards its target (haha).
We had a lot of fun during this lesson. I like to keep things light and laugh. It helps me to learn. I also got to use my new headset. Wonderful!
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Sunday, October 1st, 2006
I can’t wait for Spring! I know that might sound a little weird, since it’s not even cold yet. The reason I can’t wait is that I am so excited to see what all the great plants and bulbs are going to look like when they start growing. I want to see the new growth of the shrubs and trees too.
Yesterday, I received a package from Holland. It had the 150 bulbs that I ordered back a few months ago. Apparently, they wait for it to get cold in Holland and then ship them out. It takes a few weeks for them to get from Holland to the U.S. I think from now on I am going to go to the local nursery for my bulbs. I really don’t have the patience to wait three months for these types of things. Anyway, here is what I got:
- Mountain Bells Mixture (deer resistant)
- Blue Grape Hyacinths
- Giant Crocus Mixture
- King Edward Tulip
- Economy Tulip Mixture
- Alpine Rosy Bells
- Beauty Dutch Iris Mixture
- Early Stardrift
- Giant Daffodils
I saved a spot in our front garden that was just screaming for these bulbs. There were 150 bulbs overall, so digging a separate hole for each one would have been crazy. I got a rake and pulled back about six inches of mulch.
I put the bulbs in according to height. The tallest ones went to the back and the shortest to the front. They have varying bloom times throughout the season, so I staggered them in with one another, so I wouldn’t have rows of flowers and rows of nothing.
After I placed all the bulbs in, point facing up, I covered the area with the mulch again. This garden area is only about 20′x10′, so in the Spring, it’s going to be bursting with color. Over time the area will grow, as I continue to edge around the border, pushing a few inches of soil in every time and adding more mulch in the Spring.
Next to the lamp post at the end of the driveway, there was Hosta that has been trying to grow all summer. I kept running it over with the lawnmower for some reason. I don’t know why, since I really like this plant. Yesterday, I got a bright idea (that happens every so often). I dug up the Hosta and separated all the small bulbs.
This photo is just a sample…there were about 20 bulbs. I decided that this plant would look great as a back row of lush green for the garden. I planted each bulb about a foot apart along the entire back row.
Hopefully these will grow nice and big. As I was planting, I had a little nightmare. I dreamt that the evil deer came and ate all my bulbs and Hosta. Right after I was done having my nightmare, I ran down into the basement and grabbed the Deer Scram and Liquid Fence. I spread the Deer Scram and erected the fence immediately. I covered the whole garden. I am also going to buy some of the real deer fencing today. You know, the black thin plastic stuff you see on people’s bushes.
One last note - we got another tree. This time, I went to the local tree farm near the airport I practice at and looked around for a 6′-7′ tree that I could fit in the car. I came across some Flowering Bradford Pear trees. There are some pros and cons to the Bradford Pear, but since this is a close-to-the-house tree, we needed something that would stay relatively small. If it is damaged on our watch, we will just get another one…no big deal.
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