Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
When you think you are getting in a rut with your life, one way to climb out of it is to go for a walk every evening. Make sure it lasts an hour or more. You don’t have to power-walk or do it for exercise…just do it for the pleasure of getting out of the house and having a decent conversation with your significant other. It’s amazing how much stress you shed off and how much of the town you live in becomes noticed and enjoyed.
When we lived back on the Eastern side of the Hudson River, we used to walk around the neighborhood, on the track up at the Trinity-Pawling School and at the Pawling Nature Reserve. By far, the best place to get away from it all is the Nature Reserve.
You get their by heading north of Pawling on Rt. 22 and making a right on N. Quaker Hill Rd. Continue East until you make a left on Quaker Lake Rd. Continue on this road, past both lakes until the road turns into dirt. You should see a sign on the left side shortly thereafter.
A short description of the reserve is here:
“The Pawling Nature Reserve covers 1,050 acres ecomapssing almost the entire 1053′ high western side and top of Hammersly Ridge in the northeastern corner of Pawling. South of Pawling, the topography is considered a part of the Hudson Highlands. From Pawling nothward, however, the topography and geology is the very foot of the Berkshire Mountains. The Pawling Nature Reserve contains many of the geological features of the Berkshires with deep ravines, sheer cliffs and rock talus slopes.
Much of the Preserve is covered with second growth timber as the area has been settled beginning in 1728. Sheep and cattle grazed the Nature Reserve land from 1750 until around 1930. Logging also played a major role in the area’s history. Remenets of an old sluiceway can still be found near the main entrance, along the Yellow trail. Foundations and stone walls dot the entire reserve.”
The feature that initially attracted me to this trail system is the Hemlock trees. I just love the shade of huge hemlocks!
When we start the approximate 5 mile loop, we immediately pass the little wooden map holder and donation box. We usually look through this for things that people write. You can find very interesting comments there. Then we continue through to the coolest ravine and waterfall. There is a wooden bridge set up that crosses the river and bounces when you walk on it. It is extremely fun to cross first and then jump up and down on it when someone else gets to the middle. It makes then hop up and down on it uncontrollably. Just don’t fall off while laughing at them. Remember, this is not a nice thing to do to someone. They may begin to walk away without you.
After you apologize and pass the river, you bear to the left and follow the trail markers. It is pretty basic hiking for a few miles, until you get to a little area with a very small pond on your left. Be sure to stop there to look for frogs. They have been there every time we visited.
Right after that, you will see a sign for the Appalachian Trail. This is very exciting because you can say that you walked the “AT” while hanging out at parties. People will think you are really cool. Just be sure to stop the conversation there, before they start to ask questions. You skirt the AT for a while and the landscape becomes a bit swampy. The people who maintain the trail built a wooden path that hovers above the swamp about two feet.
Continue walking and when you arrive at the big hillside, you will know that you are on the back half of the trail. It becomes kind of rocky, but really neat because everything changes to smaller trees and mountain laurels. Follow the hillside down and you will connect back with your starting place at the bridge, river and waterfall.
The hike usually takes about an hour and a half. I would say that the best time to go, like all hiking, is in late September and early October, but it’s nice year round. You will notice that when you hop back in your car to drive home, the conversation will have changed from everyday work talk to hiking and what you want to do with the rest of your life. Ahhh….what nature can do for you.
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Posted in Hiking | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
Another one of my favorite things (again) is to visit Stockbridge, MA. It’s a small town located in the Berkshires…in between Lenox to the North and Great Barrington to the South. Here is a great website to learn more about the Southern Berkshires.
There are some really cool attractions in Stockbridge, one being the Norman Rockwell Museum, two being the Red Lion Inn and three being the Windy Hill Nursery. We have yet to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum, but have graced our presence at the other two.
Late September is the best time to go up. The weather is still good and it’s sweater in the morning, t-shirt in the afternoon temperature. Perfect for pumpkin picking. If you are into finding cool places for apple picking and pumpkin picking, you surely know of finding the wrong places. You know the ones…little trees in open, field-like settings. When you find the right one, you need to hold on to it, no matter the distance. That’s what we did here.
Windy Hill is a nice, large tree seasonal setting. Inside, they offer hot cider, donuts and all the apples you could imagine. Outside, they offer a nice hillside full of apple trees…about 20 different varieties. You can pick to your heart’s content. Right outside the building, they have a good variety of plants, flowers and plantings. They also have tons of pumpkins.
We picked up a few nice ones for carving later. You can really hang out here for quite some time, if you have it. We wanted to go north on Rt. 7 a few miles into the town of Stockbridge to eat dinner at the Red Lion Inn.
Stockbridge offers a very small main street setting with a few shops to browse through. You can get all that cool stuff you remember from childhood vacations, such as rock candy and taffy. A walk up and down both sidewalks worked up our appetite for some good dining. Before going in, we usually check out the back of the Inn. It shows the enormity of the building. There is a rich history of this structure, which I share below. The first time ever visiting this town, we ate lunch in the back courtyard, so there is sentimental value.
One thing you have to remember about the Red Lion Inn…if you want to eat in the main dining room, you must dress appropriately - a suit or comparable for the females. I am stressing this for the guys, because we are usually the ones with the issues. If you don’t have the right clothes, you can eat in the tavern part of the inn, downstairs. We have seen people turned away from the dining room time after time. Dining at this Inn is an experience. It brings you to another place and makes you want to stay for much longer than you can. Wine…candles…food and a good time. After eating, a nice break on the front porch sitting in a rocking chair is sooooo relaxing.
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Posted in Autumn, Travels | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
Usually, I try to finish up what I am doing at about 10:30PM and hop in bed to read for about a half hour. There have been times when I intended to do that, say to myself, “Oh yeah, one more thing” to then look up at the computer to see the clock read 2AM. Whoops.
Lately, I have been very good. Partly due to my new book, “Wobegon Boy” by Garrison Keillor. Let me tell you why.
A few years ago, Saturday nights were a much more popular “going out” night for me than they are now. Every so often, while driving in my car, I would be flipping through the channels on the radio to hear this very odd radio show. I never quite knew what it was…a guy talking, people singing…kind of like a variety show. I found it very interesting, but never listened long enough to quite get the name of it. I used to refer to the show as the one with the “Story Teller Guy.” I told everyone I knew about it.
After moving to the new house a little more than a year ago, I began listening to NPR (National Public Radio) a lot more. The station I listened to comes in much clearer here. Well, just as luck would have it, at about at 8:30AM, just as I begin driving across the the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, I began to hear the same voice as the Story Teller Guy give a short narration of the day’s importance on poetry, called the Writer’s Almanac. It took a few times listening to be sure it was him, and then I got curious and did some research.
Well, apparently, this man’s name is Garrison Keillor and he hosts “A Prairie Home Companion,” usually on Saturday nights. I began to listen more and more and when 7PM hit on the right night, I made it a point to get in my car for a drive. This past summer was a great one for cruising around with the radio on listening to the program. There was lots of haze and humidity…perfect for a drive at dusk with all the windows open. I tried to keep my hair a little longer than usual just for the sake of it blowing in the wind. Who knows how much longer I will have it.
Listening to this show had become one of my favorite things to do. If I missed it, I would stream it on my computer through their website. Give it a try, you might like it.
The season closer this year was held up the Berkshires at Tanglewood, one of my favorite places under the sun. Laura and I made plans to go to the show. It would be like a dream for me to see it live.
Saturday night came and went, and for some reason, we didn’t go. We didn’t talk about it…we just didn’t go. I don’t know why. Sometimes, things like this just happen. We did talk about it a few days later and decided to go up the next weekend to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform. We did and it was like magic. I really enjoyed laying on the blanket on the lawn listening to the music and looking at the stars. Everything was perfect…the food, the wine, the candles and the music. It couldn’t have been a better night. If I could, I would go to every show Tanglewood offers every night. Next summer, I am sure that Tanglewood will see a lot more of us.
I told my mother how much I enjoyed listening to Garrison Keillor, going to the Berkshires and…well…drinking wine. To my surprise, a few days later, I found a small package in my mailbox. It was the book, Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor. Thanks mom.
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