Saturday, May 19th, 2007
Believe it or not, this post title has been sitting on hold since I started this blog, back last August. WordPress has a feature where you can type a title in and save it. With all the other exciting things I was writing about back then, I just never got to this one. I guess a rainy Saturday will help me catch up.
Back when Laura and I lived in Brewster, we liked to drive down to Green Chimneys for a daily walk around their nature trail. Basically, Green Chimneys is this:
“Founded in 1947, Green Chimneys is the nationally renowned, non-profit organization recognized as the leader in restoring possibilities and creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges. Recognized as the worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy, Green Chimneys operates residential treatment for children and a special education school.”
It really is a very cool place…you should drop by if in the area. It is located near the Great Swamp in Patterson and near Putnam Lake, right on the border of New Fairfield, Connecticut. One thing they are very much known for is their annual “Birds of Prey” day. We have yet to make it to this one, but when we drive by, cars are lined up and down the road.
Way back when I was a kid, my friend Brian’s father used to play soccer in Green Chimney’s indoor soccer field. We would usually swim in their pool for a few bucks. But that’s not what Laura and I would go there for…
The walk around the nature trail is about 3/4 of a mile. It’s just long enough for us to get off our butts and get just a bit of excercise while having a decent conversation. Since Green Chimneys is located in a farm setting, there are friendly animals around the whole loop of the nature trail. The cow above just loves visitors. Who even loves visitors even more is this deer type beast below…
This one was hilarious. We would walk by and she would pace us, just waiting for a good petting. As you can see, she likes to get close, even if it means sticking her head through the gate. After we left, it was a bit depressing seeing her follow us all the way to the end of the fence and be forced to stop.
Here are a few more good shots…
These are what we like to call a little horse and a big horse. Notice their difference in size. Man, there are tons of different types of animals at Green Chimneys…ducks, horses, cows, all type of birds, snakes and even cats. I am not sure the cats were brought in as a rescue or anything though. This funny cat below slept under a little shed at the end of the trail. She would always come slowly walking out just as we passed.
I would want to keep on walking, but noooooo…Laura liked to spend an extra half-hour sitting on the bench with the cat on her lap. I would usually walk around and look for things to play with. One time I found a little cat of my own and tried to pet it. It was hanging out on the hood of a pickup truck. One pet and the damn thing scratched my hand. No more love for that cat.
Anyway, Green Chimneys is a great place that specializes in large bird rehabilitation. It is worth the drive…just be sure to drop a few bucks in the donation box if you want to spend some time there.
Related posts
Posted in Animals | No Comments »
Thursday, September 21st, 2006
Ahhh…the hidden wonder in the woods. It’s amazing how many people live in this area or go to school close by and have never been to the Mohonk Mountain House. This interesting resort, perched on a mountaintop, truly is a destination.
The very first time Laura and I went to the Mountain House we were kind of…ho hum about the whole thing. People tell us all the time about how we just HAVE to visit here or HAVE to visit there. This time we took whoever told us about it on their word.
We arrived at the front gate and were kind of taken back at the fact that they wanted $20 per person to go up the hotel. We negotiated at a lower fee (I think $8 per person) for a one hour visit. What in the world were these people charging us to visit a hotel for? We drove through the gate and continued on for a two mile drive through the woods. Hmmm…this place was pretty nice. It was a very well taken care of path through the woods. We saw hikers on both sides of us enjoying the wilderness. The trees canopied over the road making things very shady and cool, just the way I like it.
When we arrived at the base of the hotel, we saw a few fenced in areas with horses. Pretty cool. Then…we parked the car and walked up the hill to see…
…the front of the hotel. Wow, what an interesting place. I think I was expecting something else. We walked up to the front and saw valet parking and about one hundred rocking chairs on the front porch facing the Catskills. I was beginning to like this place more and more. I really could get into sipping some red wine and rocking my life away.
We continued through the hotel to find that the inside was strikingly similar to the Shining…long halls, lots of wood and a good number of staircases. I can just imagine how many fireplaces this hotel had. There were people walking through quickly on their way someplace important and those who were just wandering aimlessly looking at the paintings. We were right in the middle because we had no idea where we were going. We heard some sort of activity towards the back of the hotel and began heading towards it. Hmmm…tea time. I can do this. We weren’t sure if this was meant for the guests or for everybody. Since I paid $16 for the both of us to visit today, I considered us guests. We proceeded to enjoy tea and cookies with the rest of the “guests.” It was so funny…Laura just kept looking at me and laughing inside, I’m sure.
Now that our appetites were a slightly satisfied, we wandered off the back porch towards the lake. Let me just tell you…well, take a look.
Have you ever seen anything like it? Remember, this place is on top of a mountain. Behind the hotel is a huge mountain (down). This is where everyone hangs out and goes boating, swimming and hiking. People were making their ways up to the tower on top of the hill and some were arriving though the end of the eight mile trail that begins way down towards another part of the ridge. There were also places to sit and ponder.
If you exit the back of the hotel and make a left, you can visit the gardens.
This is a great area to get married. Apparently many people do. Being the botanists we are, we loved looking through the large variety of flowers and plants.
There are so many things to do at the Mountain House, but since we only had an hour, we had to hustle back to the car. I kept thinking there was going to be some sort of a check at the gate. Hint, hint: there was none. We will have to keep that in mind for next time.
Related posts
Posted in Travels | 1 Comment »
