For quite some time, Laura and I have been planning a trip to Tanglewood this Summer. Every time it came up, there was something else to do. I think there may have even been a time or two where I was just too lazy to get up and go.
Last night was the night. We decided that we would go on Friday and on Saturday I went to the food store for all the goodies. You know, we get all the good food to eat while listening to the music.
The weather was supposed to be a little chilly in central Connecticut on Saturday night. What I wasn’t expecting was the downright cold air that was hovering in the Berkshires. I mean, I guess at this point, 45 degrees feels cold to anyone. I brought an extra shirt, but wish I brought my fleece as well.
On schedule last night was the “All-Mozart Program” in the KoussevitzkyMusic Shed. We grabbed our usual spot in front of the visitor’s center and spread out everything we had. I lit the four “bug” candles, but didn’t really need them due to the chilly weather. Mosquitoes and gnats like the heat and I guess it wasn’t optimal conditions for them to be biting people. That was nice.
The music was ok. I seem to remember our previous visits being more thunderous, while this one was pretty quiet. I like a roar and this time was more like a meow. I explained to Laura this morning that I felt it was more entertaining to the people sitting in the shed, not for us on the lawn. I would still choose to lay under that stars any day.
About half way through, I decided to take a few photos of the area at night. I am sure you could have guessed I was going to do that.
As I have mentioned before, Connecticut is the place to be if you like parks, hiking, mountain biking and recreation in general. We are learning that people around here take this stuff very seriously. When driving around, it’s hard not to see people jogging, riding bikes, playing golf…whatever.
Last week, we decided to drive down to East Haddam to visit Devil’s Hopyard State Park. I looked at this park’s trail map online and it looked good. The thing that really attracted me was the waterfall. As usual, I opened up Google Earth and checked it out from above. Well, all it looked like was woods. I don’t know, after seeing the satellite view, I didn’t think it looked all that great. We went anyway. I am usually wrong about these things.
I was really wrong about this one. I have been to many state parks in my life and I have to say this one was the best so far. The water does it for me. It’s a very low-key park. There are no highways around and it’s tucked back in the woods. The waterfall is great and the river adds a lot to the hike. This park is going to be on our list for a long time. They also offer camping, which is cool.
I took a bunch of pictures and will add captions where I think they would fit.
Well, it’s another year for the Bear MountainDogs Walk for Cancer. I think it might be the “Dogswalk” for Cancer though. I did a post on this last year, so you already may have an idea of what goes on with the walk, but I may have better photos this time. Of course, I brought the camera with this in mind.
So basically what happens is this…you register for the walk and you go there and walk. Around the lake that is. Of course, there is the whole park to explore afterwards if you want, but the basic jist is the walk around the lake. If the Bear Mountain Inn is open, you can hang out in there too. Today, the Inn was closed for renovations.
Ahh, the walk begins. The photo above is the first leg of the walk around Hessian Lake. The whole walk isn’t even that long…maybe 3/4 of a mile.
Who else but Holly and me? Laura took about five pictures of us on this bench, but this was the best one. Holly freaks out a little bit when the camera comes out.
These are just more pictures of Hessian Lake, from different angles. In the last one, you can see the top part of Bear Mountain Bridge.
This is a very important shot that Laura took. Doesn’t it look like I am standing on the edge of the picture?
Another important shot by Laura. Her whole family was impressed by my balancing skill.
Here we go down the last leg of the walk. This is a slight decline heading towards the canoe area and back to the big field.
Finally done. I don’t think we were as tired as the dog in the picture, but it’s a decent little workout.
After the walk is finished, some people come up to you and hand you a bag with little goodies in it. Mostly it is promotional items for dog food companies, but sometimes you get lucky with a frisbee or something. Also, the big thing is to walk around and visit all the tables giving out free stuff.
Another year down and a good tradition followed. Till next year!
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