Vacation: Part two

We got to see a lot of things and visit new places, too many to show. A lot of the views were on the ride and a lot of places have no place to stop for photos, so I just enjoyed the ride and the mountains in the distance. Lots of river ways and lakes are in the area. 

The bad thing in NH is most lakes and ponds are private, but we did find one that was free. Surry lake is a large lake with a boat launch and beach and it is free to the public. We stopped and let Bean get out for a walk but it was a little cooler and windy that day, so I wasn't in the mood to swim.

We started that day with a ride up the river to Bellows Falls. It is a historic town on the Vermont side. I wanted to see the old mill and get a photo. I was surprised at how beautiful the area was and also a lot of industry with the dam and fish ladder.

What I loved was the paintings on the buildings. This one depicts the town in a time, gone by.

At the mill area, I spotted a lot of paintings along the walls.

The mill museum.

As we walked by the building, I noticed a road and pathways along the river. They had a park in the back with gardens and viewing areas. This town is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. The only thing I regret is, I found out I missed something. When I got back on Facebook that evening, a link popped up for the area. There are petroglyphs on the rocks below the dam area, I wish I had been able to see them.

After that, we headed inland to check out another place I found on the map. It is called Vilas Pool Park. They were getting ready to open next month, but we were allowed to walk around. It is another free place to picnic and swim, but they do have a donation box.

It has a small parking area and you walk across the falls, on a bridge.

The surprise was a bell tower up on the hill. They opened it up for us and the girls rang the bell. I asked, shouldn't it play a song, there are multiple bells. I guess the girls were new and when I walked inside, I saw the mini piano. So, I played a bit of the first noel, which was fun. As we walked back to the car, I heard the bells ringing and playing different songs. Now that the girls learned it could play songs from the charts they had, they were trying them out, lol.

I pick an area I want to visit and look for things along the way. The last day we took it easy and drove to the Connecticut river and found a nice path along the river. When we got back I rested, since I was still a bit sick. Then I hopped in my kayak and took a leisurely ride up river. I always feel better on the water and I got a nice surprise. I spotted a young Green Heron, fishing on the shore. 

On the way home we took the scenic route. I wanted to take a midway break at the Quabbin reservoir in Massachusetts. We took the wrong way in and got confused on which was to go for a parking lot and there was no reception in the park, so we had to turn around to get out, not easy to maneuver a trailer on park roads. I did enjoy a few views and plan on going back. We can camp closer to the area and visit all the towers and viewpoints at the park. Sadly, no dogs are allowed, so car watching is all we can do.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the beautiful places we visited. Enjoy the rest of your week and hopefully I will have my project I started, finished by Friday. I have been busy cleaning up and getting ready for the fourth. 

Friday Finish!

Another week has flown by and I hope this post finds everyone, doing well.  With the cooler temps and shorter days, it means more time inside to work on projects. This week I found some fun new projects to do from Farmhouse Friends, on Facebook. 

This design is one of the freebies they are offering each week and a design by Heart to Hand.

I am not great at following directions, but I stuck to the original design and used glitter thread for the leaves and berries, it adds a nice touch to the piece and will be pretty when the lights, hit it.

We also got out for some nice day trips last weekend. We decided to go up the opposite side of the Connecticut river. Our first stop was an old cemetery that sits on the river. Beautiful views but no eagles on this day.

The second stop was another cemetery. A beautiful place to walk around and there were bits of color, here and there.

The next stop was a riverside park where you can launch your boats or sit and enjoy the views. It is also a stop for the tourist trains. 

Our last stop was the ferry, across from the castle. We had the truck so we were able to finally take a ride across the river. A fun way to get across and quicker than going around to the bridge.

On Sunday we were able to get up early and head to Hammonasset Beach. The park is huge, lots of parking areas, walking areas, birding and camping there. I definitely want to go back with the kids. We spent our time at the point which is the main bird sanctuary.

Just that area is so big, we spent all our time walking on the paths and along that section of the beach. The only regret is that we couldn't spend more time there, but we wanted to head back before it got dark.

We left before it got dark but enjoyed a pre-sunset sky.

And we also got to our beach, on afternoon. Another bad thing about the time change, we only have an hour before it gets dark, but the good thing is, we get to watch the sunset. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and upcoming week.

Friday Finish!

 

Another week flew by and I think the weekend tired me out, so I have been resting more than doing anything constructive.  Add a noreaster to the mix and no power for three days. We did lose our outdoor tent, but nothing else was damaged.

I was able to make up a couple of Balsam pillows for Christmas. I used a design by Cheri Saffiote, that was part of a larger design. It was something fun to do, to keep my hands busy and a start on Christmas gifts.

This weekend we had planned on taking the kids for a day trip and getting photos, but Saturday didn't work out and we headed to the beach for a bit. The weather is getting cooler and the tides aren't always the best, but still fun to walk along the shore and find a few good treasures. I was surprised to find the blues and the dark one was a new find, it looks blue, but when you hold it to the light, it is a yellow shade, maybe an old piece of carnival glass.

And on Sunday we made it out with the kids. We piled into the RV and headed to the castle. The colors weren't as vibrant as we hoped, but it was a nice day to be out, and take a few photos.

The family photos came out too dark or too light and they are the worst to get nice photos since they all tend to fidget, but this one came out nice and I have been working on my editing skills to make them better.

I did get some nice photos of the scenery. This is the Essex train that takes people on scenic rides up the Connecticut river.

A view from the castle, looking down river.

After the castle, we headed to Devils Hopyard to see the falls. They were not running as strong, but a nice spot to take photos. A day of squatting and running around was enough to tire me out for a week, lol. Tomorrow is rain and hopefully we can find some places with nice color on Sunday. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Friday Finish and wanderings!

This week I tried a stitchery from a free painting design at Deco Art. I modified it a bit so it fit into a smaller square, since it is something I will give away as part of my DSmiles4miles group on facebook. The material was horrid to work on and the photo makes it look, even worse.

I think it is a fun design to give to people during the holidays, we can all use a smile. It is a painting on wood, so I maybe see if I can find some mini wood pieces and paint some, It is a fun design and easy to do, even if  you are not a painter. It could also be adapted by making the bird with applique, which I will try too.

We also got an extra day this week, since my husband had to work on Sunday. I picked Tuesday since the weatherman said it wasn't going to rain. It didn't rain but it misted all day, so it was damp and wet and we got out for a ride, but most visits to places had to be quick, so we couldn't enjoy any long walks.

One place I had seen online was Pumpkin town, we took a little detour and I got a few shots from the road. It wasn't worth going in, since it was too wet, but it would be a fun place to take the boys, next year.

This guy was hitch hiking on the side of the road.

We were lucky that the mist stopped long enough to visit the falls. I found a new function on my camera, so I was able to take a nice photo with a smooth look to the falls. It was gorgeous and the area was surrounded by color, but too wet to hike up the hill to the view point.

And no visit to the park would be complete without a photo at the covered bridge.

I got photos of churches and grave yard stones along the way and our last stop was the castle. I really wanted to see the views from above the river and the castle would give me some cover from the mist. Well, it was closed for repairs, so no castle this time. We went down to the ferry landing and watched the ferry go back and forth, this one is fast and always on the move, since it is easier than driving to a bridge area.

I thought it was fun that they decorated the area.

Tomorrow we are going to try another ride, this time going down the coast to an old coastal town, then up river and back across, and hopefully the castle will be open. I plan out our route online and look for interesting things along the way. So, a few old cemeteries, ocean views and hopefully some eagles along the river. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and made it through the last storm without damage.

This is what I woke  up to, but at least no trees fell this time. Bill had started putting up new sides and they made it through, but all the old ones are gone.

Weekend Wanderings!

We had a nice weekend, one day of sun and one cloudy day, but as long as it isn't raining, I am happy. We decided to head into Connecticut and go across the upper, middle area. That way we could decide which was to go, since there are places in all directions.

We ended up going straight across to a town called Glastonbury, which is on the Connecticut river. The town was really built up, lots of stores and homes on the outskirts and we would have had to go further up to get to the city section and historic areas, so we just made a stop for coffee and headed back down on a scenic road.

We had never been in this area, so we drove until we saw something. Of course there are always lots of churches, so I took some photos and we stopped at one that had a large graveyard. It was in the town of Portland. The church is beautiful, a lot of beautiful detail and sculpture on the church.

There were a lot of old stones, but the slate was deteriorating and most of the fronts were missing. There were quite a few war heroes, from all periods of history.

The next thing I spotted was a ferry sign, so I wanted to check that out. It also means access to the river. There were a couple of cars waiting and the sign said,  honk when you want to come over, lol. The ferry is a barge that is pushed by a tugboat.

As we came down, we saw a bridge across the river and a large area of the town, so we went to see what was on the other side. There was a church right by the bridge and we found a parking lot in the back and an old graveyard. I was walking around and most of the stones were people from Ireland and all their info and place of birth was on the stones.

I had to steal a photo from the internet. I started to walk through the cemetery and I realized it was under the bridge in a bad neighborhood and there were older kids arguing with a man. I listened long enough and the man left, then I left, the kid was still screaming and getting upset, so not the place I wanted to stay. So no photos from me. Now I wish I had known where we  were, Wesleyn College was down the road and there was a larger cemetery on a hill, with views of the valleys. Now I can go back and know the area better. There is also a park with falls, so lots more to explore.

Saturday was a day with the boys, so I didn't want to go too far. I also wanted to try the new apples at the orchard, they are supposed to have a hint of pineapple flavor. I got a few for me and Nick said he liked them, so I let him pick his own small bag for his lunches. Not sure if they taste like pineapple, but it is a flavor that tastes funny but gets better as you eat more, lol.

This is a new crop for them, so these took 4 years to produce. They are called sun crisp.

I decided to take the boys to Mohegan park, Nick's favorite place, which is anywhere with a playground. Alex loved checking out all the fun things at the kiddie section.

And we enjoyed a walk around the pond, Nick likes to run ahead and Alex is always trying to keep up with him and Grandma is trying to keep up, period.

There were areas bursting with color and others, just starting to turn.

We ended the day with a stop at the farm stand for ice cream. The boys enjoyed eating in the old hay wagon.

The clouds were out all day and by the time we headed home, it was nearing dusk, but I was able to get a few nice shots of the pond in Acadia, before we dropped the boys off. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Weekend Wanderings!

Another two days of adventures so I will put day one up today and Sunday will be on Wednesday. A few weeks ago we went to the castle with Nick and he is too young to do much hiking, so we decided to go back and enjoy the day, just at the castle.

We always start out with the castle, the views are spectacular from the balcony area and I was looking forward to seeing the foliage from that viewpoint.

Bill enjoying the views, Bean is people watching as usual. The hills were alive with color, harder to see with the distance but I think I could live here, just love the views and the river.

As we headed to the paths, we went through the picnic area where you can see the cats on the top, the owner loved cats. If you would like to learn more about William Gillette, click on his name for some fun information about his life.

From there we headed down the path which used to be the old railroad trail. The owner built a small scale rail that ran through the property and he took his guests on rides. Covered bridges and train stop platforms, are along the path.

We followed one trail that led to a dead end. I guess the years took their toll on this cliffside, so we had to turn around.

Coming across the road bought us to the other side of the rail trail, some areas are closed, and I don't think I would trust walking across this bridge.

The trail led to the tunnel, it goes under the hill, the owner's guests must have loved staying with him.

It is pitch black inside the tunnel, but my camera has night vision, but spooky, none the less.

We passed by the pond, the drought has really effected the ponds here, but still beautiful with the fall foliage.

Crossing over the bridge by another pond, the grounds are so beautiful.

We decided to head back and enjoy another look at the river and Bill and Bean were having fun exploring the castle alcoves.

As we headed down to the cars, Bean got the attention of a group of sisters. He loves all the attention and I think half the time was spent stopping, to let people pet him. It took 10 minutes for the father to notice his girls were talking to an old guy with a dog, lol. I will never understand parents who spend more time on the phones than enjoying the time with their kids, every moment is precious.

It was a wonderful day and wonderful to spend more time exploring the castle grounds. We headed home and stopped in Norwalk by the river to enjoy the views for a rest break. There were a few families and the kids were feeding the birds, so there were hundreds of birds flying about and swimming around the docks. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and some adventures of your own.