Friday Finish!

 

This week I finished a Thanksgiving piece. I needed something for the holiday, for the front entry area and this was perfect. The design is by Cheri Payne and a fun one to do. 

Last week We went for a drive to see if we could find some fall foliage. Not as much yet, but we did find a few spots with splashes of color. The first stop was a reservoir with a dam, but with less rain, less water coming down. It was still beautiful though.

We took a walk along the path to the old bridge. 

Our next stop was Old furnace park, across the border in Connecticut. It is a bit of a climb up to the cliffs, but worth it for the view.

There are more trails that run along the side of the pond, so we took a walk part way to enjoy the views.

The next day we took the boys out. We took them to the bird sanctuary for a shorter walk on the pond side. They enjoyed walking along the paths.

And seeing all the critters along the way.

And we spotted two Praying Mantis along the paths. Love the look this one was giving me. It is always fun to explore with the boys and good to get them away from their electronics. 

This weekend we have a storm coming in and of course I seem to have gotten a flu from them, so taking it easy for a few days. I hope this finds everyone well and enjoying the cooler fall weather.

Haunted Wanderings!

This weekend was another whirlwind of driving and exploring. Saturday I decided I wanted to check out some haunted places in Foster, Rhode Island.

We weren't sure if we could find the places so we drove to the area and got lost down some roads, and at one point ended up at a bridge on the reservoir. As we turned around, I noticed the graveyard on the hill, so we got out and took a few photos.

Not a lot of foliage in this area, it seems some areas turned early and some are still turning, but it is still a beautiful view.

I finally figure out where the haunted graveyard was. The area is said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who drowned in the river nearby.

We had to park on the side of the road, and walk down a path to the graveyard, the bad thing is there is a shooting range nearby, so you could hear the guns but luckily not near the graveyard. It is an old graveyard, most of the stones are worn out and falling down and some are even sinking into the damp, mossy ground. No ghosts and it didn't seem spooky to me, but it was fun to find it.

We never did find the stream and bridge where the hauntings have been seen, so we went back to the area of the old mill. It is said to be haunted the ghost of one of the owners, who hung himself one night. You can read more about the story and see the ruins of the mill at, New England Folklore.

We started down a trail by a graveyard, seems to be a lot of those in the area. No trespassing signs were posted all along the sides, but I assumed it meant in the surrounding woods, but I may have been wrong. It was a nice walk along the river and it wasn't long before we came to the path across the inlet and pond.

The problem was, they had a lot of rain and the small pond was overflowing into the larger pond, so we could not cross. I was really disappointed but I took a photo of the area where the old mill area was.

When we turned back and I looked up, I swore I saw something long and blue and I kept walking when it hit me that it looked like a man in uniform, so who knows, maybe I did see something;) When I zoomed into that area, it looks like the remains of a skeleton or maybe a creepy ghost, not sure if i want to go back there;)

I didn't get a shot of the small falls on the river, so I stopped to get a photo with my new camera. Just as I came up to the area, I saw the small bush across the river move, not like blowing in the wind, but bending branches one after the other, like when someone brushes by them, a ghost? Sadly all this walking in the brush covered Bean in ticks and after this walk we noticed them when they got on Bill. He had one that day and the next day another that left a big mark, luckily I have lyme med, so I made him take that to be safe.

After this we decided we wanted to go for a relaxing walk and see if there was more foliage at the Old Furnace cliffs. It is a climb up, but short, so not too bad. The foliage wasn't as vibrant as I had hoped, and we never did get to see who was at the end of that rope.

I was still in the mood to walk, so we took the path along the peninsula and it was nice for Bean since it was a wide path and he could go on full leash. It was a nice walk and we found this Teepee hut that someone had built.

All in all, it was an interesting day and aside from the ticks, we had fun. Sunday we had another day of exploring, so I will post on Wednesday and tell you all about our adventures.

And my son sent a photo of Nick, he is too cute trying to be serious. Happy Halloween!

Weekend Wanderings - Part One!

We had quite the weekend, beautiful weather and lots of traveling and lots of walking, so I will do day one, today and part two on Wednesday. The foliage maps said the foliage was best at the upper corners of Connecticut, so we went up from RI and crossed over from there.

Since we were at the upper end of Rhode Island, I wanted to visit a campground I had seen online. It is a state park and they are just putting in real bathrooms and showers this year, so I wasn't sure how nice it was. I was surprised at how beautiful the campground was, large sites and a beautiful wooded area on a lake. We will definitely try a weekend next year.

They have a beautiful beach area, lots of sand but the dry season really lowered the lake. Of course Bean was happy to get out and enjoy some beach time. This would be a wonderful place to paddle, as well.

From there we crossed into Connecticut and I saw the sign for Quaddick State Park. Another area I have wanted to see and I was not disappointed. The park is beautiful, lots of picnic areas and a nice place to launch the kayak, we will be returning here.

We continued on and enjoyed the beautiful foliage and headed down to Putnam, our main destination. I always go online and looks for fun things to do in areas, we are traveling in and the Putnam River Trail looked like the perfect place to go for a walk. There are various places to park, so we took the one, closest to the falls.

The falls are amazing and this is with a lower water level.

We walked down the trail a bit further and I took a photo looking back up to where the falls come out to the river. The river has several old mills along the banks.

I saw several interesting building across the river, and the bridges were narrow, so I decided to drive around, since I was nervous about walking Bean on a narrow sidewalk. The first building that caught my attention was this old stone, Baptist church, framed by the beautiful foliage. It was on the corner of two streets, so it was hard to get all of it in a photo.

We found a park and walked a bit down the river, to another mill and waterfall. It is a beautiful area, and there are also a lot of antique stores and art studios, but we skipped that, on this trip.

Another area that I wanted to visit was Old Furnace State Park in Killingly. It was later in the day and I wasn't sure if I was up to another hike, but I wanted to at least visit to see what it was like and maybe enjoy some views from the lake.

We got there and found a nice parking area, and a trail that led up from the backside of the cliff. I couldn't pass up a view from the top, so up we went. The trail was not that bad, but it was all climb, the good thing is, it was a short hike and the view from the top, was well worth it.

No photos with Bean at the top, I wouldn't let him near the edge, he doesn't comprehend heights and is always trying to pull towards water, so not this time.

When we came down, we walked along a path at the bottom of the lake, and found an opening so we could look out at the pond and see the ledge, where we were standing. It was a long day, lots of walking and hiking, but rejuvenating. When we got home, the kids were here, so they visited and had some dinner with us and I crashed. And instead of staying home and resting, we took off on Sunday, stay tuned for part two, coming Wednesday.