Friday Finish!

 

This week I have been working on hand quilting, on a cheater quilt for the fall. I am stitching around the designs, so almost half way done and should be done by next week. While camping we stopped at Herman Melville's house and museum. We didn't take the tour since we had Bean with us, but we were able to go in the gift shop. I got myself a whale cookie cutter and tried it out this week.

I decided to add a Christmas hat on him, for fun. Then I glued him to a small piece of driftwood. I did an AI background so the driftwood is thicker than it actually is. It was fun to try, but I think I do better when I freeform my pieces, cookie cutters have their limits.

This was Melville's home, where he wrote, Moby Dick. There are also fields and paths to walk on the property.

We got to go on another bike ride. This time we did the upper area, between two towns, so we enjoyed a quiet ride. It goes through a lot of wetlands, so we saw lots of critters in the ponds and marsh birds.

It also went through wooded areas and then along a river.

Another day we went to the Natural Bridge park. The natural bridge was formed by years of glacial melt.

And this bridge was built by man, roped off since it is dangerous now.

And while shooting photos, I noticed this strange formation, caused by the waters carving it out, over the years.

We did ride along the Mohawk Trail. There are a few stops with views of the mountains, nearby and you can see some of the ones in the surrounding states.

We spotted this sculpture, along the way. 

Another place we visited was an area called Greylock Glen. We found a beautiful waterfall, and also the park nearby. There are paths at the park and ones that take you to Mount Greylock, so we walked around a pond and enjoyed the mountain views.

Another place we visited was the Norad mill, which houses 3 floors of shops. We went to the pet store and Bean got a new toy and a bag of cookies. Then I went to the candy store and got the boys some treats.

It was a wonderful place to stay and the area has a lot to offer for outdoor adventures. We stayed at Mount Greylock campground, similar to a state park with spacious sites, but more amenities. 

I hope you all had a wonderful week and enjoying the fall weather.

Weekend Wanderings: Part Two

On Sunday we went to Connecticut again and this time we went to Lantern Hill for a hike up to the cliffs. It was almost straight up, most of the way, but a shorter hike, so well worth the climb. On the way, we took a new route, back roads are fun to explore and it was a beautiful drive along the way.

This farm had a backdrop of foliage.

The trail we hiked is on the grounds of the Pequot reservation but the trail is open to the public. On the first vista we had views of Foxwoods, it has a casino and hotel, as well as a shopping outlet. You can see how high we are, compared to the hotel, and a spectacular view of the area and foliage.

There are vistas, all along the trail to the top. Here I am getting a shot, while Bill takes one of me. 

At the top the views are spectacular, you can see the old quarry, the ponds and all the way to the atlantic ocean. 

On the other side, are views of unending trees, the landscape is a mix of full foliage and old growth, so no foliage on those trees. Bill was taking photos of me again. It was quite the climb for my legs and going down seemed harder since the paths were covered with leaves. We also got a few rain bursts, but it was all worth it for these views.

On the way back we stopped at a park called the Ledyard Up-Down Sawmill. There were a group of church goers on a picnic so it was hard to get shots without a lot of people, but this is the building for the sawmill and I found out that they do tours where you can watch them cut wood using water power. If you click on the link, you can read about it. This is a fun place to come back to when they are operating the mills. 

And if I didn't do enough over the weekend, we hiked 3 miles around the pond on Monday and yesterday we hiked along another old mill site. It is just too nice out, not to enjoy walking while we can, but i think my body has had enough, it let me know today, so resting up until this weekend. This is a waterwheel alongside a home at the end of the trail.