A day late!

 

We had quite the week at Mt. Greylock. We packed a lot in, in a short time. Today we were up at six, and headed home by nine. A big storm was heading our way and we wanted to get ahead of it. Tonight we are getting hit with storms in our area.

I will show you a few photos from our first day. We went up the mountain, which is right next to our campground, so only a short drive to the park road. The ride up takes less than a half hour and has some beautiful view points along the way. Once on top, they have parking areas and a short hike to the monument on top. There are also trails, all along the way and this mountain is where the Appalachian trail, crosses over.

We had Bean and I wanted to climb to the top. We had to take turns since Bean couldn't handle going up the spiral staircase. It has 89 steps, so it was tough on my weak legs, but I made it. The tower is a memorial to veterans.

The views from the mountain are spectacular, you can see for miles and miles, into Vermont and New York. This was looking out  one of the windows at the top of the tower.

While there, a lot of wind sailers came to the cliff side, so we got to sit and watch them, as they took off. 

They were using the currents to fly around the mountain area. These guys has seats, attached like a suit, so they could be comfortable. According to the guy who was helping them get out, they go as far as they can and radio in when they land, to get a pick up. 

We also went biking. We got Bean a new trailer and he loved going on the bike path. The path goes for 12 miles, so we did it in sections. The paths go through wooded areas, along a lake and along wetlands. I loved riding there and wish we had a place like that. The paved trail is so much nicer since I can use my electric bike and get up hilly areas easier.

This was the path in a different area. This day, Bill left the roof open and Bean loved looking out. The problem was, he decided he wanted more room and chewed half of the front netting off, ugh. 

I forgot where we were on a ride back, since I tend to try different back roads. There are lots of farm fields in the area and in one, I spotted something unusual, so we stopped so I could take a photo. I had spotted Sand Hill Cranes, something they have spotted in Connecticut, but never seen myself. With the warmer weather, more are coming our way. With the way they are more mottled, I am assuming they are younger ones.

And to end the post, a sunset, seen from the ranger station. They say it is amazing to see from the top of the mountain, but no way was I going to the top and driving down that winding, narrow road in the dark. The sun was so bright, I could not get a photo, until it set.

I hope everyone had a wonderful week. I will post more photos from our trip, this week. I took some with the camera and some with the phone and they didn't all come through, till I got home. So I need to sift through them and pick my favorites.

Vacation Week!

Vacations do not last long and it seems, all my plans fall through and we end up doing something else. Today it was nice out but when we got to the beach, it was cool, so we walked a little and headed home. This weekend will be hotter, so hopefully some swimming with the boys.

Yesterday we headed back to Newport to visit some a few places for hiking and birding. The first stop was at Miantonomi Park. I found the back area with pathways and lots of birds in the area, but they were either hiding or flew off.

There is a tower at the top of the hill, and it is a nice walk. It would be nice if the tower were open, I can imagine how great the views would be. The tower is a World War1 Memorial.

The third photo is a beach we stopped at. I had heard it was a good glass beach. It is called pebble beach and I could see why, nothing but rocks and pebbles, no glass and the tide was high. Beautiful views though.

Our main stop was at Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge. It has paths that run along the point and some that go into the bush, for bird watching. This is the path leading to the point.

A few views along the way, as well as a few beach heads, that we stopped to explore. With high tide, no glass was found.

And we saw a lot of birds and a few I had not seen before. Did I get any photos of them, of course not, they hid or flew away, not my day for bird photos. But I did get a couple who stayed still long enough for me to focus and a few baby bunnies were along the paths.

I haven't had any time to stitch at night, so I will catch up on projects next week. I did get to see the new baby Red-Bellied Woodpecker. It was flapping it's wings like crazy and squawking for food, but Dad didn't seem to pay attention and just filled himself. 

I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Friday Finish!

 

With the holiday, I was too busy on the weekend to do any crafting and then cleaning up and catching up, after the holiday. I cannot stand just sitting and watching tv at night, I have to have something to keep my. hands busy, so I worked up a simple project.

The design is from Kelley Belfast's sunflower and cat design, that I did before, but I separated and made two small pieces for lavender pillows. I have to store a lot of things, so I can always use them in my stash to keep it fresh smelling.

The holiday also means, 4 birthdays. The kids took Bill out for his night and then we took them all to Newport, to enjoy a day at the park. The boys flew kites and explored the ruins from an old mansion, as well as some time on the small beach area.

Afterwards we headed to Fort Adams and walked along the path by the water, to the forts.

For Memorial Day, they had Boots on the Ground and free admission to the fort. 

This is the main area, with each surrounding state, represented. 

Another area was just for Rhode Island and we visited Bill's Second Cousin who died during a flood. It was a wonderful day with the family and a wonderful way to honor those who gave up their lives to protect us.

I hope you all had a nice week and fun plans for the weekend.