17. Plimoth Plantation

Week 17 11/18/15

We and 1700 third graders with their teachers explored Plimoth Plantation. We knew there would be school groups, but I think we were the only visitors not connected with a school on this day. We had a nice talk with a visitor assistant about the new Rick Burns documentary and with the man who does the building construction. We also talked with a craftsman who makes Wampanoag war headgear. This was our first visit since our children were little. 

16. Very deep and very high

Week 16 11/6/15

Julia took some amazing pictures of the following trips. I hope she sends them to me! Then I'll update this post.

We set off for an overnight to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Here we stopped at a visitor station near the Guanella Pass and saw the first hint of snow. Then we proceeded to drive (John drove the whole way in both directions) through a snow storm as we crossed the pass. Many trailer trucks were stopped to "chain up." This was enforced by police.

The National Park was even more amazing that we imagined. It is well worth a trip. Near the area below, it is 1/4 mile wide and over 2000 feet deep, so very steep sides. This park draws rock climbers, but even experts are urged to take a guide because of the extreme difficulty. The deepest point is 2600 feet. It is called the "Black Canyon" because sun hits the bottom only when the sun is at its peak. Below is how it appeared when we arrived in the late afternoon.

This photo is my attempt at showing the scale of the canyon on our second day. Of course no photo can do that adequately. But we met someone who could come close. A a professional nature photographer was very pleased with the weather and light. He had with him an amazing array of complex lenses and a high-tech drone.

At this spot near the northern end of the canyon we were struck by the depth, and then by the height of the West Elk mountain range which was always on the horizon - such a contrast.

At this spot I believe I might have burst into singing America the Beautiful.

John enjoyed this perch. He was often way ahead of the rest of us, then he would double back to meet us. Or sometimes we'd spot him way up ahead on a high rock -- or doing handstand pushups on a tree trunk -- or we'd walk under a tree branch and find him above our heads. I believe he is a combination of mountain goat/Cheshire cat /Jack LaLanne.

After a day of rest we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park which I'm sure we'll visit often because it is so close to Julia and John's house. We started off on a hike to Alberta Falls. The trail wasn't too hard but very slippery and I was not able to continue, so turned back, but I enjoyed the scenery and caught up on reading about the park. Paul, John and Julia finished the hike.

Next stop was Bear Lake. It was also slippery. We started around, but there was a wedding in progress, so we moved to our next destination. 

The highest mountains accessible by car are in the north of the park, but the road was closed for the season. This was taken at the turn-around point. Next time we'll take Trail Ridge Road all the way to see more spectacular views. Apparently Julia and John circumnavigated the whole park by car on their first visit last spring.

This is a herd of elk near the park. Going through the town of Estes Park we saw about 30 elk crowded into the little yard around the American Legion Hall, but couldn't get a photo there because we were driving and couldn't stop. On the trip we also saw bighorn sheep.

John took us back home to Broomfield by a different route, which must have been beautiful but it was dark. We went over a few high passes up to 11,000 feet plus.

15. Tea and clouds

Week 15 11/5/15

This was our first visit to Julia and John's  new home in Broomfield, Colorado. We spent a week visiting, cooking, hiking, driving through beautiful scenery and looking at art.

The first day we set off for the Leanin' Tree Museum of Western Art which has a large collection of paintings and sculpture. Very impressive. We particularly liked the work of this landscape painter, Bill Hughes. This museum owns about 10 of his works, some of which include figures and horses. I guess he also painted some portraits. Besides the paintings at this museum, all of his work is in private hands. Most of the paintings are very large. One was at least 8 feet wide. Of course this photo is just meant to give you a rough idea of the work.

Near the museum is the headquarters of Celestial Seasonings Tea where we had our fill of a variety of any of their teas while waiting for a factory tour.

In the afternoon we visited the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, part way up the front range. This included a nice visitor center, gorgeous views and extensive hiking trails up the mountains. Bears and mountain lions are resident here.

It seemed appropriate that we should see some interesting clouds after that visit. I don't know if the type below has a name. Earlier, we saw three stacked nenticular couds which I wasn't able to get a picture of from the car. Unfortunately they dissipated by the time we stopped.

The second tea venue was the Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder http://www.boulderteahouse.com/. Besides a menu of hundreds of yummy teas and cocktails made with tea, they have a full breakfast/lunch/dinner menu and, of course, tea daily. The gorgeous building was constructed in Dushanbe Tajikistan as a gift to Boulder

The next week we returned to Dushanbe for lunch with my friend Tessa who lives in Denver. 

On Friday we went to the Denver Zoo. It's quite large and most of the animal displays were well done. I liked this setting for gibbons on a series of islands with the walkway among them. The gibbons can swing overhead. There were also rhino in the water, and one can be seen in the picture just to the left of Julia. Or is that a rhino? -  now I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly.

14. Medway Cemetery Crawl

Week 14 10/26/15

What better way to recognize the week of Halloween and All Saints Day than with a cemetery crawl. As far as we are aware, Medway has three cemeteries. First visit was St. Josephs Cemetery on Oakland Street. The "population" of this cemetery has grown a lot since the time when I pushed Ben's stroller here every day. We saw many stones marking classmates, neighbors, teachers etc. The layout is regulated to a grid with named lanes. 

Next was the Oakland Cemetery which (unlike St. Joseph Cemetery) is not on Oakland Street. Paul had never walked around this one. It is wooded and has markers dating to the 1800's. The layout is circular. 

Here Paul looks at the marker of the final resting place for the mother of our Heather.

Finally we visited the Evergreen Cemetery where my father was recently laid to rest. Mom and I will soon pick out a headstone for the Hoags which will include nearby graves for my grandparents Alden and Helen.

Helen Garratt Hoag 1892 - 1972

Paul cleaning the marker for Alden Bomer Hoag 1897 - 1983

Here is the oldest part of the cemetery. Graves here are very well tended. Many have been restored. The oldest one we found this day was from the 1750's.

Here is the stone for Aaron Wight who build my parent's house in 1800.

On a previous visit I had found the grave for Thaddeus Lovering who built our house in 1780. This time, neither of us could spot it, even though I had a good idea of where it was. It was late in the day and shadows made it hard to read the stones.

The next day, I returned to Evergreen Cemetery and found Thaddeus Lovering right away! Here is is stone.

His wife was Rachel.

13. Atwood heritage day

Week 13 10/16/15

We wanted to get together with Paul's brother Charlie, and what better spot then Erving MA at their childhood summer stomping grounds. We started with breakfast and a planning session at the Rail Yard Diner. Then we left one car at the top of the trail and drove to our starting point at the low elevation end.

A portion of our hike coincided with the Metacomet Monadnock trail - up to a ridge over Millers River.

The weather was nice, cool and breezy with good visibility. Here is a pretty waterfall near the start of our trip. This is also near the point where we took a wrong turn and had to retrace our steps. Even though these guys have been here many times, they claim the trails might be different now. Charlie also says he prefers feeling a bit lost. Uh huh. 

We skipped the turnoff to Hermit Cave. Why are landmarks named after hermits called "hermit" rather than the person's name? Maybe it sounds more romantic.

Here are they guys having lunch at the overlook. Paul and I had a modified Dave Hoag hiking meal (crackers, cheddar, sardines, and apple). No sardines for me though. Dad would have had Triskets and Crackerbarrel cheese instead of stoned wheat thins, an orange rather than an apple and finally a chocolate bar. Always. And part of the entertainment is to peel the orange with only one piece if possible.

Charlie's packed lunch was Chinese takeout!

This spot was a bit precarious over the river, as we looked for somewhere to take a group photo with the timer.

And a group photo including the photographer. We look cold. If anyone finds these red knit gloves, send them to me.

We recovered our car across the street from the Atwood/Wait family house where summer vacations were spent. No photo of the house here, which is now in the hands of strangers. Paul and Charlie remember no electricity or plumbing, but lots of things to do and freedom to explore.

Some of the Wait cousins own the back fields. Here is a house that Charlie says was built by their cousins for when they come to the area. The RV must belong to one of them also. Nobody was around, though. This is on the edge of a beautiful field surrounded by forest.

12. Boston Museum of Science

Week 12 10/15/15

We seem to be alternating between outdoor and "civilized" outings. 

Neither of us had been to this museum in many years so it was time for a trip. We found most of the exhibits geared toward schoolchildren - lots of buttons to push, computer screens and cards to flip. We skipped many of them. The text and lectures seemed very simplified in most cases. During one animal show (a Screaming Hairy Armadillo) which took place after the kids left on their buses, the demonstrator apologized for her talk, saying it was prepared for a child audience. I'm sure many children get a lot out of it, but it was sad to see others just pushing buttons and not taking any interest in the content, or else interacting with their cell phones.  

We enjoyed the new Human Life exhibit (but at the same time, kind of missed the old one) and the exhibit of the museum's own history which included some cases that were of the "cabinet of curiosity" type - crowded with interesting juxtapositions that leave one with unanswered questions.

Here I am with one of the old dioramas we both remembered from so long ago. We appreciated the quality of the curved murals in the backgrounds. This one is sort of like our back yard, complete with groundhogs.

11. Perfect fall day

Week 11 10/7/15

Paul and I visited several spots on this day so it took a while to get the facts together. Here we parked at a small Sudbury Valley Trustees reservation called Black Cat farm and then wandered into Wayland's Sedge Meadow conservation restriction land. It's hard to tell in this small photo, but he is admiring a crabapple tree.

Next was Walbach farm which is home base for Sudbury Valley Trustees. They have a nice house which we didn't enter, and a program of events each season. We saw several sycamore trees in the woods, but not in the photos below. We liked the trails.

Here we have a photo of one of several plantings of sweet fern (we think) at the summit of Round Hill, another Sudbury Valley Trustees spot. There is a community garden adjacent. 

We ate our picnic at Great Woods National Wildlife Refuge. We'll come back with a canoe another day, which is a trip Paul took with his brother Phil several years ago. 

Final stop was Brue's woods (SVT), a small reservation which is apparently used frequently by the adjacent public school. No photo here.