Chloe coerced Kyle into a photo this afternoon but I did not get a single shot where they were both looking at the camera. Earlier in the day I played my best game of the season. Finally injury free, I scored two goals, one a blistering drive over the goalie’s head and the other a diving header. Unfortunately we still lost the game by a score of 2-3.
On the drive home we simply had to stop when we saw the sign for Janine’s Frostee. The fine ice cream made for a sweet conclusion to our two day adventure. Jeanine and I were married in 1990 at our home under fall foliage and this was a most befitting way to celebrate that day and all the years since.
Our final destination was the Quabbin Reservoir where we hiked along the Winsor Dam, climbed to the top of the Quabbin Hill tower and walked out along the Goodnough Dike. The dam is one of the largest in the east at 2640 feet in length. The reservoir provides the drinking water for Boston and is carried there by a series of underground tunnels the longest of which is 25 miles and terminates at the Wachusett Reservoir. When the Quabbin was created, the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott had to be abandoned and now lie at the bottom of the 150-foot deep reservoir.
The perfunctory New England small town church shot.
It did not take us long to find a nice kayaking venue just north of Holyoke. We did about five miles in the Oxbow Pond (actually a river in the shape of the letter C with a small detour into Hubert’s Pond. We spotted a nice Blue Heron and a double-crested Cormorant but little else until we spotted a pair of Bald Eagles soaring overhead. About a half hour later the eagles returned but this time there were three of them. Fifty years without ever seeing a Bald Eagle and I have now seen four in the last two weeks. I was able to get a photograph that was good enough to confirm the species but nothing worthy of posting. After returning to our put in point, Jeanine pulled out and I continued out onto the Connecticut River for another couple of miles. The wind induced chop was rather heavy so I kept close to shore.
Despite the cool overnight temperatures, Jeanine and I were almost too warm in our tandem sleeping bag. We broke camp and headed south in search of a kayaking destination. We stopped in Florence for a great breakfast at a diner which featured a 5 egg omelette (which we split) and a strawberry covered Belgian waffle.
Before settling in for the night we climbed the fire tower for a magnificent vista which included the states of Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.
We enjoyed dinner at Amanouz Cafe a Morocan restaurant in Northampton before heading to the Daughters of the American Revolution State Park in Goshen where we made camp for the evening. We zipped our sleeping bags together for a very cozy coccoon.
We also discovered a Swedish Weaving school which Jeanine would very much like to enroll in with Maya next summer.
We traversed the Bridge of Flowers which is lined on both sides with exotic specimens of plant life. Rather than tear down this old trolley bridge, local gardners have created a 400 foot linear garden across the Deerfield River which has become a major toursit attraction.
After descending from the cliffs, we drove into Shelburne Falls for lunch and to enjoy this delightful little town. Here we watch as a women prepares to blow a glass vase.
Click on the photo for a higher resolution of the view we enjoyed from the ledge.
The view from High Ledge was spectacular and etirely worth the thirty minute climb. Jeanine captures me photographing from the edge.
Next we hiked up to a place called High Ledge which overlooks the Shelburne Falls Valley. On the trail Jeanine pauses to pick apples from a tree along the path. The search for a perfect apple would eventually find Jeanine climbing up into the tree. Eventually she settled on three apples which would be consumed later on our journey.