Many minutes on the Minuteman

Third installment of my labor day weekend now that I'm through with some of the days' labor.

After a late night at the Donkey Show on Friday and a long day looking for whales and checking out the brewery on Cape Ann on Saturday. I was ready for some time alone. I took the T out to Alewife and rode the Minuteman Bikeway out through Arlington, Lexington and to Bedford. The trail is wooded and generally away from civilization, with nice little interludes through downtown Arlington and Lexington. The ride didn't take very long and once I got to Bedford and hit up their little old-timey railroad display I felt like I could go anywhere. I started planning cross-country trips in my head.

Back in real life, I decided to bike as far as Concord, another 5 miles. Concord, the town where Paul Revere rode through warning revolutionaries "The British are coming!" (I have new respect for how far they walked now!) I had an an amazing crab cake sandwich at the Main Street Cafe. A decidedly non-chain bar, coffee shop meeting place, the Main Street Cafe, does not allow cell-phones or laptops (take that Panera's!). I read books at the fabulous local, independent book store and had ice cream at the Bedford Depot. Nothing beats homemade ice cream after a 16 mile ride.

I hopped on the commuter rail back to Cambridge. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this idea. The front of the car I was in was packed with bikes. I slept all the way back to Porter Square and didn't even get charged. I had another 5 mile ride back home and stopped to run errands along the way.

A lovely day in all. I'm really in love with my bike. It's my gym, my transportation, my meditation. Nothing has been better than bike riding lately, and I know that come first snow-fall in Boston, there'll be a huge a hole in my life.

For now, I'm taking advantage.

View Larger Map

A map of my ride.

My Backyard

This week I drove practically the whole big rectangle of Massachusetts.  Following the coast from Boston I spent Monday on the Cape.  

Not wanting to miss a opportunity to spend some time on the beach I booked a campsite at Scusset Beach.  We were assigned the same site my friend Libby and I shared 6 years ago our summer of canvassing.  A bit errie.

The weather didn't cooperate and while we enjoyed a nice, warm hearty meal at a British-style pub in Sandwich, our attempts to start a fire took a lot of time and lighter fluid.  I managed to warm up enough marshmallows for s'mores and chugged a couple glasses of Cape Cod Beer poured from a growler. 

The next day I drove back up through Boston, across the top of the state to Greenfield, down to Northampton, back to the top Northeast corner to Williamstown, down to the southeast corner and all the way back home.  The rolling mountains and stormy lakes didn't get much exploring as I zipped by meeting to meeting, but I got a few shots out the window.

Lastly, Friday was perfect.  Finally the sun came back out and every tree, bush, flower, lawn, having had it's fill was glowing green.

I spent the day in historic Concord.  In between meetings I did lunch and a walk around Walden Pond.  

Staring at the site of Thoreau's cabin, I too decideded to live deliberately.  

I caught a bit of the Sleepy Hollow cemetery--final resting place of Thoreau, Emmmerson and Louisa May Alcott and did a quick drive by Alcott's childhood home.

 My pictures capture some of the gorgeousness of the old history lain in the green, but I'm sure if you are in any area of the country that is waking up from winter, you can fill in an even brighter green than the camera could capture in your mind's eye.  

What a whirlwind of a week! 

Squished States

Florida and California are sunny paradises that seem to go on forever, but it's fun being in New England where's a short drive to your next-door neighbor states.  Friday I offered up my car for a group drive up to Portland Maine to a friend's 30th birthday party.  I couldn't imagine anywhere having more snow or being more cold, but there they were, giant 5 foot piles of frozen white stuff.  

Next was Providence.  I had driven down to Ikea and figured, well half way there, might as well call my friend.  My friend, whom I hadn't seen in years, was, thankfully, not doing anything, so I sped right down to the Ocean State.  The city was absolutely adorable.  Hilly roads, small little streets, cute New England houses.

Despite the car fatigue, today I drove a load of co-workers up to Concord, New Hampshire for a staff meeting.  My day was spent in meetings, but I ventured out to a cute little co-op that served a mean cup of coffee, of which I imbibed several throughout the day. 

In each case, my experience was limited to basically seeing the people that I had come to see and not exploring the city.  Heck, I've barely had a chance to explore Boston, but each little state capital left me with the impression that in New England, small and quaint are beautiful.  Neon is completely unnecessary when you've got little capitol buildings with shiney gold domes.