Carol and I tend to avoid travel on the big three-day weekends because we hate the traffic on either end. So for the past several weeks I had been collecting ideas for things to do near home. We ended up doing almost of them, plus one or two unplanned activities.
Saturday
We started out the weekend by heading to Concord, MA and renting a canoe. Charlotte has a fear of small watercraft so it was just Audrey and me. Carol and Charlotte went back into Concord center to the Farmer's Market and scored some delicious fresh corn.
Audrey and I paddled down the Sudbury River to where it joins the Assabet River to become the Concord River. Most people go all the way to the Old North Bridge, but I was getting a good workout controlling the canoe in the gusty winds that were the last remnants of Hurricane Earl. We got to see turtles sunning on logs which was the highlight for Audrey. I was surprised that we saw hardly any water fowl.
Once we met up with Carol and Charlotte again we headed to Walden Pond for a swim. The water was perfect temperature and the girls and I played in the pond (where I come from we'd call it a lake) for an hour or two. The winds were making the pond just a little choppy so Audrey got some practice with open water swimming.
On the way to Concord we had passed through the Minute Man National Historic Park. Since we were there, we stopped at the Visitor Center. It happened to be closing, but we got to look around for a few minutes and then walk a bit of the Battle Road. Of course, once we had read more about the park and the day it commemorates, we had to drive back through Concord center and visit the Old North Bridge. It was all an excellent context for a little history lesson for the girls.
Sunday
There was a boy on Audrey's t-ball team in the spring named Zach who lives close to us. Zach's dad tends to take Zach and his two brothers Linus and Miles out for a walk after dinner and they often end up at our house for some tag or swings or just chasing each other. Last week we made a plan that over the wekeend we would go apple picking together.
On Sunday morning we caravaned up to Russell Orchards in Ipswich. It's our favorite apple orchard since they have many varieties of apples. There is also a small farm where the kids can feed the animals. They all had a great time feeding long grass to the horses. We picked a couple of bags of apples for pies and for eating.
I had a loose plan to head to Newburyport after the orchard since we've not been yet and everyone says it's beautiful. But Dana (Zach's dad) mentioned that the nearby Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary was good for kids. So we found some lunch in Ipswich and then headed there.
We walked about half a mile through the woods and marshes to The Rockery. The sanctuary was formerly a private estate and was acquired by the Audubon Society in 1951. The previous owner had, starting in 1905, built a huge feature out of boulders (he even paid to have rail laid to the site to transport in the rocks). It apparently took more than 5 years using 50-100 Italian laborers. It's like a fake 50' high "mountain" with trails/stairs around and up it and a "grotto" (caves) under one side. It sits at the edge of a pond. It is kid heaven. I would have thought it was the greatest thing ever as a kid. Audrey couldn't get enough of running and climbing around on it.
After a while of playing there we walked the rest of the loop trail around the pond. Then the kids just had to have another go at the Rockery so back we went for 10 or 15 minutes more. It was hard to pull them away.
We walked back up to the parking lot and the big lawn around the former estate house. The kids had more fun climbing a tree and then laying on the ground spotting shapes in the clouds and wrestling with the dads.
Then Dana and Rachel came up with another great suggestion: wrap up the day at Richardson's Ice Cream in Middleton. Mmmm.
Monday
One thing I've been wanting to do for a while is visit the Lowell National Historic Park and especially take one of the canal tours. Lowell was the first planned industrial city in the Americas and the textile factories were originally powered by water. They built an extensive canal system to deliver that water throughout the growing city. The factories were mostly closed by the 1930s: textile manufacturing had moved to the South, nearer the raw materials and electricity had made the city's design obsolete. The city languished for decades but was sort of preserved through neglect. A rejuvenation project has been underway for almost 30 years now centered on the National Park status.
The canal tour was interesting as was a walk around town. We visited a Boardinghouse Museum (where the factory girls lived) and walked along more of the canals. The girls weren't into it so much, but I had a good time. We parents deserve some enjoyment too, don't we?
Overall it was a fantastic weekend. As I mentioned previously, I felt like I sacrificed all the nice spring weekends working on the kitchen and I wanted to have some good quality time with the girls in the last part of the summer. Mission accomplished. And more to come - we think we're going to go camping in Maine this weekend and squeeze out everything we can from the remaining good weather.
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