Spending a Rainy Day in Concord, MA

At the parking lot of the North Bridge

The weather this week has been beautiful. We tied the record high temperature for one day last week. Most everyday has not seen a single cloud, that was until my days off. Friday and Saturday forecast was for showers on and off both days. After the rain cleared, the temperature was supposed to drop into the forties and the wind gust over thirty miles/hour. I can verify the weatherman got this one right. It rained on and off the last two days. I just got back from a run and the air temperature was 43 degrees according to a gas station thermometer. The wind was blowing big time. We need the rain, so I'm not really complaining. It just made finding something fun to do difficult.

Friday I went to a movie, visited my brother and caught up on writing in my journal. I was bound and determined not to waste my day despite the weather. The surfcasting was out because the wind has dirtied the water for a week. I decided to visit my favorite town in Massachusetts; Concord

I've done almost everything in Concord. I've been to the old houses that once upon a time authors lived in. I've been to their graves in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I love the Minuteman National Historical Park and been to the North Bridge many times. So today was not going to be a day full of surprises. I was just looking for something to do that was more fun than sitting in my house.

I started my day at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. The goal was to see a Northern Pintail duck. Although there were some Great Blue Herons and mallards around, I struck out with the Pintail. The water was drained and most everything as brown. I was hoping for nice fall foliage so I only stayed thirty minutes.

Downtown Concord was
busier than expected

From there I drove to Concord center. I realized of all the times I've been there, I never moseyed around town. I walked down the main streets for a while. I'm not into artisian cheeses and wine, but there were a number of places selling them along with antiques and books. I spent a total of a dollar fifty in a candy store on some Boston Baked Beans. The town does have a Visitor Center I walked over to it. There was a sign for a guided walk at 1pm. It was 12:40 when I saw it. I read the sign a little closer, I noticed the price of $20/ticket. To which, I snubbed my nose to, and kept walking.

After I ran out of streets to walk down I got in my car. I was heading back towards the highway when I noticed some cars parked at a little town forest. On a whim I pulled in. The name of the forest was the Hapgood Wright Town Forest. There was a kiosk in the parking lot with some maps. I decided to go for a walk. Within the boundaries of the forest were a few things worth walking to. Within a three minute walk there is a small lake named Fairyland Pond. The pond is a shallow lily pad type pond. It was at the bottom of a small hill. Then I walked to an old growth pine forest where I saw an immense White Pine. From there I walked on the blue trail back towards the pond.

Brister's Spring. Both Henry David Thoreau and
myself have watched the birds there

 I came upon a spring. The spring's name is Brister's Spring. It was named for a freed slave that lived nearby. Here is the best part; Thoreau used to sit by the spring for hours. Apparently he wrote a paragraph about it in his book Walden. While I was at the spring I saw a number of songbirds. I did not bring my binoculars. I pished to the birds to get them closer. There wasn't anything rare. Mostly they were chickadees and Titmice. I did see two Red Bellied Woodpeckers. As I was walking on, I realized that Thoreau, who was a naturalist, probably did the same thing in that spot a hundred and seventy years ago. It was surreal. From the spring I walked back to my car passing a stone marking the spot of Brister's house.

Lastly I went to the Visitor Center. It was still early and although I wasn't having a jolly good time,

being in Concord was better than being home. On my way to the VC, I got pulled over by a very friendly Park Ranger who informed me I had a brake light out (which I fixed when I got home). There was an actor dressed as a British soldier at the VC. He was explaining a lot about the British army during the Revolutionary War. I watched him communicate with kids. He was very good explaining things to kids of all ages. He let them touch the ostrich feather on his officers hat.  This guy was unbelievably knowledgeable. I really enjoyed talking and listening to him.

I hung out at the Visitor Center for thirty minutes. There was no point of staying for the movie, I've seen it at least five times.

Fairyland Pond on this gloomy day