Sunday, July 7, 2019

Taking the Long Way Home

Today, after dropping Adelaide off at camp in Rindge, NH, we decided to turn off the GPS and go exploring. Everyone should do this more often. You never know what you might discover!

After poking in and out of small towns and being rerouted out of a parade route in Fitchburg, we found ourselves in Sterling, MA. John remembered seeing gliders in the area during one of our many wonderful visits to Davis Farmland when the kids were young. Today we followed the airport signs and discovered the small Sterling Airport, home to the Greater Boston Glider Club. What a kick it was to see the gliders being towed up, released to circle around in the air currents, and then to swoop in for an almost silent landing. We also struck up a conversation with another bystander who mentioned that on the 2nd weekend in September, the airport hosted the free Sterling Fair. That might be a perfect pairing to an adventure in the Davis Farmland megamaze!

Our further ramblings brought us to the beautiful Wachusett Reservoir. This was fun to see because last year after dropping off Adelaide, we visited the fascinating Quabbin.  The Wachusett Reservoir was much larger than I would have thought.  Right outside the town of Clinton we found the Wachusett Dam--impressive and scenic. It was completed in 1905 and is purportedly the world's largest hand dug dam. We walked down the 191 stairs behind the dam where there is a lovely fountain and walking trails.

Our exploration ended in Maynard at the Pleasant Cafe where we had a leisurely dinner and enjoyed local-ish beers from their substantive beer menu. Nightshift is proving to be reliably good, no matter the type. Great fish tacos here, too.

This day was totally worth avoiding the major thoroughfares and finding the long way back home!

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