Wandering
A travelogue of sorts
On top of Mount Major
All covered in trees
Aisha lost her poor face mask
No one better sneeze
It was a beautiful fall-ish morning for a hike up Mount Major, and thankfully not too many people on the trails. We went up the longer but less intense Brook Trail (yellow) and came back down the steeper Main Trail (blue).
Aisha and I went glamping (glamorous camping) AND gamping (gay camping) with a couple friends in Monmouth, Maine, about an hour north of Portland. We stayed in a cabin that was recently renovated on an episode of Maine Cabin Masters on the DIY Network. It was kind of cool to see the place on TV before we booked it on Airbnb.
For a pandemic getaway, the location was perfect. The cabin sat on a stream connecting Annabessacook Lake and Cobbosseecontee Lake. At the end of the road there was a dock overlooking Annabessacook, which was strangely quiet. For a beautiful Labor Day weekend, there was hardly anyone out on the lake, boating or anything. Just as well, we had the dock to ourselves every day.
We kayaked, grilled all our meals, made smores over a fire every night, and played card games. For wildlife we saw turtles, ducks, bald eagles (!!), and a big mysterious waterfowl with a long neck sitting in a tree one morning. Maybe it was a heron? Do herons perch in trees?
The Middlesex Fells Reservation — or “The Fells” as locals call it — is an enormous park situated between Medford and Stoneham, MA. It’s sheer vastness and the lack of visitor information online about trails and parking has prevented me from checking it out in the past. But, after an August heat wave in quarantine kept me home for so long, I was ready to entertain just about any promise of some outdoor exploration.
Our initial destination was Wright’s Tower, on the Medford-side of the reservation. But, alas, even on a cloudy afternoon, all the parking along South Border Road was very full. We reprogrammed the GPS to send us to another potential parking destination—Copland House, up by Spot Pond in Stoneham. It was a 12 minute drive to the other side of the park. What!
Copland House appears to be an abandoned house that is maybe historic (?), but no plaques or anything say what it is, exactly. Thankfully there were a couple open parking spots. Most people were headed into the Virginia Wood Trail. Not anticipating a woodsy walk, and with no trail map, we headed in the opposite direction to walk along the edge of Spot Pond.
On Pond Street (appropriately named), most of the pond views were obscured by trees, so we headed towards the Spot Pond Lookout on Google Maps, hoping to see some water there. This took us along the backside of Stone Zoo which was an unexpected treat, because we could clearly see into the zoo through the fence! Inside the zoo we saw a goat, a crane, maybe a cougar, and a chipmunk. The chipmunk was not part of the zoo, we don’t think!
The pond lookout was a small beachy area that was lovely, if not a bit eerie, because there was absolutely no one around. No one on the sand, no one on the water. Emptiness. Social distancing success?
Because the Middlesex Fells Reservation is so big (have I mentioned how BIG it is?) there was no easy, short way for us to loop around, we turned back to go to the car. I would still like to go back at some point to see Wright’s Tower (maybe early in the morning will be less busy?) or one of the many other destinations that must be there within the reservation.
Aisha and I spent a couple nights in Provincetown, MA on the Cape as our first mini-getaway since being quarantined in March. Due to the pandemic, we were able to book an Airbnb at a good rate and in pretty short notice. Neither of us had been to Provincetown, MA before.
As expected, we didn’t get the full “P-Town” experience. But we did get to relax plenty at the small beach that was private to our Airbnb’s condo group. We walked up to the Pilgrim Monument, though it was closed, and down a mostly vacant MacMillan Pier, to look at the boats.
For the most part, everyone was practicing social distancing and wearing face masks. Our rental was conveniently located on Commercial Street, the main drag of P-Town, and lots of restaurants were open with take-out options and outdoor seating.
One morning we walked Commercial Street all the way down to the Provincetown Causeway—a strip of rocks connecting mainland Provincetown to Wood End, where there’s a lighthouse and a beach. We didn’t walk the full way (too hot!) but it was one of my favorite sights.
Provincetown is well-known as a gay haven, so it was fun to see the rainbow flags and merchandise all over the place. However, as described in this New York Times article about Provincetown in 2020:
“The strange, skewed thing about Provincetown this summer… is how disproportionately heterosexual the day-tripping visitors are.”
So many heterosexual folks, namely couples with young children. And with no nightclubs open, nor as many drag shows or queens out and about, the vibe of Provincetown was less queer and more “quirky-coastal-New-England.” For our purposes this strange summer, that was totally fine. But I’d love to go back some time in the future when we’re not in a global pandemic (even though I can see the town getting much, much busier)!
It’s no surprise that 2020 hasn’t been the best year for wandering. Massachusetts was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, just in time for spring. Since then, parks and museums have largely been closed, and shows and events canceled or moved online.
But now that there are far fewer new cases of the virus in the state, some places are starting to reopen with restrictions.
In mid-June, I was excited to get an email from The Trustees announcing they had reopened the grounds of some of their parks, including the deCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA. Aisha and I moved to Medford in April (yes, mid-pandemic), so now it was a short drive away.
Finally, a way to get outside and see some art while still social distancing!
We had to reserve our ticket online beforehand and select which hour we would be arriving. This way, they could stagger the number of visitors. Ticketing was through Eventbrite and super easy.
The deCordova Museum itself (an awesome castle-esque brick building with viney sides) was still closed, so admission was only $15 per car to get into the sculpture park. Face masks required. No bathrooms. And please, no touching the sculptures (so said the signs posted everywhere across the park). Disinfecting sculptures must be a challenge!
There were lots of people on the grounds of deCordova, which at first was unnerving, but the park is so big, everyone could and did stay well far apart. Many folks were just sitting and relaxing on the main lawn, enjoying being outside on a nice day. Lots of families with young kids who had to refrain from climbing up on some of the sculptures (some seemed unable to resist).
The main thing that I missed was having a print map of the park to know where all the sculptures are and to learn more about them. I used the deCordova’s digital tour and map on my phone, but I find it harder to see and follow that way. There may be some sculptures we missed, but that’s okay, we saw so many, and not having a map at all times forced me to embrace the wandering.
Here are my attempted descriptions of some of sculptures we saw:
A large panel of horsehair / re-claimed cello strings blowing in the breeze
A series of what look like glass doors but were more likely clear plastic
Turrets made out of cloth, so they look more like tents
A copper goose with a golf ball in its bill
Pots, pans, and plastic fruit all hanging from steel hooks
A crumpled crochet blanket but WAIT it’s made out of bronze!
Fake jello molds with moths and bugs on them (OBSESSED)
Something called “Donut with 3 Balls”
Oh! And we saw a snake! Or rather, I saw the snake, then pretended to have not seen the snake, but Aisha saw right through me and I had to tell her about it. But maybe it was just an elaborate moving sculpture! Right?! :)
