Mills, cemeteries and waterfalls

 52 Saturdays: #9

Uncas Leap at Yantic Falls. There are multiple versions of this story, but in all of them one native warrior makes an impossible leap over a gap here and others fell to their deaths. The plaque says "modern-day erosion" has made the gap larger, but I have my doubts anyone ever jumped it. 

Founders Cemetery has no headstones. There is one large monument in a corner, a bench near the middle and a informational plaque at the entrance. The Thomas Post in the plaque whose land this is built on is Grandpa Joe's ancestor. The first person to be buried there was his first wife, before it was a town cemetery. He is buried there too. 

Take Under the Mountains Road past Plains Cemetery and Franklin Swamp (I saw some very cute turtles here) to Ayer's Gap. This was the first waterfall I went looking for in Connecticut. It has a pretty series of cascades tumbling down Bailey's Ravine. I saw what looked like a drop off and went to the edge to see, but all I could see were trees. It became a theme of my hikes here. Really pretty though. 

Next is Trumbull Cemetery, named after Jonathan Trumbull, Connecticut governor during the Revolutionary War, the only colonial governor that supported the revolution. Josiah Dewey (1641-1732) and Hepzibah Lyman Dewey (1644-1732) are buried here. The Deweys helped found Lebanon and my grandpa, Joseph Hilton, is descended from them. There are also some Revolutionary War sites in Lebanon, including the Trumbull House and the War Office.

Willimantic is not much of a tourist town these days. The main drag has some empty buildings and some of the historic homes are pretty run down. But there are some kind of cool quirky things here. The buildings from the mills are still there, and there's a museum about that history. The Frog Bridge is a quirky attraction, with its giant spindly-legged frogs sitting on top of thread spools on its four corners. 

And just down the street is the Garden on the Bridge, a pedestrian bridge that is planted nicely and offers views of the river, falls and mill ruins. 

UConn Dairy Bar makes its own ice cream from the university's dairy. You can see the cows grazing nearby on Horsebarn Hill that gave the milk used there. Really good ice cream with some great constants and some limited edition and seasonal flavors. 

Prince Edward Island

 Saturday #8 (road trip)

I wanted to ride a bike in Newfoundland, but that would have been a 15-hour drive and two overnight ferry rides. So I settled for another island province with bike trails that's just a 10-hour drive -- and no ferries, just an 8-mile bridge -- away.

Prince Edward Island is the setting for Anne of Green Gables. So this change of itinerary also got Bettie very much on board. 

I groaned and walked out of our TV room so many times as a kid because my sisters had gotten there first and started the Anne of Green Gables mini series on our only TV. Since then, my worldview has broadened somewhat. I love a couple of Pride and Prejudice adaptations, for instance. And I was once in a book group with a full grown man who told me that Anne of Green Gables was his very favorite book of all time. 

So I was ready to let Anne of Green Gables into my Canada bike trip. We listened to the first book on the way up, and it's fantastic. The manic ups and downs of youth, as told by a perceptive, vivacious orphan girl as she comes of age around the turn of the 20th century. I guess I should have sat down a couple more times as a kid and found out what it was all about. 

We went on Memorial Day weekend, late May during what a local called a "slow spring." Most of the trees were still bare and we were told that the handful of blossoms that were out had just appeared within the last couple of days. The weather was beautiful for us -- highs in the mid-60s and partly cloudy most of the time.

It still looked pretty wind-swept and wintery. Actually, it wasn't just wind. It was Hurricane Fiona-swept. Last September, Hurricane Fiona, the most intense tropical storm to ever hit Canada, came through.

The businesses still looked like it was winter too; most were closed, even on the weekend. We watched the sunset too late the first night and couldn't find any restaurants open a few minutes after 8 p.m. We settled for road trip snacks and waited for breakfast. 

At church the next day, we talked to an old timer who still woke up nervous and early every time he planned to go to the mainland. A little post-traumatic stress from the days when ferries -- ferries that sometimes bumped private citizens at the last minute to let long-haul trucks get across -- were the only way on and off of the island. 

After church, we decided to ride bikes to Robinsons Island, where it looked like there was some dirt to ride. We parked nearby, hopped on the bikes and headed past a road that looked closed to vehicles. Perfect. As we passed a visitor center, I made eye contact with a park employee, we nodded at each other and Bettie and I pedaled up the road. 

He was the last person we saw until we were almost back to that spot. The road got worse, the tree damage was more obvious and it was just us, the birds and the ocean. The road goes out to a loop of bike trails, which were cleared, although some of the "features" like bike see saws and ramps were still under construction. 

It wasn't until we took a short spur to the beach, though, that I decided we probably weren't really supposed to be there. I got off the bike, walked a few steps straight toward the beach and looked down at what I'm pretty sure was the biggest chunk of ancient pottery I've come across. 

I've seen small pieces of decorated pottery in Chaco Canyon (NM) and Grand Gulch (UT), but nothing that chunky. I called Bettie over to see and said, "I don't think anyone is supposed to be in here right now." I left it there, of course, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would just sit on the beach for very long with a bunch of rangers and bikers and hikers coming through every day. 

Sure enough, when we got back, we had to get off our bikes to walk around a barricade that said "No entry" in the exact spot where I nodded at the park employee earlier that morning. He didn't say anything and there's no way both Bettie and I could have missed that thing. However it happened, it was clearly closed. Oops. But it was the best part of the trip.

The Anne of Green Gables stuff was fun, for sure. Picturesque cemetery where the author is buried. The church where she played the organ.

The house owned by her aunt and uncle that she chose as the setting for the book is now a museum packed with details from the fictional world -- an old-time vanilla bottle and raspberry cordial among tons of other items on the kitchen shelves, a broach set on an old dresser, a dress with puffed sleeves, etc. 

My favorite part of the Green Gables grounds was the Haunted Woods, of course, a set of paths that wind through thick woods and next to little streams. I walked through once with Bettie and we saw a bunch of birds in the thickets -- the Blackburnian warbler was a new one for me, and the yellow-rumped warbler and American redstart were ones I was really happy to see again. Then I went back for another half-hour or so while she made a phone call. 

Stonington

Saturday #7

    

    Last Saturday, we drove to Stonington. We started out walking at the Dodge Paddock/Beal Preserve. It's a very short trail along the ocean and through a little wetland where they've reclaimed a very old industrial area. There are a few quiet benches facing the ocean. and a trail that winds back away through the wild roses and native plants. There were cormorants on the ocean and a yellowthroat stretching its neck as high up as it could to belt out its song. 

    We were there on a cool Saturday that threatened rain, so I don't know what it would be like on an 80-degree Saturday in July. But this morning, we were one of two people parked at the six-car lot for the preserve, which is in walking distance of everything else mentioned here. There is also maybe 15 parking spots at Stonington Point, but I'm guessing those fill up first and driving all the way down there -- through a mix of one-way streets and very narrow two-way streets -- was a little dodgy. 

    Next, we went to the Stonington Lighthouse Museum. We actually paid an entrance fee and went to the top of the lighthouse. First time since we've been here. The museum was perfectly small.  Just six rooms packed with War of 1812, steamboat and whaling artifacts -- scrimshaw, old flags, uniforms, sailing tools -- and an unaccompanied visit to the lighthouse tower. 

    We walked up to Noah's Cafe. There's a nice little walk along the Stonington Seawall that goes by a pier and a bay. Beautiful. 

    Noah's Cafe was busy but not too busy. I had a great chicken quesadilla and Bettie got a "boro bowl," their version of a Buddha bowl. They some cool photos displayed for sale. Mostly local stuff, like drone shots of Stonington Point and a tree full of cardinals and blue jays, but also classic travel stuff, like an artsy Eiffel Tower and one of those Greek islands with the little homes packed onto the steep hill that leads down to the ocean. 

    Really pretty drive too, especially Al Harvey and Flanders roads on the way into Stonington. 

    Buttonwood Farms Ice Cream is another great ice cream shop. They make their own with ingredients from their farm. 

    Then we checked out Hopeville Pond really quick. It had a crowded campground and a boat launch where you could kayak in the "pond," a dammed up section of the Patchaug River. After looking closer at the map when we got home, I wished I'd checked out the Patchaug State Forest. Looks like there are some dirt roads and boat launches to explore there. 

    Anyway, another great day in Connecticut.