quick trip to the store woods
I've been enjoying not driving much the last couple weeks, but abandoning the car has meant less in the way of outings for me and the boys. Our local woods just haven't been that inspiring. But it doesn't need to be that way! Besides the tiny lot-sized swamp across the street, where the boys had a great time playing in the rain the other day, we have the Hartwell Town Forest near by and two or three other town woods within easy cycling range. On Wednesday we finally got organized for a quick afternoon trip and had a great time of it.
up a downed tree
Our main motivation was actually making a run to Chip-In to get some more milk, but while we were out I thought we might do a little more adventuring. Sure enough, after a fun and fast ride through the woods to the store we were all ready to push keep going, so we rode another quarter-mile to the trail complex in the Mary Putnam Webber Wildlife Preserve where we walked and ran a tiny loop (and climbed some trees!). Then it was back to Chip-In, where we discovered that their Covid-19 hours meant they closed at 4:00... and it was 4:08. Oops. The boys were understanding, and we had a pleasant (if slower) ride home. The whole outing—which burned many calories and left us feeling like we did something worthwhile—didn't take much longer than an hour. So more ambitious trips are within reach when the weather gets a little better!
And the milk? Well, we did have to push oatmeal one day later on the breakfast menu, but we made another trip out to the farm yesterday and got there a full 20 minutes before closing time. No worries at all!