The Amateur Hiker

The New England Trail is broken into approximately 20 sections each in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. As we don't have an inordinate amount of time to hike, and don't really possess what we need for overnight camping gear at the moment, we decided to take on this trail by hiking a series of section day hikes, point to point, in no particular order.  What made us choose New England Trail, CT Section 12 (Middlefield-Middletown) to start? Nothing in particular, aside from the fact that it was enough of a drive (30 min.) from home to make it feel a little unfamiliar, and enough of a hike (around seven miles) to be a challenge. Or maybe too much of a challenge -- I wasn't even sure the kids could reasonably hike seven miles.  That first day, we learned a LOT.  Our plan with these hikes is always hike south to north (don't ask me why). This involves taking two cars and driving to the northernmost part of the section, leaving one car, then going to the southernmost part ...

After realizing that yes, maybe we could do this hiking thing (just on a much smaller scale than the videos we'd been watching), we were looking for inspiration. Yes, there are countless day hikes and weekend trips we are grateful enough to have access in our area within a several hours' radius. But then we came across some videos about New England Trail , one of 11 national scenic trails "intended to showcase our country's spectacular natural resources and beauty," as the National Park Service discusses on their website here .  The 215-mile New England Trail is a lot more manageable than say, the Appalachian, which runs from Georgia to Maine. It's in our own backyard, running from Long Island Sound in southern Connecticut up into Massachusetts and the New Hampshire border. As I've spent 19 years in Connecticut and lived in Massachusetts until my late twenties, this entire area holds a special place in my heart and mind. It's literally our "stompi...

  I've always been interested in hiking, but not exercising. Go figure. That may have something to do with growing up in New England, where the mountains are smaller and the possibilities for day trips innumerable.  That being said, my interest (and my husband's!) in hiking was really piqued last spring as we were surfing through YouTube. Within a few weeks' time, we came across two hiking channels. One was Live Sutton , which was chronicling four-year-old Harvey Sutton's quest to become the youngest person ever to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. The other was First Church of the Masochist Hikes , following cantankerous Matt "Masochist" Hengst hiking all the way from Key West through Canada.   "You sit down and watch OTHER people hike?!" someone asked us incredulously. Yeah, I know. But it wasn't purely for entertainment's sake. As we watched, both Dan and I found ourselves asking, "If a four-year-old can do that, why can't we?...

Once I found out there were bathrooms, snack bars, and play areas INSIDE the corn maze, I knew we had stumbled upon something far beyond what I'd expected. This was the first time we explored the Davis Mega Maze, way back in 2001. We'd picked up the brochure for the maze, which is located in the central Massachusetts town of Sterling, weeks before and knew we had to try it. We both like puzzles and I've always had a thing for mazes -- particularly one that bills itself as one of the largest and most complex field mazes in the nation. We arrived and before setting out in the maze staff directed us to watch a video that included a message from world-famous maze creator Adrian Fisher, who designs the maze differently every year. Then they turned us loose -- and the maze lived up to all expectations. We ended up trekking down countless paths, twists and turns while looking up at corn towering over our heads while music serenaded us from speakers around the maze's pe...

I grew up in central and western Mass., but we didn't venture all the way out to the Berkshires that often when I was a kid. I'm not quite sure why, but I can say as an adult my semi-aversion to the Berkshires has continued. It's not that the area isn't picturesque and charming and all that. It's just that I've never quite figured out how much there is to DO there. I don't ski. I'm never quite sure if I will find anything that doesn't involve walking around a stuffy art gallery with a sweater tied across my shoulders. Having kids in the equation only heightens that sense of, "What can we do in the Berkshires even though we're not 70 and driving a Porsche?" I could (and very may well) talk about the Norman Rockwell Museum or Tangelwood another day, but this time around I'm just going to share about a nice little hike that (shock!) the entire family enjoyed. You'll find this spot in Stockbridge, MA off route 7. If you...

Yes, that's what they used to call it; or the Eastern States Exposition. You know it as the Big E, the 17-day extravaganza in West Springfield, Mass. that celebrates everything that is Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island -- along with much more. A lot of people avoid the Big E like the plague. If you don't like crowds and spending a lot of money, and prefer an old-fashioned, small-town fair, this one may not be for you. But for many the Big E is tradition -- it's childhood memories and lots of food fried in multiple ways and the only time of the year you get excited about petting a sheep. One of my favorite jobs ever was working for six months as a writing intern for the Big E's marketing department. I wouldn't say the experience made me a Big E connoisseur, but I did pick up a few tips that have been helpful in the years since. Getting There First, tickets: look for deals. Big Y sells tickets at a discounted price...

Today with the humid weather finally dissipated we decided to go exploring pretty close to home. I'd heard that Old New-Gate Prison in East Granby, Connecticut had reopened as a tourist attraction after being closed for nearly a decade. New-Gate is just a few miles from Bradley International Airport on a winding country road past stone walls and stately maples. Originally the site was a copper mine, but due to its unprofitability it was turned into a prison around the time of the Revolutionary War and remained open until the mid-1800s. It's a small but interesting place, with the ruins of brick prison quarters overgrowing with ivy. Most interesting is the mine. You can walk down (it's a constant, murky 52-degrees down below) and view both areas that were mined and also housed prisoners at night. One section highlights  where prisoners were put into solitary confinement -- another an 80-foot deep shaft from which a prisoner escaped. Looking up a well...