It was a lovely day, although a bit colder than last week. Some parts of the river are frozen over, but other parts run too quickly to freeze. We passed some interesting places on the way. First, the Martin Street Bridge in Lincoln. Hmmmm, how appropriate!
Continuing on down the trail, we passed this gigantic mill-looking building next to a gigantic bridge.
The mills around here are usually pretty run down and abandoned-looking so this one made us wonder what was going on, since none of the windows were smashed and it looked like it had been kept-up. We soon found out why:
After reading the sign we looked across the river at the mill again and sure enough there were some people hanging out behind the giant mill with their dogs. I don’t know if I would ever want to live in a former mill, but I bet the view from the windows is spectacular.
Across the river from the mill is the Kelly House Museum, which is dedicated to the different types of transportation used along the Blackstone river. Pawtucket, RI, where I live, is called the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. So there are a lot of old mills and factories in the area. This museum talks about what part the Blackstone Canal, the railroad and the highway system played in the industrial history of the Blackstone River Valley.
You can see how it might be difficult to transport anything on the canal in the wintertime. Anyway, at this point we crossed into Cumberland, on the other side of the river.
The path got a bit more rural here, and we got to see some of the local residents.
We finally made it to the dam, but it was a bit anticlimactic, after all the signs we had seen. We weren’t actually sure this was the place so we kept on going for awhile until a lady told us we had passed it awhile back. So now we know.
After our discovery it was time to have our lunch and head back. We wanted to get back before dark and it gets dark early here so by 2:45 we wanted to be on our way, since we had to get all the way back to the trailhead. I don’t think chicken salad sandwiches ever tasted so good! We did note, however, that next time a thermos of soup or something warm might be a bit more appropriate, since our hands were frozen solid after peeling oranges.
Luna was pretty hungry as well, working dogs need their strength! Oranges and bananas are her favorite and she got a little bit of both today. (Someone’s daddy is a big softie)
We made pretty good time back to the car and were able to get out of the park by 4, and the sun was still up. It was starting to get colder, though, so we are glad we made it.
Of course we needed some water after all that—although we did ruin the moment a bit by starting the car to get it warmed up. Luna kept sniffing the air wondering what the stinky stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe and into her face was. Poor dog!
We moved her bowl so she could drink unpollutedly, and all was well.
We still have about 9 miles to go to finish the route up to the Massachusetts border. We are all very tired tonight and will probably get a very good night’s sleep!!!! Till next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment