The road less traveled (Fall in New England)

Our latest venture in hobby farming--raising 16 cornish hens for meat.  These cute baby chicks quickly outgrew the bins in our closet and Trevor and Jonathan had to quickly partition the chicken yard and build them a coop (with heat lamp).  They are growing so fast and will be big enough to butcher at 8 weeks!  

My parents came to visit for a week.  I rearranged my work schedule so I could spend the whole time with them.  We had a wonderful time visiting historical places, walking in the woods, and hanging out with the family.

 We spent a day in Concord, MA.  First at the Orchard House where Louisa May Alcott lived with her family and wrote Little Women.  We went to the Concord Historical Museum that had exhibits from 1600's to present day.  Important events in the Revolutionary War (shot heard round the world) and Civil War occurred here.  Also many prominent writers settled here in the 1800's and were friends: Alcott, Emerson, Longfellow, Thoreau

This is beautiful Walden Pond where Thoreau lived in a hut and wrote.  We hiked the perimeter of the lake (about two miles) and enjoyed the fall colors.  It is very peaceful here.

 The next day Jonathan joined us.  We visited the Robert Frost farm in nearby Londonderry.  He lived there with his young family early in his writing career and it was the inspiration for a lot of his writing throughout his life.  Frost wasn't a good farmer, but really loved being out in nature.

 After lunch at a cute diner (fried pickles-don't try these at home), we went to Stonehenge is Salem, NH.  This is one of the compass points that is astronomical.  There are stone dwellings dated back to BC.

Trevor accompanied us on many nature walks

 On Saturday, we took the boys with us and went to visit some property in Maine we are thinking of buying.  It is very wooded with a few trails through it.  It is 90 minutes north of where we live but only five miles from the coast.

Curtis braved the wind to dig in the sand

We went for a blustery walk along Marginal Way in Perkins cove.  I love the rocky Maine coastline--it reminds me of the Oregon Coast.

We played lots of board games. Trevor and Grandpa were evenly matched.

Monday afternoon we went for a walk through the woods at the Audubon Center in Auburn.  This is the shore of Lake Massebesic.  I love autumn in New England!!!