Biking to Putnam(Greenfield) CT

We had a Saturday all to ourselves, Adam was off to the temple with the youth, and we wanted to do something.  We only have a few more weekends of great weather before cold sets in so biking was definitely on the list.  And biking with a destination or errand at the end of the trip is always better than just regular biking.  Emma had been itching to see the Boxcar Children's Museum in Putnam.  She is addicted to that series and has read at least twenty of those cute little mysteries.  When she doesn't have a new one to read she brings out her favorites and rereads them.

And Putnam is conveniently located at the end of a bike trail, the Airline State Trail, a forty mile trail existing on the old railroad line that ran across Connecticut connecting New York and Boston.  It looked perfect, at least through Google Map's viewpoint.  We could park at a State Park a few miles away from the town, bike in, see the museum, grab a bit to eat, and bike and ride home.

  What I didn't notice was that the north end of the trail, where we were headed, was undeveloped, and used mostly for hiking, horseback riding, and occasionally mountain bikers.

Here we are.. naively unpacking the bikes.

By the way, this IS the last time I pack those things all in the van.  So much work.

And here is when we found the trail that would take us into town.

Picturesque, yes, but also muddy and narrow and with a 

slight decline(meaning an even rougher ride home).

I had to laugh and start to pedal and the girls followed.

I knew we weren't going to make it all the way to Putnam, but we were on an adventure!

Luckily, we came to a visitors center right away, maybe 2 miles in, and thought it a perfect place to drink the water I had been packing and eat ALL the snacks I had packed for the entire day.

At least my load was a bit lighter, I had forgotten how hard that momma bike is to pull with the trailer, even if I have Gracie in the front with me.

Homeward bound.

We decided it was safe and much cooler to go helmet-less.  If we crashed we'd only land in the soft, mushy trail.

Here's a picture of Gracie's seat, if you were wondering what she was sitting on up there.

We made it back to the park, loaded up the bikes, noticed something smelled terribly like dog poo, and search for the offending tire to clean off, cleaned off the smelly poo because it was stinking up the car(another reason bikes should not ride in the car with you) and we were on our way to the main attraction.

Gertrude Warner was born and lived most of her life in this small town of Putnam.  Her fictional town of "Greenfield" is modeled after her hometown.  She never married, but spent her life as a teacher of young children.  You could see her childhood home from the museum across the railroad tracks.  She used to climb the small hill and watch the trains pulling into and out of the station in the afternoons.  She would see the boxcars and think how neat it would be to live in one.

Inside were "artifacts" from the stories, a pink chipped cup, Henry's tin can of bent nails, a basket of blueberries, a launry sack, and all sorts of other fun things.  The walls were decorated with some of the sillouets that Gertrude would make for her students on thier birthdays.  We saw her desk and played with her typwritter.  It was all that I hoped for in a little 10 by 50ft museum.

And then, I did something that I have never done before.  I took them all to eat at a restaurant by myself, but I did my homework beforehand(which paid off a little better than my bike trail research).  I found the one family friendly pub in Putnam and it happened to be across the street from the museum, I studies their menu online, and put my order in before they even had us seated. Success.  They are really good kids and I was proud to see that they might even grow up with some manners someday.

Pizza in the teeth and my yummy sandwich.

Ha, what a Saturday.

See, Dads aren't the only ones who can be crazy adventurous.

*PS... we have some great news to share if you know where to look.