Having A Look

We stopped in for a late breakfast Sunday, at Stables Restaurant on Rte. 9 in Hadley. The Bison were playing King of the Hill as we drove by.



It was about noon time, but it wasn't to much of a problem, as breakfast is all they serve on Sundays. I think my very unsocial habit of reading the paper at the table is rubbing off on Kelly...



The rain held off most of the morning, and the sun threatened to come out, as we burned off some of the newly acquired calories with a bike ride up the Northampton Bikeway, to Look Park.



Look park is in full glory right now. It was packed with visitors this Father's Day Sunday, and most of the picnic areas seemed occupied. We stopped up on a little hill by a gazebo, that overlooks the broad athletic fields. Look Park's iconic miniature train happened to be chugging by...



Nearby, the paddle boats were slowly making their rounds on the pond.



The pond empties out though a little channel which is a favorite spot for ducks to congregate and get fed, by delighted kids.



We looped around, past the small water park, which was doing fine business on the warm day.



Before leaving, we decided to stop in at Look Park' zoo. It's nothing huge, but it does have a small selection of farm animals the kids can feed, like goats, rabbits and a nice variety of Roosters. More interestingly, to me anyway, are several cages with wilder birds. Such as a pair of Red Tailed Hawks, and a couple of Barred Owls.



In a bigger cage, set off by itself is a mighty Bald Eagle.



Of course, it's sad to see such honorable and mighty birds locked up in small cages. But the value that zoos serve, in creating awareness and admiration of species most people would otherwise never see up close, outweighs the sacrifice a few of them have to make. Also, (as Kelly mentioned), a lot of the birds found in these smaller zoos were probably injured and saved, so they might have not lived otherwise.

If it wasn't for zoo's, I could very well have lived my whole life and never witnessed first hand the beauty of the Peacock and Peahen.



This couple happened to be in the mood, and for a few seconds it looked like things might get a little Rated X...



We rolled back into downtown Northamtpon, and stopped for a quick cone and people-watch, on the steps of the Chocolate Emporium.



Now fueled up with sugar, the bike ride continued. We went down a little known side trail, that goes under Rte. 10 and ends up at Veterans Field, where they've built a nice little skate park.



We took a seat nearby and waited, fully expecting to witness some sort of calamitous fall and injury; as that usually serves our shared, brutish sense of humors. (We watch wayyyyy to much "America's Funniest Home Videos"). Unfortunately none was forthcoming. Just kids having fun...



We moved on, but the trail suddenly came to an abrupt end, at a rickety old bridge across the Mill river. There was no way, no how Kelly was going to attempt crossing it. In a brief spat of nostalgic stupidity from my youth, I egged her on and dared us to cross, but deep down, I knew my days of taking unnecessary, stupid chances should stay (mostly) behind me...



From there we cut through the back of Smith college, by the pond and waterfall, then along a trail that follows the Mill river.





On the other side of the river is the dog park that we visit now and again with the canine. Dogs could be seen peeking over the bank here and there. The river is very low right now, looking more like a big creek. A couple of Mergansers paddled against the light current.



Unfortunateley, the scene was a little marred by an empty beer can that came bobbing along and passed them by, ...



It was apparently cast in the water just upstream, by these two examples of Fraternius Bozoius Whatupdudis, a thriving species.



We wound out the day with a stop up at the summit house on Skinner Mountain on the way home, for one last marvelous look at the valley...





Here's another of those coordinate markers, like the ones we saw Saturday. These were much newer though, and were labeled Mass DPW, which apparently took over the duty from the U.S. Geodetic Survey.



I started thinking about the coordinates to the dinner table at home. It was a good day out and about, time to head back...