I had a company holiday today, so I decided to use this opportunity to visit the
Fisher Museum in Petersham, which is only open on weekdays this time of year. This museum has a lot of dioramas depicting the history, conservation and management of the forest, shown below. Some include the fire tower I climbed up
a week ago.
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| The tower I climbed up |
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| Fighting a forest fire |
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| How to make a diorama tree |
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| Former Farms |
Other exhibits on the second level show the effects of weather, animals, fungi and competition between trees on how they grow, how they get damaged and how they might die as a result. It was interesting because it shows what kind of marks is made by different animals
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| Damage by termites and carpenter ants |
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| Hornet's nest |
I next went to Templeton, where I had missed out on
St. Martin's Church, and decided to have lunch there at J.K. Crossroads on 119 Patriots Road.
The restaurant is a pretty small establishment, with typical sandwiches and hamburgers for lunch, nothing too special, although I liked my Cream of Broccoli soup and Corned Beef Reuben Sandwich.
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| Outside Helen Mae Sauter School |
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| Outside Chair City Wayside Furniture Company |
Next, I visited the
Dunn State Park, which has a walking trail around the Dunn Pond that I walked, the path being highlighted in pink below.
Pictures of the pond from various points along the path follow.
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| Heywood Hospital |
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| Wind turbines |
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| Mount Wachusett Community College |
Done with Gardner, I decided to head into the 6th Circle in the town of Winchendon, the Toy Town. The first place I went to was the town common area on Front Street and Pleasant Street. There are several monuments here, as well as interesting buildings nearby like the town hall, the library and a few churches.
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| The Town Common |
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| Winchendon Town Hall, 109 Front Street |
The
Otter River State Forest was my next destination in Winchendon for the day, with the
Lake Dennison Recreation Area the focus of my attention here. After driving about for a bit finding the proper entrance to the place, I finally found it by entering Mill Glen Road from Winchendon Road and Baldwinville State Road.
From here, I drove to New Boston Road, where I found the beach area on the shores of
Lake Dennison.
From here, the path I took is highlighted below in pink.
I drove along New Boston Road, then turned left onto Goodnow Road, intending to head all the way to the dam on the map.
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| Otter River from Goodnow Road |
However, when I got really close, the road I came upon was flooded. I tried to drive through it, but ended up almost stranding my vehicle. Thankfully, i managed to back myself out of a hopeless situation, and drove back to the intersection with Swamp Road,and turned left onto it. Passing by Beaver Pond, I took a picture of it.
At the junction with River Road, I turned left to try to get back to the dams, but the way was gated near the second dam, and I decided to drive back out to civilization in Royalston.
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| First dam |
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| Second Dam |
I then tried to go onto Birch Hill Dam Road at another attempt to see
Birch Hill Dam, but as it turned out, it was closing time at 3.30pm, so the park ranger chased me back out.
Dejected, I headed back to Winchendon, but managed to spot a few buildings in Royalston before doing so.
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Second Congregational Church of South Royalston,
2 School Street |
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| Whitney Hall, 5 School Street |
Finally back in Winchendon, I visited a few interesting places, including the Giant Rocking Horse on the corner of School Street and Front Street.
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| Giant Rocking Horse |
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Old Murdock Senior Center,
52 Murdock Avenue |
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Monument Park,
Murdock Avenue and Grove Street |
Finally done for the day, it was time to head into Boston for a meetup event at
Irashai Sushi and Teriyaki in Boston. When I set off, I would arrive just in time as stated on my GPS. Unfortunately, I did not know the lanes very well, ending up being forced to go the wrong direction twice and getting lost. Eventually when I got to the restaurant, I was already half an hour late, but apparently another person was even later. It was a good thing that everyone at the table had only just ordered, so it was still good timing. I decided to get the Pink Lady Roll and the Midori Maki Roll, which were not too bad. I also tried some of my friend's Chicken and Beef Teriyaki, which wasn't too bad either, except I did not eat it with rice or noodles, so it became too salty after a while.
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| The Pink Lady Roll |
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| Midori Maki Roll |
With that, my day of sightseeing ended.
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