Early this morning, I spent an hour hooking up my new bike to my car before driving to Boston to meet my friend at her home to go cycling for 40 miles in preparation for a future biking charity event,
Bikes Not Bombs. The route was pretty complicated, so I figured the best way to not get lost was to take note of every single turn we would have to make in the route on a piece of paper and attach it to the front of my bike where I could refer to it any time during the ride. I will not post the route we took because of its complexity, but I will say that we traveled through the towns of Dedham, Needham, Dover, Sherborn and Westwood. It was easygoing for me at first, with my friends and I making frequent stops to take pictures of the beautiful scenery we traveled through, while my directions kept us from getting lost, but eventually the effects of riding a comfort bike with mountain bike wheels began to take its toll on me and I started to consistently lag behind my friends, who had to constantly wait for me. Eventually, at the junction of Springdale Avenue and Farm Street in Sherborn, we decided to cut our route short and take the fastest route back to my friend's place, after having a cup or 2 of lemonade from some kids who were selling it near their home.
With that, we ended up cycling 35 miles, the longest distance I have ever cycled in my entire life, after not having cycled for more than 10 years. I guess that is a pretty good achievement in itself.
I was feeling sore all over, and I was prepared to go home and crash, but I realized that the day was still young and the weather was fantastic, so I decided to push on and continue my sightseeing. My goal was to get to the town of Belmont, but along the way I took some pictures of churches I passed by in Boston.
As I headed toward Belmont, I ventured into the Brookline area, and I took a few pictures here too.
 |
Monument,
School Street and Washington Street |
Unfortunately, the Boston Marathon today made it impossible to get to Belmont with all the roads blocked off, so I had to resort to heading into Newton to get to it. Finally there, I first went for a short walk at the
Beaver Brook Reservation at 66 Mill Street. The path I took here is highlighted below in pink.
From the parking area on Mill Street, I headed first to the shore of Duck Pond.
At one end of the pond is the Beaver Brook Dam, which has a decent waterfall.
From here, I headed to the next water body, Mill Pond, which did not look as nice.
With that, I headed back to my car and continued my sightseeing in Belmont.
 |
Benton Library, 75 Oakley Road
|
 |
Old Waverley Village School,
~438 Trapelo Road |
Finally, it was too dark for me to take any more good pictures, so I decided to head for dinner. Out of all the restaurants that I had Livingsocial deals with, only the
Watch City Brewing Company in Waltham was open on Patriot's Day, so there I went to eat my fill. I worried a bit about my bike, finally deciding to chain it to a post across the river from the
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation at the parking area there. The restaurant is more like a bar, with large brewing kegs in the front of the restaurant.
I had $20 to spend, and upon looking at the specials menu, I was immediately taken by the soup of the day, consisting of curry, sweet potato and corn with crabmeat and scallions, and the Lobster Ravioli with Pan Seared Cajun Salmon, so I got them.
 |
| Curry Soup |
 |
| Lobster Ravioli and Pan Seared Cajun Salmon |
I was not disappointed at all with my choices. The curry soup was exceptional, while the salmon was fresh and crisp, going well with the lobster basil cream sauce and corn salsa.
I ate quickly, fearing for my bike, but thankfully it was still there when I returned. With that I headed home for the day, really exhausted from the bike ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment