I had scuba diving lessons to go to this afternoon, so I headed northeastwards to start my day of hiking before that, starting with the
Turner Pond Conservation Area in Lancaster at the end of Brian Road, passing by the
Johnny Appleseed Visitor's Center in town
along the way.
The path I took to try to find Turner Pond is shown below in pink.
Unfortunately, the trails were too far from the pond to see anything. On the way back to my car at ~131 Kevala Road, I happened to see a trail leading toward the pond, and was finally rewarded with a view of it after following it,
even though I was probably trespassing.
From here, it was on to the town of Shirley.
 |
Town Common,
Parker Road and Horse Pond Road
|
I went hiking at
Farandnear in town, the path I took to find the old reservoir here is shown below in pink.
It was nice to see a Canadian Goose with her goslings here in the swamps,
but there wasn't really much else,
although I did see my first Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid.
From here, it was on to the town of Ayer. I headed first to the Pine Meadow Conservation Area, where the path I took to check out the ponds here are shown below in pink.
Not bad views of Pine Meadow Pond,
and of Rock Meadow Pond in the northern part, which is more of a swamp.
Next, I headed to the Long Pond Dam Trail, where the path I took to get to the pond is shown below in pink.
I initially mistook the dirt road Stratton Hill Road as the trail, realizing my mistake using my GPS as I headed in a totally wrong direction. The actual trailhead is at ~98 Wright Road on the right of a small pond, and from here, I was able to head to the dam easily.
Not a bad hike either.
At this point, I decided to head north to Tyngsborough to grab some cakes from
Bittersweet Bake Shoppe. I had a coupon here, but after seeing the small place, I decided against it, just getting the Napoleon, Raspberry Pinwheel and Raspberry Chocolate Pecan Pie.
I rarely say this about dessert, but it was pretty terrible. The flour in the pinwheel left a distateful layer on my tongue, while the Napoleon was nothing
like the one I had at
Caffe Vittoria in Boston.
From here, it was on to scuba diving class in Chelmsford, where we had a break for lunch, and I chose to go to Jimmy's Pizza nearby to get a Steak and Cheese Sub, which was actually pretty good.
Thankfully, I passed my exam and I did not have to do the pool today, so I headed back to Tyngsborough for lunch, passing by a cannon at Dalton Road and Chelmsford Street in Chelmsford
along the way.
Feng Shui in Tyngsborough is a pretty decent Chinese restaurant with a few locations in Massachusetts.
I could not use my Groupon here as I had misread the fine print saying it was only valid for parties of 2 or more, so I resorted to just getting the
Spring Flower Roll (seared tuna and avocado with crunch flake rolls with horseradish and salmon skin),
although I eventually got the Coppa Mascarpone (chocolate cream followed by smooth mascarpone cream, topped with amaretto cookie crumbs and chocolate curls) for dessert as well.
The roll was pretty delicious actually, especially with the salmon skin, although the almond flavor in the dessert did not appeal to me too much. Overall, not a bad place to dine at in town.
From here, it was on to my first experience at duckpin bowling in one of the few such places left operating in Massachusetts, the Collin's Bowladrome at 325 Boston Road in Billerica.
I was the only one bowling today, so I decided to just play 2 games and leave. This game is pretty much a bridge in the gap between candlepin bowling and normal ten-pin bowling that most of us are used to. The pins are shaped much like those in ten-pin bowling, but smaller and similar in size to candlepin bowling.
With respect to the ball, it is very like one used in candlepin bowling, although it is a little bigger.
It is much easier to get strikes in duckpin bowling though compared to candlepin bowling, and I actually got one in the midst of my playing.
With respect to the game, scoring is much like candlepin bowling, with 3 throws per round to try to get all 10 duckpins down.
The system here is pretty primitive, with the reracking of pins and removal of fallen pins having to be done somewhat manually, with the push of a button of course.
After playing 2 games, the total cost was less than 10 bucks. Pretty cheap.
I wasn't able to score more than a 100 points, although I did get close at 95 once.
With that, I decided to resume my hiking, heading to Bedford to explore the Old Reservoir area, passing by the Public Safety Memorial in Billerica at 365 Boston Road
along the way.
The path I took to check out the reservoir after parking somewhat illegally is shown below in pink.
the views of the reservoir were pretty serene.
From here, it was on to the town of Lexington to check out a viewing area within the Paint Mine area, which I visited quite a while ago. This time, I headed in from the Grove Street side, the path I took being shown below in pink.
There wasn't much to see there though.
I had a meetup dinner to go to in Boston tonight, so I headed to the Allston area to go to Victoria Seafood Restaurant at 1029 Commonwealth Avenue. As I was a little early, I decided to venture across the street to Angora Cafe to grab a drink. This place looks pretty much like a cafeteria, well suited for students in the BU area. I decided to go with the Kale Fusion (Kale, lemon sorbet, pineapple, mango, honey, orange juice) drink, which was interesting because it contains kale, but actually tasted really good.
Heading over to the Chinese restaurant, a few people were already there. When everyone had arrived, my table decided to order, getting mostly seafood stuff, namely the Clam and Fish Maw Soup,
the Peapod Stems with Scallop Sauce,
the Squid with Salt with Pepper,
the Braised Beef Hot Pot,
the Seafood in Taro Nest,
the Twin Lobsters with Ginger and Scallion
and the Steamed Sea Bass in Soy Sauce.
The soup tasted very much like shark fin's soup, reminding me of home, while the hot pot was my favorite dish of the night with the rich beef broth. Overall, a pretty enjoyable dining experience with friends. Looking forward to my final day of scuba diving training in the pool tomorrow.
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