Recommended Places to Visit: Ayer

Recreation

Water Bodies

Grove Pond
Bligh Street and School Street

Flanagan Pond
107 Central Avenue

Balch Pond
110 East Main Street

Shaker Millpond
101 Littleton Road

Upper Long Pond
~134 Sandy Pond Road

Hiking
Recommended:
Pine Meadow Conservation Area
73 Groton Harvard Road

Long Pond Dam Trail
98 Wright Road

Parks
Pirone Park
Bligh Street and School Street


Beaches
Sandy Pond Beach
Sandy Pond Road and Snake Hill Road

Architecture

Monuments

Sweet Heart Memorial

Jackson Road, 42.54750928575126, -71.6085550605584

Places of Worship

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
7 Faulkner Street

Federated Church of Ayer
21 Washington Street

St. Mary's Church
31 Shirley Street

New Hope Community Church
139 Sandy Pond Road

Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church
141 Littleton Road

Town Facilities
Town Hall
1 Main Street

Post Office
1 Columbia Street

Library
26 East Main Street

District Court
25 East Main Street

Police
54 Park Street


Historical Buildings
Old Fire Station
15 Washington Street

Learning Express
29 Buena Vista Street

Grady Research Building

323 West Main Street

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Korean
Woo Jung
174 West Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Yook Ke Jang
Bi Bim Bab made with Fried Rice

Italian
Lucia's Tavola (chain)
31 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Olive Fritto con Gorgonzola
Pancetta Avvolto Date
Vitello “Lucia”
Zabaglione


Chinese

Mango Grill
38 Littleton Road
Recommended Dishes:
Spicy Seafood Pad Thai


Tried:
Dessert

Ruby Donut

210 West Main Street

Recommended Dishes:

Strawberry Glazed Donut

Thai Green Tea

Capri Bakery
60 West Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Vanilla Cupcake


Italian

Devens Pizza and Deli

210 West Main Street

Recommended Dishes:

Hot Pastrami Sub 

Western
Markoh's on Main (chain)
43 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Tips and Scallops
Cenci

April 29th 2022: Hiking 2 Places in Harvard at the Same Time

 Today, I started out in Harvard,

TaraVista Behavioral Health Center

Rollstone Bank and Trust

going for a hike at the Mirror Lake Conservation Area. I have visited Mirror Lake before in the past, but never went to look for Little Mirror Lake. The path I took here is shown below in blue.

While here,

I decided to take a detour to visit the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge as well, checking out the Tank Road trail this time around, the route I took going under Route 2

being shown below in blue.

Nice water body here.

Heading back into the Mirror Lake area, I went to visit Little Mirror Lake, which unfortunately has flooded out the trail, and not as nice as Mirror Lake itself.

After leaving the area, we headed into the Ayer section of Devens,

Sweet Heart Memorial,
Jackson Road, 
42.54750928575126, -71.6085550605584

passing through 

Grady Research Building,
323 West Main Street 

to Shirley,

West Main Street Dam, 
Walker Road, 42.55227139782069, -71.61989892422761

where I tried to check out the supposed water body at the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge section here, but I apparently ventured onto private property instead. I might come back here to find the water body here again when the trails are more established here.

From here, I headed back into Harvard to hike at the Old Mill Road area, where the path I took to get to the beaver pond here is shown below in blue.

Pretty nice view of the pond here.

At this point, I decided to call it a day, heading into Ayer to get a Thai Green Tea 

and a Strawberry Glazed Donut

From Ruby Donut. Nothing special though. 

While still here, I also got a Hot Pastrami Sub from Devens Pizza and Deli nearby.

Once again, nothing special here.

At least I had a good day of hiking today.

April 28th 2022: 110 Grill, Millbury

 Today, while in Millbury, we decided to check out the new 110 Grill location in town.

This time around, we got the Mexican Street Corn Salad (Corn, Arugula, Red Onion, Cilantro And Avocado Tossed In A Jalapeno Lime Vinaigrette. Topped With Cotija Cheese),

the FRIED COD with Sweet Potato Fries,

the Steak Oscar (grilled 8 oz top sirloin with garlic butter shrimp over roasted mashed potatoes and broccoli. Topped with lemon hollandaise sauce),

and the Lemon Beignets (Tossed With Powdered Sugar And Served With Mixed Berry Puree And Sea Salt Caramel Sauce.) for dessert.

the salad itself was a little lacking in flavor, but the rest of the dishes were excellent, even the fried fish for the little one. The steak well really well with the hollandaise sauce, but I have to say the beignets were simply scrumptious and stole the show, being really light yet crisp, unlike most other places. Another excellent meal at a 110 Grill.

Recommended Places to Visit: Abington

Recreation

Hiking

Recommended:
Ames Nowell State Park
End of Linwood Street

Parks
Island Grove Park

150 Park Street

Museums
Dyer Memorial Library
150 Park Street

Architecture

Monuments

War Memorial
Gliniewicz Way and Lincoln Boulevard

American Legion Lewis Dorsey Post 112
1027 Washington  Street

Places of Worship

Lively Stones Christian Center
127 North Quincy Street

First Baptist Church
219 Adams Street

St. Bridget Church
455 Plymouth Street

Joy in Christ Lutheran Church
21 South Bedford Street

United Church of Christ
10 Bedford Street

Chua Linh Quang Buddhist Meditation Temple

833 Washington Street

Schools
Beaver Brook Elementary School
1 Ralph G Hamlin Jr. Way

Town Facilities
Town Hall
500 Gliniewicz Way

Public Library
600 Gliniewicz Way

Historical Buildings
Old Building
Adams Street and Highland Street

North Abington Depot
101 Railroad Street

New England Art Store
10 Railroad Street

Meetinghouse Corner
33 Randolph Street

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Italian

Sorelle

1400 Bedford Street

Recommended Dishes:

Sauteed Mussels

14oz Grilled Angus Sirloin

Pepperoni Pizza Burger

April 25th 2022: Sorelle, Abington

 Today, while in the town of Abington,

Chua Linh Quang Buddhist Meditation Temple

We decided to have dinner at Sorelle, a pretty nice Italian restaurant in town. 

The sauce for the bread was pretty good, with garlic and cheese,

and we got The Pink Drink (Strawberry puree, rose wine, raspberry vodka, splash of Sprite),

the SAUTEED MUSSELS (Coconut Lime Lobster Broth, Thai Basil, Sambal, Lemongrass, Cilantro)

the 14oz GRILLED ANGUS SIRLOIN (Chianti Reduction, Parmesan Spinach, Roasted Rainbow Carrots, Whipped Potato),

and the Pepperoni Pizza Burger (mozzarella, romano, tomato slive, pepperoni, sriracha aioli, steak fries).

The Thai curry flavors went really well with the mussels, while the steak was perfectly cooked. The pepperoni pizza was an interesting concept for the burger, which was delicious as well. Overall, a really good meal here in Abington.

April 24th 2022: Exploring Mashpee

 Today, we got to go to a BBQ in the Cape Cod town of Mashpee located right on the shores of Fells Pond in town.

While here, we decided to check out the town,

Town Hall

Mashpee Baptist Church,
27 Great Neck Road North

Mashpee Community Park

going to the beautiful South Cape Beach State Park,

then headed to the shopping area in town, Mashpee Commons,

where we checked out Gheffi's Candies and Ice Cream,

Cupcake Charlie's,

where we got a really sweet Oreo Trifle,

and The Spice and Tea Exchange.

Finally before heading home, we decided to stop by Cooke's Seafood in town,

getting the Clam Chowder,

which was okay in my opinion, though nothing special, with sand particles still in the clams.

With that, an end to a fun day of exploring Mashpee.