June 2nd 2022: Hiking in Princeton, Dinner in Westminster

 Today, we started out with a hike at Boylston Park in Princeton, where the path we took here is shown below in pink.

The beaver pond here is nothing much to look at though.

From here, we headed to dinner at the 1761 Old Mill Restaurant in Westminster, which I visited once before in the past. This time around, we got the Roast Country Duck (Slow roasted duck with an apple and pecan stuffing topped with country gravy.),

which came with a Garden Salad,

and the Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo (Pan-fried Italian breaded chicken breast, sautéed with penne pasta and broccoli in Alfredo sauce.)

In my opinion, the food was just alright this time around, although the corn fritters and pecan rolls that came as starters were still as good as before.

November 15th 2014: Aussie Rappelling in Princeton

This morning, I had an Aussie rappelling class with some friends with North Ridge Mountain Guides at the Crow Hill Ledges in the Leominster State Forest, the area being located in the town of Westminster. I had given my friends, who were coming from the Boston area, rough directions to find the parking lot closest to the ledges, not knowing if it was the right parking lot. Thankfully it was, and all my friends managed to make it on time as well, give or take a few minutes. One of my friends also brought along his dog, and it had a great time all day, even though it was freezing at times.

We then hiked for a bit to the ledges,

where we started setting up by putting on sit harnesses

and had a short briefing on how to do normal rappelling.

After one of the guides ran up the cliff to throw down ropes,

some of us climbed up the treacherous route ourselves,

and the drop from the top was pretty scary. After setting up the ropes properly,it was time to rappell!!

In my opinion, it was actually pretty easy to go down the regular way, considering I have done waterfall rappelling before. It was very strenuous on my lower back though.


After getting down, it was time to climb back up again, this time for aussie rappelling.

One has to put on a full body harness for this, and we are attached from the back.

Going down facing the ground was a little more daunting,

but knowing that I was supported, with the stress being centered on my chest, made it much less scary, and as long as I kept leaning out and putting the weight on the soles of my feet against the cliff wall, I was fine and did not fall at all, although it felt slippery at times.

After everyone had had their go at it, it was time to go, but before the trek back to the cars, my friends decided to go check out a cave right next to where we climbed, where there was a box left by someone a long time ago with a notebook for people to write in. Pretty cool stuff.

After getting back to our cars, we decided to head nearby to the Five Guys in Leominster, where instead of getting a burger, I decided to get the Bacon Cheese Dog with all sorts of sauces,

Equally delicious, if not better than the famed burger itself.

After leaving the group, I still had some time, so I headed to Janet's Chili Dogs, a hot dog stand in Fitchburg,

where I used my deal to get 2 bags of chips, 2 cans of soda and 4 Regular Dogs.

They were alright I guess, though nothing compared to Five Guys.

With that, I called it a day, as I had an appointment with a friend to watch movies at home. I was definitely a fun experience aussie rappelling though.

Recommended Places to Visit: Westminster

Recreation

Aussie Rappelling
North Ridge Mountain Guides
288 Fitchburg Road, Princeton


Water Bodies

Wyman Lake
Leino Park Road

Wachusett Lake
55 Mile Hill Road

Meetinghouse Pond
30 West Princeton Road

Round Meadow Pond
12 State Road East

Partridge Pond
108 Ellis Road

Minott Pond
Minott Road near Kurikka Road

Upper Reservoir
South Side of 42 Whitney Street

Wright's Reservoir
North Side of 42 Whitney Street

Whitmanville Reservoir
372 South Ashburnham Road

Wineries/Breweries
Wachusett Brewing Company
175 State Road East


Beaches
Crocker Pond Recreational Area
112 South Ashburnham Road


Hiking
Recommended:
Leominster State Forest
Fitchburg Road between Notown Road and Rocky Pond Road

Muddy Pond Conservation Area
200 Bragg Hill Road

Tried:
Hager Park
Hager Park Road between Narrows Road and Worcester Road

Bolton Pond

Bolton Road, 42.507926537265014, -71.8927912457173

Architecture

Places of Worship
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
1 Hager Park Road

First Congregational Church
138 Main Street

First Baptist Church
117 Main Street

St. Edward the Confessor Church
10 Church Street

Schools
Wachusett Hills Christian School
100 Colony Avenue

Historical Buildings
Old Upton School
13 Academy Hill Road

American Legion Post 174
127 Main Street


Town Facilities

Forbush Memorial Library
118 Main Street

Town Hall
11 South Street

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Western
The 1761 Old Mill
69 State Road East
Recommended Dishes:
Seafood Newburg

Roast Country Duck

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

Garden Salad

Tried:
Western
Blueprint American Bar and Grille
~101 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Devilled Local Eggs with Spicy Bacon
Asian Hot Dog

August 13th 2014: Dinner at the 1761 Old Mill Restaurant, Westminster

Today after work, instead of going sightseeing, I decided to just have dinner at the 1761 Old Mill Restaurant in Westminster on my colleague's recommendation, visiting the old Duck Mill in Fitchburg beforehand.

There is a pond right by the restaurant, with many ducks swimming here.

There's also a nice waterfall, especially with the heavy rain,

with a few covered bridges crossing over.

The interior is also pretty historic looking.

For food, I decided to go with their special, the Seafood Newburg (salmon, Shrimp, scallops, lobster meat sauteed with tomatoes and spinach tossed with cavatappi pasta). The starters themselves were pretty interesting, consisting of corn fritters and pecan rolls, which were both pretty good, especially with the maple syrup.

The pasta itself was pretty good as well, the seafood being really fresh.

Glad I listened to my friend, once again.

May 20th 2014: Dinner at Little Anthony's Seafood Emporium, Winchendon

Today after work, I decided to head north for my day of hiking, passing by Whitmanville Reservoir at 372 South Ashburnham Road in Westminster

on the way to the Muddy Pond Conservation Area at ~200 Bragg Hill Road. I mistakenly went onto private property at first, walking on ground that felt really weird, soft like mud but dry. There was a view of the pond from here,

but something did not look right with respect to where I was on my GPS and the trail map of the area itself, so I moved a little further down the road, and found the correct entrance to the area. From here, the path I took is shown below in black.

It was a pretty decent walk, thankfully rewarded with nice views of the pond.

After finally heading back into my car, it was onto the town of Ashburnham,

Cannon, 40 Hastings Road

Upper Naukeag Lake, 150 Lake Road

Lower Naukeag Lake, 116 Sherbert Road

Sunset Lake, 10 Sunset Drive

Factory Village Pond, 131 Fitchburg Road

where I went on a hike at Lincoln Pond, at 247 Hastings Road, the path I took being shown below in black.

There were some nice views of the pond itself,

with Mount Watatic in the distance.

Back at my car, it was on to dinner at Little Anthony's Seafood Emporium, a small town seafood place at 678 Spring Street in the town of Winchendon.

I decided to go with the Rockport Maine Lobster Bisque

and the Pan Seared Trio (fresh native swordfish, atlantic salmon and tilapia with a light cajun seasoning, pan seared, served with cool cucumber dill dressing).

The soup was pretty good, while the sweet potato fries were coated with something that made it extra crispy. The fish was a little dry though. Since this place also has an ice cream area, I decided to get a Maine Deer Tracks (rich espresso ice cream with crunchy toffee pieces and tracks of thick chocolate fudge) Waffle Cone, which was pretty interesting with its pieces of toffee.

With that, I called it a day for hiking. More to come tomorrow.

May 1st 2014: Dinner at Williams Restaurant, Gardner

Today after work, I decided to head to the town of Princeton to hike at the Wachusett Mountain State Reservation, this time to check out the various water bodies here. I parked on Westminster Road, and the path I took to check out Echo Lake is shown below in pink.

The views of Mount Wachusett from the lake were pretty scenic.

Along the way back, there were tons of red spotted newts crawling around after the rains.

From here, I passed by the Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, which was beautiful even when out of season, and there were still patches of snow on the mountain if you can believe it.

From here, I ventured into the northern part of the reservation in Westminster, where the path I took to get to Bolton Pond is shown below in pink.

The pond itself wasn't much to see though.

After backtracking back to my car, it was on to a few more water bodies in Westminster

Partridge Pond, 103 Ellis Road

Minott Pond,

Minott Road near Kurrika Road

Upper Reservoir,

South side of 42 Whitney Street

Wright's Reservoir,

North side of 42 Whitney Street

before dinner at Williams Restaurant and Tavern, a bar restaurant in the town of Gardner.

I decided to try their wings, which were half a buck tonight, asking for one in every sauce (Sweet and Sour, Honey Mustard, Honey BBQ, Buffalo Sauce). They opted to give me cups of every sauce instead.

It was okay I guess, although I would have preferred if the wings had been cooked in the sauces.

I decided to get the 10oz Prime Rib Au Jus, since I have not had it for a long time now.

Not bad, although I felt a little sinful at times.

By the time I left, the rain had started. I am just thankful it did not happen during the daylight.