Trailside, Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Maura and I took advantage of a day of nice weather to get outside and enjoy nature. I was also looking for something that wouldn't cost much after Wednesday's expensive lunch. We packed a picnic lunch into my day pack and headed for the Blue Hills Reservation, Metropolitan Boston's largest park and a real gem. The only costs for the day were gas and food, and both were already paid for. The gas was in the tank already and the food was scavenged out of the refrigerator.

Our first stop was the Trailside Museum, an exhibit on the environment and wildlife of the Blue Hills run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Because we are member of Mass Audubon we get into the museum for free. The Trailside Museum is home to many live animals that live or once lived in the Blue Hills. Most are rescued animals that could not survive on their own in the wild. We enjoyed watching turtles and the bees that inhabit an indoor hive between two plate glass windows.

After our visit to the Trailside Museum we took a hike from the museum to the Reservation Headquarters where Maura could get a stamp in her DCR passport that she got Tuesday at the Children's Museum. We stopped along the way to enjoy our picnic lunch while we sat on a fallen log by the side of the trail. On our way out we chose an easy, nearly flat trail and headed back by a slightly longer and more challenging route. We spotted two small toads by the trail as we climbed a steep path over the top of a rock hill and as we were returning to our car spotted a whole flock of goldfinches that were feeding in a field of wildflowers.