on a sunny day

-Kalyan

spring in Boston

Hi, it is me, Kalyan.. it has been a while since I shared any pictures. So I thought I will post some photos I took on our walk this weekend at Arnold Arboretum. The landscape is still very brown here. But it is good to see signs of Spring finally!

Happy Spring! Hope all is well with you!

Hiking in Greylock State Reservation

Usually we go hiking in Vermont or New Hampshire but this time we wanted to hike in Berkshires and stay local in the home state of Massachusetts. So naturally I picked Mt. Greylock State Reservation which offers numerous hiking possibilities. Mt. Greylock is also the highest point in Massachusetts.

Mt. Greylock is a state reservation that is also a home to 93 ft tall Massachusetts Veterans War Memorial Tower that was dedicated in 1933. “Erected by Massachusetts in grateful recognition of the loyalty and sacrifice of her sons and daughters in war”. Absolutely perfect place in memory of brave people who fought in the First World War. The views from the top of the tower stretch into the neighboring states of Vermont (Green Mountains), New York (Catskills) Connecticut and a distant New Hampshire (White Mountains).

There is also a Bascom Lodge at the summit with a kitchen serving food and provides accommodations to the visitors. We decided to stay there for the night after a 3 hour drive and a short hike on day one. We opted for a room with bunk beds. I had no idea what it would be like rooming with a bunch of people. Luckily we had the whole room for ourselves for that night except for the guests in other two family rooms. The views from the room were spectacular.

We picked a short trail on the day we arrived called Robinson's Point trail. Though the trail is of short distance, it was quite steep and slippery. Lost the trail couple of times but we got back on track quickly. The view of the valley below when we reached Robinson's Point was just amazing. We sat there and enjoyed our quickly assembled pbj sandwiches while watching the stillness in the valley below. The trail story is here if you are curious.

We had dinner at the lodge that night and I should say it is the best we have had in a long long time. All of the vegetables and meat is sourced from local farms in the surrounding valleys. Roasted vegetables, mushrooms, with capers were served for salad. For entree, we had eggplant meatballs, with pickled beets, poached tomatoes, braised beans, broccoli and mushrooms. Dessert was a chocolate crepe filled with slices of banana and chocolate mousse which couldn't have been more perfect with the sunset views .

We ended the evening with a wide grin on our faces and happy tummies. But the best was yet to come…I realized being on top of mountain and no light pollution, it provides a nice opportunity for star gazing. We walked out, saw this deep dark sky lit with countless stars, and a blob of milky way cutting across the sky….it was like powdered sugar on a velvet cake. Unfortunately words are all I have to describe because the rechargeable batteries I had gave up on me and iPhone is useless to take a picture of the night sky.



We woke up in the morning to a spectacular sunrise that was captured ineffectively by my iPhone. We started our day hike from the summit to the March Cataract waterfalls and to the Stony Ledge. I guess the storm prior day made the waterfalls to gush even more. Hope you like these pictures. The trail story is here.

Fall is here, hope you are all making the most of the sunny days we are having.

~ Kalyan

Roses at Minot Garden

Ever since we stumbled on this garden in 2008, we have been visiting every year and find ourselves eagerly looking forward to visiting again next year. Recently, Minot Rose Garden has undergone a renovation with more benches to sit and enjoy these little beauties. These are the pictures from our second visit this season and few from the past. Hope you like them.

On the trellis


There is something very English about these


Very delicate and aromatic



Bright and beautiful


Have a nice week ahead. Hope these pictures cure your Monday morning blues.

~ Kalyan

Public Garden

Every year we look forward to the tulips at the beautiful Public Garden. Enjoy these pictures (couple of weeks old) I took at the garden.

There is another garden called Boston Common which is described as very pastoral and practical according to the city's website. It goes on to say both were designed and created two centuries apart while Boston Common being America's first park and Public Gardens its first botanical garden.

There is something always blooming here and always looks romantic with a small pond with a brightly painted bridge over it and willows surrounding the pond.

Tulips






Willows

Dogwoods

Flowers of a vine that I couldn't identify


Have a great week ahead.

~ Kalyan