An Incredibly Relaxing Day

Yesterday was a balmy, cloudy and rather uncomfortable day - the temperature was around 72° and the humidity hovered between 85% and 90%. Thomas and I spent the majority of the day outside and by the time we got back to the hotel yesterday evening our clothes were very damp. Today on the other hand was very different. The temperature was about 60° and the humidity was around 75%. Much more comfortable and enjoyable.

Thomas was busy all day with his conference so I ended up spending the day by myself - which I do enjoy at times. I can do things at my own pace and not feel like I am pushing someone to do more than they want to or holding them back if I am more inclined to linger. Today I vacillated between taking my time and enjoying the scenery and hurrying along the trails to find more letterboxes. In the end I have to say that I had a pretty incredible day.

I didn't set an alarm to get up this morning - I just let my body tell when it was ready - that happened to be at 8:00am. By the time I showered, dressed and got my things together it was 9:00am. I left the hotel and headed for East Hartford and Manchester - just across the Connecticut River from the hotel. I find it hard getting around places I have never been and when I am alone in the car I really have difficulty navigating sometimes. Today was one of them. I wanted to visit a cemetery in East Hartford but somehow missed the exit off the Interstate. But I did see an exit for a park I wanted to go to so I took it and made my way to Wickham Park. This park has about six or seven different themed gardens and has about five other attractions that could keep you extremely busy for a few days. I was focused on only two or three today. There are numerous boxes hidden in this park with most of them being on the Fitness Trail. But I first began my visit at the Oriental Garden. Here I found two boxes (well actually only one, the second box had me walk through the Italian Shrine to the Cabin Garden). The second box was near where you could see the Hartford Skyline. It was incredible! After I had logged into the second box and rehidden it I headed back to the car and made my way to the Fitness Trail. On this trail I found seven boxes (I also attempted two boxes that I couldn't find and I also was looking for a junction with the bird sanctuary that I never saw). It was a beautiful walk. The trail was carpeted with leaves and every time the wind blew it started raining leaves. By the time I reached the car again my backpack had about 4o leaves in it - I loved it! I decided to drive to the parking area for the Cabin Gardens and I ended up sitting on a bench at the opening to the gardens just looking out at the Hartford Skyline. After about 20 minutes I decided to head to my next destination (even though at the time I didn't have a next destination). I sat in the car and looked at my map of East Hartford and Manchester (this map has little dots and "x's" all over it - my way of mapping out where the boxes are in that area). I decided on the Oak Grove Nature Center. It was another park with quite a few boxes and I could spend a few hours there and not have to navigate around the area. But getting there proved to be quite a challenge. I first turned the opposite way out of Wickham Park that I needed to go - I drove about 2 miles out of my way before I realized I was on the wrong road. So I turned around and headed in the right direction. Then about half way to the Nature Center I missed a turn and ended up another 2 miles in the wrong direction. But eventually I made it and was extremely happy to be parked. So I hit the trails. I only worked on finding one series of boxes. There were other boxes in the park but the series I wanted to do had nine boxes and I figured that would take me the rest of the afternoon. So I made my way down the trail. Again the trail was carpeted with leaves and at times it was difficult to know if I was on the trail. A couple of times I was off and thankfully there were blazes to get me back on track. The Oak Grove Nature Center was very nice. It has a pond (and ducks in the pond), a covered bridge and numerous stream crossings. I made my way around the Pond Loop and a couple of times I ended up sitting on benches and just enjoyed the peace and quiet. I only saw two other people at this park. I ended up finding eight of the nine boxes - not sure where I went wrong with the third box in the series - I thought I was in the right place but I never found it - oh well. It was still a nice afternoon.

Not knowing exactly how to get back to the hotel and not knowing what traffic might be like at five I decided to call it a day at 4:00pm. It turned out that it only took me about 15 minutes to get back to the hotel - I didn't make any mistakes or wrong turns this time. I got into the room and first things first I showered. Then I logged in my finds, did my picture of the day and am now documenting my day. I had a great time today and I feel so relaxed. I'm on my own again for tomorrow so I am going to go and plan out my day so that I do a better job of navigating.