Castle Island: Where am I?

A photo taken of a passing sailboat amid vibrant yellow wildflowers.
Photo taken by Charlotte Pierce

"Am I in the city, the park, at the airport, or the beach?"

Located in South Boston, Castle Island offers a miscellany of settings, thinning the line between commercial industry and nature. It is the perfect place to take a walk, fly a kite, have a picnic, lounge in the sun, or simply contemplate life. Smack dab in the center is a large pentagon-shaped structure, known as Fort Independence. Overhead, one will continuously see the arriving airplanes, beginning their descent on Logan Airport. They are so close that one can easily see, without squinting, where the aircraft originated from. 

If you're looking for a nautical adventure, look no further than the Harry McDonough Sailing Program on the adjacent pier. When hunger sets in, Sullivan's is a quick and great place to order a "lobstah" roll or some fish n' chips! If you feel like catching your own food, bring along your fishing poles and head to the Lt. John J. McCorkle, Boston Fire Dept. Memorial Fish Pier. The seagulls will join you as they catch crabs off the seaweed-covered rocks. 

A perfect place to spend time with your "main squeeze," this place can bring back nostalgia for some. If you classify yourself as a "beachcomber," why not scavenge the beach for something of value or interest? The next big photographer or lacking in creativity? Castle Island's varied landscape lets you experiment with different camera angles, perspectives, and lighting. 

If nothing I hinted at seemed to "float your boat," then at least come to 'people watch.' You might even come across two elderly women, matching in their white sweatshirts and blue pants, taking in the sights through their binoculars!!! 

Into the Mystic - and Stonington

Stonington & Mystic, Connecticut, are less than 2 hours from Boston and make a fabulous extended day trip at any time of year.

Stonington's big draw is a charming, very walkable village known as Stonington Borough, with several terrific restaurants on Water Street, which is the narrow, one-way main road along the water through town. Noah's and the Water Street Cafe are both charming, casual, with upscale menus, open for lunch and dinner, reasonably priced, and Skipper's Dock is on the water, in good weather definitely opt for the deck, good food, especially seafood. Boom is at Dodson's Marina and has a view of the water, a little pricier and the food's richer. The best and most charming place for coffee, tea and cookies in Stonington Borough is The Yellow House.

Water Street is lined with wonderful antique stores, art galleries, marine shops, unique clothing boutiques, and such, but it's relatively low key, very tasteful and not too touristy. Lots of artsy New Yorkers summer here, but there's also a working group of fishing boats. Down near the boats, there's a house where you can buy local fish and scallops on the honor system. You just pick out what you want, put the money through a slot, and take your change out of a can. There's a farmer's market nearby every Saturday morning in season, and some gorgeous old captain's houses. Everyone likes to walk around on the docks and see the boats at Dodson's - there are some beautiful classic yachts there. The lighthouse (above) and museum at the end of the Water Street is open to the public, and you can climb up to the light for spectacular views. Nearby, the Palmer House is also worth a visit, as is Stonington Vineyards, which is open year 'round and offers tours. (continued below)

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Just down the road is Mystic (interesting note, Mystic is not a town - half of it is part of Stonington and half is part of Groton). The Mystic Seaport Museum is definitely worth a visit - you and/or your kids will love climbing over the old ships. There are restaurants in and near Mystic Seaport, but the best is Bravo Bravo in Mystic Village for either lunch or dinner. The village has good shopping, a little touristy, but the drawbridge is fun to watch - the river's busy, so it goes up and down a lot.

On the way home, go via Rt 1 through Westerly, RI. In Charleston, stop at the Fantastic Umbrella Factory on the Old Post Rd. - a unique shopping experience. It's a collection of artsy shops in old barns and sheds with treasures like great inexpensive clothing, cards, musical instruments, toys, jewelry, and posters - a really crazy mix. There's also a good vegetarian restaurant called the Spice of Life alongside a garden center and petting zoo and farm. It's straight out of the hippie sixties! I think it's just open weekends. Definitely not upscale, but fun.

The nice thing about heading to Rhode Island and Connecticut is that people from Boston mostly go to the Cape, so even on busy summer weekends, there's not a lot of traffic coming and going - and it only takes a bit more than 1.5 hours to reach Stonington and Mystic.

- The Day Tripper Divas thank reader Betsy Baldwin for this excellent roundup!

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North Shore Secret Spots and Favorite Views

"One of my favorite spots is Salisbury Beach State Reservation (off Beach Road in Salisbury)," says a DayTripper on the Massachusetts Outdoors Facebook site. "I've spent a lot of quiet time in the off season sitting on the jetty by Ben Butlers Toothpick. The place is crowded in summer but is very quiet and peaceful in the fall and winter. Other favorites are Sandy Point State Reservation (at the end of the Parker River NWR on Plum Island) at sunrise or sunset. Trustees of Reservations: Old Town Hill (off Newman Road in Newbury) offers fabulous views of the mouth of the Merrimack River and Plum Island. There are so many great spots in Massachusetts, but those are a few of my favorite North Shore spots." For more secret spots and favorite places, see Massachusetts Outdoors on Facebook. Used with permission.

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Paddle One, Paddle All!

The Department of Conservation and Recreation's Universal Access program announced the summer 2008 schedule for the DCR's adaptive paddling program for individuals with disabilities and their family members and friends. The program is carried out in conjunction with Outdoor Recreation of Hopkinton, Spot Pond Boating, and Eastern Mountain Sports.

Hopkinton State Park (Hopkinton, MA) Thursdays 10 AM- 4 PM: July 10, 17, 24, 31, August 7, 14, 21 (Rain date August 28).

Spot Pond (Stoneham, MA) Fridays 10 AM - 4 PM: July 11, 18, 25, August 1, 8, 15, 22. (Rain date August 29).

(Note: The Hopkinton sessions can get a bit crowded, but the Spot Pond programs usually have plenty of room.)

Each session will consist of 20 to 30-minute guided kayak tours. A certified adaptive paddling instructor and lifeguard will join the participants on the water.

Fee is $5 per participant and free for one guest. There will be an $8 fee for each additional guest that wants to participate. This program is subsidized by DCR, EMS and ORH. Please call the EMS Kayak School at 401-762-8585 to make a reservation.

For other accessible DCR summer activities & events, click here.

Ah, Ipswich!

Spring is my favorite time of year up around Ipswich and Essex on the North Shore, and a May trip up there to fetch eggs from Hardy's Hatchery for our first grade chick hatching project revealed intense green fields and plenty of redbud and hawthorne trees in bloom -- and Woodman's Restaurant in Ipswich spiffing up for the season. If you're up during the hot season, Crane Beach is a hop and a skip away, but prepare for crowds and a jammed parking lot during peak hours.

Going to Walden

by Mary Oliver

It isn’t very far as highways lie.
I might be back by nightfall, having seen
The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.
Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.
They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:
How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!

Many have gone, and think me half a fool
To miss a day away in the cool country.
Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing
As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
Trick of living, and finding it where you are.

From The River Styx, Ohio and Other Poems, published in "New and Selected Poems," 1992. Found in the Busa Farm newsletter, November 2007

Sea Turtle Rescue on Cape Cod

One of the great things about living on Cape Cod is the tremendous number of opportunities to get involved with ongoing work to preserve the environment and to protect wildlife, reported reader Rick Silva on the Dispatches Gather group. Rick and friends volunteer at the Humane Society's Cape Wildlife Center, and are involved in saltmarsh monitoring through the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (also see the author's recent article on fish monitoring with the APCC). On Monday, Rick was among a large crowd of spectators who came to Dowses Beach in Osterville MA to watch a group of sea turtles get released into the wild.

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A few of the turtles seemed a bit confused at first, but then slowly headed down the beach...

Oceans of Fun in Woods Hole

Woods Hole makes a great day destination from Greater Boston. In the far part of Falmouth, there is the free Woods Hole Science Aquarium run by the National Fisheries Service (check hours) and a museum at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute focusing on underwater exploration and climate change.

Woods Hole and Falmouth also have some neat beaches that usually aren't overrun with tourists. Our favorite, especially for young children, is Woodneck Beach in Falmouth - part of it is a very calm marsh/sandpit area with tons of hermit crabs, and other creatures. .

There 's a fun bakery called Pie in the Sky in Woods Hole with outdoor tables, casual but nice, with great meal choices. Also Falmouth proper, near the center of town, has a brand new large playground with all kinds of cool ocean-related things; including a little
lighthouse you can climb up; it's very close to the library; by an elementary school.

We have family in Falmouth; so we go there quite often. It's about 1 3/4 hr. drive, with no traffic (we go down the 128 to Rt. 24 way). It's best to avoid rush hour, for a day trip, leaving VERY early in the a.m. is recommended.

Many thanks for this day trip tip from Jeanne Wells Hobbie, formerly of the Arlington Family Connection board, and director of Mystic River Musik.

Be a Compleat Day Tripper!

The Compleat Day Tripper

• New Metro Boston Edition coming in September - completely revised & updated
• Cape Cod & South Coast Edition due out by October!
• Vermont/NH and Western Massachusetts editions in development!

Get out and about with these wildly popular, newly revised and expanded guides to family-friendly expeditions. By popular demand, the latest editions will feature sections on accessible activities, birthday parties, and swimming pools. You'll find some very frank reviews, plus great index, destination websites, and contact information for each family-tested Day Trip. A portion of the proceeds benefit local public schools. The electronic editions make perfect companions to the books, and include clickable website links. Put the PDF on your PDA or iPhone!

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Take a Nice Jaunt to Nahant!

We've had a lot of fun taking our kids to Long Beach, Nahant Because our 2-year-old can generally only handle a couple of hours at the beach, we found the parking prices on the North Shore a bit prohibitive. The great advantage of Nahant is that there's loads of parking (1300 spaces!), it only costs $3 per car during the day and !bonus! it's free after about 4.30pm. So it's perfectly suited to a quick visit. The parking is very close to the beach too. We're often parked only 30 yards from where we sit, which makes exits nice and speedy. The beach is a relatively short drive from Cambridge/Somerville (map) and is sandy and quite shallow and good for kids. As the name suggests, it is very long, so is much less crowded than Walden Pond or the closer North Shore beaches. Plus, there's a Dunkin Donuts at the entrance to the car park -- great for a parental iced coffee or bagel snack for the kids. - Thanks to Serena Hildenbrand, Somerville, for this beach tip!

A Hidden Gem of a Beach

In the summer, life in New England is all about finding beautiful beaches that not everybody knows about. Demarest Lloyd State Park has one of the best kept secrets in the Massachusetts forest and park system, according to Leland Stein of Arlington's Regent Theatre, a Dispatches sponsor. At this little-known gem, an 1800-foot saltwater beach is backed by rambling hills of beach grass and shaded, grassy picnic sites. A broad, scenic marsh lines the Slocum River on the park's eastern edge. The beach is ideal for families with children. The Buzzards Bay surf is calm and shallow, giving rise to warm watertemperatures through most of the summer. It is also a great spot to see egrets, herons, ospreys, terns and hawks.

Notes another Dispatches reader who has a house nearby: "At low tide, you can walk straight out a sandbar that crosses the bay. It's actually a pretty long walk out, but beware! While the sandbar walk is a really cool experience, the current around the bar is very, very strong. There have been drownings there, so do not swim off the sandbar, as tempting as it may be!"

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Tide Pooling at Wingaersheek

Dear Dispatches: Recently, we visited Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, MA, about 40 minutes from 2/128 up on the North Shore. The weather was great and it was low tide, which is perfect at this beach because there are tons of really cool tide pools to play around in. The kids, even the small ones, had a great time in the extended stretch of shallow water off the beach. On the way back we stopped for some fried whole clams and scallops in Essex. The lines were long, but it was worth it. - Stacey Sao, publisher of Boston Central

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Editor's Note: We recommend getting to Wingaersheek early or late for close-in parking ($20 weekdays; $25 on weekends; $15 after 3; free after 5), or bring an extra adult for dropoff so small children don't have to walk too far.

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Explore Hundreds of Family-Tested Destinations in The Compleat Day Tripper Boston & Cape Editions!

Heading to the Harbor Islands

The Harbor Islands make a great day trip out of Boston Harbor Tours at Long Wharf. The boat ride itself is a blast, and George’s Island offers tours of Fort Warren, an old stone fort that's fun to explore, with lots of paths to walk on and open areas to run around (wear shoes and dodge the goose gifts).There are tons of fun kid-friendly things to do on many of the Harbor Islands and at Hull. Nantasket Beach on the Hull peninsula is a favorite, but be advised that the boat landing in Hull does not really get you very near the beach, though there are taxis.

Golfing for Crabs

Netting crab on a small brook that runs into Cape Cod Bay this week yielded some improvement in her golf swing as well as 20 tasty crabs, said Dispatches reader and Gather member Elizabeth Mills Evans While her friend Laurun snapped photos, Elizabeth said she "got into the swing" of it and started to "feel like an old pro." After enjoying crab salad the first day, she was inspired to write up another recipe:

Crab & Rice Casserole

INGREDIENTS: 1 cup cooked rice; 6 to 8 oz. crab meat; 5 hard-cooked eggs; 1 C. mayonnaise; 1/2 Tsp. Worcestershire sauce; grated onion; 1 6 oz. can evaporated milk; pinch of tarragon. DIRECTIONS: Mix all ingredients. Put in buttered shells or casserolle dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

"While I was crabbing, Laurun took these pictures of this 'old pro' with my camera," noted Elizabeth. View more photos and read about our upcoming Compleat Day Tripper: Cape Cod & South Coast edition.

The Great Beach Cape'R

(Drum Roll, please! . . . ) ...and now, the first of several samplings from our upcoming Compleat Day Tripper: Cape & South Coast edition! The new book, scheduled for release in Summer 2008, is researched and annotated by our latest Day Tripper Diva, Marlissa Briggett, herself a longtime summer Cape Cod visitor and writer for Cape Cod Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Boston Phoenix and other publications.

Off-the-Beaten Beaches

Cape Cod vacationers traditionally make a beeline for the beaches, but what if you want some space to fly kites, have a picnic, or go beachcombing? Diva Marlissa has discovered some lesser-known beaches you might like to try, and some great strategies for avoiding the crowds (you'll read more in the book):

• Scusset Beach State Reservation, Sandwich
• Bass Hole/Gray's Beach. Yarmouthport
• Rock Harbor, Orleans
• Uncle Tim’s Bridge, Wellfleet
• Red River Beach, Dennis
• West Dennis Beach (kite flying area)

Harbor Cruise to the Hull Wind Turbine

This annual cruise is sponsored by the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, and it's not only fun, but very informative for all ages! It starts at Rowes Wharf in Boston Harbor. In 2006, the Town of Hull won the Department of Energy's Wind Power Pioneer Award and now generates a significant amount of electricity for the Town throught its two wind turbines. Enjoy the photos!