Machimoodus State Park - Moodus, CT

I am pretty blown away by the amount of beautiful places and spaces in our small state and Machimoodus was of certainly one of them. It's in Moodus, a relatively quiet village in the town of East Haddam. Don't expect to find a busy downtown or a high traffic park. Instead, you can find quiet back roads with a colorful coffee shop, and a park with a relatively empty parking lot. I heard of this park as a great place for trail riding with the intention of hiking it on foot to scope it out for future four legged use. Adam was home and tagged along for a full family adventure to another state park - two dogs, two kids, and the two of us. 

Windsor Meadows State Park - Windsor

 

Windsor Meadows State Park is a small stretch of park bordering the Connecticut River in the town of Windsor. The entire park consists of 155 acres of woodlands along the river, bounded to the west by railroad tracks. The south section of the park contains the large parking lot, start of the Windsor River Trail (paved trail great for a variety of trail users), the Bissell Bridge Walkway Trail, and the Bissell Bridge Boat Launch. The Walkway connects Windsor to the large system of multi-use trails in Manchester and East Hartford. While the area is most popular among boaters using the launch, there are several picnic tables, and a small handicapped accessible pavilion.

Farm River State Park, East Haven

This state park is truly a hidden gem. Only 35 minutes away, I had never heard of this small but special state park basically nestled in a neighborhood on the water. The 61 acre park is "relatively new" earning its state park designation in 1998. I visited in peak foliage, late October and the park was absolutely beautifully decorated in every shade of Autumn. On a sunny weekday, I also had the trail to myself.

Horse Guard State Park - Avon

When you look at the list of Connecticut State Parks, it's a little confusing and definitely overwhelming. You have state parks and scenic reserves and state forests. You have large parks with hundreds of acres and tiny areas that are merely preserved open space. There will be well known popular parks and little spots on the map with barely an entrance sign marking its existence. I'll have to decide what my "State Park Tour"  looks like but for now, there are so many options and I just try to incorporate as many as I can. 

Hedgehog Trail - West Simsbury, Connecticut

 

As a "middle" child of four, and now a parent myself, I really understand how time is such a limited resource in the game of parenting. And also because of it, I'm overly aware of splitting my time, of making my two kids feel loved and seen and equal in my time and resources. I hope they look back at their equally completed baby books, email accounts with long winded letters to them both, and matching photos of solo adventures with mom and deeply feel that (at the cost of more time and energy than we have or feel most days). 

And so, on a beautiful fall day while Whitney was in school when I should have been finishing up work or completing 47 other tasks on my to do list, I took Piper on a fun solo adventure, very similar to the one I did with Whitney almost exactly two years ago.