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.

Sherwood Island State Park - Westport

Sherwood Island State Park is one of the popular beachfront state parks in Coastal Connecticut and it also gets the ranking of Connecticut's first park. The Connecticut State Park Commission was born in 1913 and their first purchase was five acres of salt marsh in Westport, the beginning of Sherwood Island State Park (currently 238 acres). 

While there are 110 state parks in eight counties in Connecticut, Fairfield County has six parks, four of which are off the coast and to the north. As my Connecticut State Park guidebook "A Shared Land" points out, "the population here is so dense and the land so expensive that it's hard to acquire parkland and economically impractical to create forests". The shortage of public places in this dense and expensive county makes this state park an important resource to those who live there.

Flume Gorge - Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire

There's a little saying that I have to repeat to myself as we head to some of the busier attractions that tend to be a bit more beginner (and in my case kid) friendly. When the crowds start to assemble and I have to use a bit more patience and a few more forced smiles I remind myself of this: 

"Popular places are popular for a reason". I also remind myself there are ways to get around the busiest times and that usually involves weekdays and early mornings, something my flexible schedule and early risers typically allow.