Recharge Day

To help employees deal with the stresses of long-term working from home, today was proclaimed a "Recharge Day" at work and everyone in the company was given the day off.  With that in mind, we had planned to head over to the mountain to go skiing, but usually a 1/2 day there is enough, considering how long the lines can be especially on a Friday.  So to make the day more like a "day off", Betsy suggested we go exploring after our ski day was done.

To start with, I ran into "Kevin" doing the daily trail report at Mt. Wachusett and chatted with him for a couple minutes, because it looked like he captured Betsy skiing down the hill.  He also asked me to "say a few words".  So just like that I'm a star on Wachusett TV.

You can view the whole video here. You can see:

• Steve talking at 0:47
• Betsy skiing at 1:27
• Steve skiing at 1:32
  

After a lunch stop at home, we're off again.  This time it's down to the seashore.  Betsy said that to make it seem like a real day off we should do something.  So, we're off to Plum Island.  A week ago we were in nearby Newburyport for dinner with good friends and headed out that way to explore a little, but ran out of time.  Today, we'll make up for it.

 

Plum Island is this very long spit of land off the extreme northeast coast of  Massachusetts.  It is actually in the town of Newbury and to get there we had to drive through part of Amesbury and Newburyport.  The southern 2/3 of the island are part of the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, a major stop along the east coast migration paths.  

At this time of year, it's pretty deserted.  In the photo above, you can see the extensive salt marshes extending back toward the mainland.

There are several 3-storey bird watching platforms scattered along the roadside.
From here, you can see how close the ocean is.

Here's the view from down below.

We finally make it all the way to the beach.  It's freezing, but cool, too. 
We do a short hike to where we can see our summer spot, Crane Beach, across Ipswich Bay
(see map above).

On the way back out, we decide to make one more beach stop.  Little did we realize what a long walk it would be across this "double dune".  There was even a wild cranberry bog to see along the way..

Looking south, the light of the setting sun just kisses the top of the dune.

On the way off the island, we stop at the Plum Island Grille.
Believe it or not, Betsy's dish on the left is gluten free.
We gave the chef 2 thumbs up for this efforts.

It was an hour drive home, but well worth it.  I'm I little tired, but definitely recharged.  I think.