During COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing is mandatory. Here in Massachusetts, restaurants and bars are only take out and delivery. Gathering over 25 people are prohibited. Construction in the city is prohibited. In some other states, shelter in place are ordered state wide. Now, activities on weekends are very limited to many people in the U.S. However, hiking, biking, walking, running are still allowed as long as keep 6 feet with strangers. Under this circumstances, hiking is getting popular everywhere.
We went to Cutler Park, relatively close to Boston for a short hike. We wanted to do a short hike because we did a big hike on a previous day. This is a nice local park for hiking, walking, and biking. 0.5 mile from a parking lot was kind of crowded. It looked definitely more people than usual. Nobody can hang out at coffee shops or restaurants. So weekend's activity shifted to more walking. However, after 0.5 mile, the trail was much quieter and nice.
The fun part of this park is that there are many dogs. One particular dog I really liked was a middle sized brown dog. The owner had two dogs. The other one and owners walked fast and they were far ahead of brown one. The owner noticed the brown was far behind and stopped.
The owner said, "Come on buddy, you can do it."
The brown one was tired and he was walking very very slow. The way he slowly walked was soooooo cute. It made us cheer him on. After the owner cheers him on, he *slightly* walked faster. That was so cute!
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| trail |
The trail is flat and smooth, which is totally different from New Hampshire's which is super rocky and steep. Smooth dirt trail on the meadow portion reminded me of California trails. I miss them!
The right picture is a portion near highway. This depicts very well "American trail". Highways structure is very different from Japan. This picture is very American to me. First of all cars drive left side. Right, cars drive right side in Japan....and UK, New Zealand, Australia, etc. Roads are much wider in the U.S. Roads are narrower in Japan. When we went to New Zealand, there are many signs saying New Zealand roads are narrow. The signs are for tourists. The narrowness and left side traffic made me feel home.
As we walked, we got close to the other end of road. Then again more people were walking. Ummm. I got concerned. More occasions to pass by strangers. I was concerned about COVID-19. So we decided to turn around.
On the way back there was another cute dog. The doggy rubbed his entire body on the dirt covered with small brown leaves. His berries and backs. He got covered with dirt and leaves. The owner, a couple, were laughing and the guy said, "This is the worst ever!" The lady was quiet.
Later on we passed the couple again. We don't talk with strangers these days because of social distancing, but I overheard their conversation. It was around 3 p.m. Sunday.
The guy: We can have fresh bread with XX cream. (I didn't catch what he wanted with bread)
I couldn't hear the lady's voice.
The guy said, "That sounds good for afternoon snack?"
I didn't hear the lady's voice again.
At first I thought that they are a married couple. After overhearing the conversation, I thought that the guy might be still approaching the lady. By suggesting afternoon snack with fresh bread, he might be trying to spend more time with her Sunday afternoon. They are probably 50's or 60's.
It is not scientific, but sometimes I like to imagine strangers' lives. Mr.N suggested asking them. I said, "NO!"
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| Geese |
Lastly we saw geese eating plants in the lake. cute!
Nice short hike, but I decided not to hike in local park in Mass. Concerned about COVID-19.
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