Layne Rodney

Wire Mill Road

I recently walked the entire length of Wire Mill Road. I enjoy walking this road. It is definitely a country road. It is challenging to walk. There are no sidewalks and in some parts of the road it becomes very narrow.

My walk started at the High Ridge Entrance. I have the Rippowam River on my left and I soon approach the tennis courts and Vodka Alley. I call it Vodka Alley because there were Vodka bottles along that stretch. I finally went with a bag and picked up 52 bottles.

Since then, I have not found many Vodka bottles at that point. I may have to change the name I gave to it.

The road certainly gives a country look. As I mentioned, the river is on the left side and houses are on the right side. The river meanders to the left and houses start to appear on the left side.

There is a beautiful stone wall. I feel that is the most artistic stone wall in Stamford.

Next up is a dumping ground for rocks. They are all over the place and most of them are good sized. I assume a glacier melted here and left all these rocks.

Civilization rears it ugly noise. I hear the cars from the Merritt parkway way before I can see the parkway.

There are many beautiful and old houses on the road.

There is a beautiful stone house on the road. There are a few stone houses in Stamford, mainly in North Stamford. They are all worth viewing at some point.

As I have said Stamford is the city of rock and water.

Wire Mill has plenty of both.

At this point you can take a bus to either end and walk the road. I believe they are going to be replacing a bridge soon and the road will be closed at that spot.

Wire Mill Road. One of many nice roads to walk in Stamford.

Zig Zag to the Point

My wife does not like to walk in NYC with me. I zig zag. When I leave Grand Central Terminal, I don’t go north then west, I go north a little bit then west then north. You know, zig zag.

The other day I left Stamford on the local train to NYC, and I got off the train at Fordham in the Bronx. My destination was the Hunts Point Produce Market at Hunts Point.

As usual I had consulted maps and had a general idea of my route. I was going to work my way east to the Bronx River and follow the river south to the point.

All I could say was it was extreme zig zagging. I went through Arthur Ave, skirted around the Bronx Zoo arriving at the river.

There was a path I could follow for a while. That ended and I had to cross over to the other side of the river and then look to where I could cross the river again.

It took 90 minutes of walking to arrive at the Hunts Point Produce Market.

The Market is huge. There are three buildings, each about 2,000 feet. Lots of activity. I had to pay $5.00 to get into the facility.

It is mainly wholesale. I am not sure if you can even buy individual produce. Needless to say, I won’t be going back there again.

One thing I have noticed when I walk through the Industrial parts of the Bronx are car repair shops. There must be hundreds of repair shops in the Bronx.

Hudson River to Hudson New York

I finally did it. I have been wanting to go up the Hudson River by train for ages. The other day I finally accomplished my goal.

The trip was enjoyable. The train leaves Penn Station in NYC and takes a little over two hours to arrive in Hudson, New York.

The train left Penn Station at 8:40; the first ten minutes was just like leaving Grand Central Terminal. Underground and dark. We emerged from the tunnels around 130th Street.

Unfortunately, it was quite foggy.

Here is a view of the George Washington Bridge. After Tarrytown the sun burned through the fog, and it was blue skies the rest of the way.

Passing through Ossining we came upon Sing Sing Prison. I believe the phrase “sending you up the river” refers to Sing Sing.

Soon it was the Bear Mountain Bridge in view. A few minutes later West Point came into view. The hills were getting bigger.

There were many sightings of wildlife. Lots of ducks and I saw two Bald Eagles on the way up to Hudson.

Arriving at Hudson in a little over two hours I was anxious to explore the town. Hudson is having a revival. The town is full of restaurants and quaint shops. There is an emphasis on antiques and vintage. The town is quite walkable. I spent four hours in Hudson and enjoyed it.

This is a picture looking at the Hudson River from Hudson and seeing the Catskills Mountains in the distance.

I was amazed at how many lighthouses there are on the river.

At this point in my travels, I would say the trip up the Hudson and taking the train along Long Island Sound are two train trips you should do.

The only drawback to going up the Hudson is you either must go to NYC or catch the train in Yonkers.

Amtrak Train #190

Recently I rode train 190 from Stamford to Kingston Rhode Island. I have ridden this train often and it is one of my favorite trains.

The train leaves Stamford at 8:33 in the morning and heads toward Boston. The train makes four stops in Connecticut, Bridgeport, New Haven, New London, and Mystic.

Taking the train to New Haven is nice. The train ride is around fifty minutes. New Haven is a great town to walk around. You have museums, Yale University and a good selection of restaurants.

New London is also a nice stopping-off point. Next to the train station is the ferry station. You can take a ferry to Long Island, Fishers Island and Block Island in the summertime.

Mystic is the next stop. You have the Seaport, Aquarium and Shopping Village and downtown Mystic. The seaport is only a fifteen-minute walk from the station.

The views from the train are very nice. The train hugs the coastline. You get nice views of Long Island Sound and the surrounding marshes. In the summertime you can have the kids count how many egrets they see during the trip.

Mystic is about two hours on the train. If you buy your tickets three weeks in advance you can get a decent price.

Next week I am off to Hudson, New York. I will let you know how the view of the Hudson River compares to Long Island Sound.

Art All Around Us

I went to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. I wanted to see the beautiful art they have.

I of course went by train, and I disembarked at 125^th Street. Usually, I would take the subway down to 79th Street and walk across to the Museum.

This time I decided to walk the entire way.

Here is a picture of moss on the wall along Central Park. The picture only captures a little of the art of the moss. I find it so enjoyable to see the beauty of moss. This segment reminds me of modern art so much.

The museum visit was great. My favorite painting is Washington Crossing the Delaware. If you haven’t seen it, you should go and view it. The other paintings and sculptures are well worth it.

Train fare, admission and buying lunch on the street came to fifty dollars total.

To Stop or Not to Stop, That is the Dilemma

You know the situation. you are coming to a stop sign. No one is approaching from the other Roads. Do you stop or roll through the stop sign? The same applies for right turns on red. Do you stop or just roll through the red light.

My observation is, more of us are not stopping and to make it worse, we seem to be going faster through the stops and right turn on red.

What do we gain by not fully stopping. Five, ten seconds at most. Is it worth it? I was almost hit when a driver made a running right at a stop sign. Needless to say ,he had to stop at the next traffic light. He gained absolutely nothing.

The worse thing is, I was in the crosswalk well before he arrived. He was so concentrating on turning he never saw me.

I am assuming the driver was a male. I don’t know. I couldn’t see the driver. All the windows were heavily tinted including the front windshield.

To stop or not to stop should not be a question. We should be stopping at stop signs.

Washington DC

We are back from Washington DC. The train trip down seemed long. However, the train trip back home seemed to go quickly. Each trip was four and half hours.

Amtrak breaks away from the Metro North line at New Rochelle and it is a nice change of scenery. Entering New York City, you go through Pelham Park, and it is all trees. As the train progresses you slowly realize that you are in NYC.

Going over the Hells Gate Bridge into Queens you get a very nice view of the Manhattan Skyline. Once in Queens it is interesting to look down on all the backyards of the townhouses.

The train crosses the Delaware at Trenton, and you follow the river all the way past Philadelphia.

The best part of arriving in Washington DC is walking out of the train station and seeing the capital building close by.

There are lots of sights in DC. We visited most of the Smithsonian Museums in the Mall.

One highlight for me was visiting the National Arboretum. They have a nice bonsai collection. I was once a bonsai enthusiast.

This is a picture of my favorite tree there. I call it fire and ice. The tree is over 400 years old, and the snow gives it a nice look. The fire part is because this tree comes from Japan and was at Hiroshima in 1945 when the bomb was dropped.

Overall, I feel the train is the best way to travel to Washington. It is a little bit long. However, it is relaxing.

We were in Washington on probably the coldest weekend of the year. I was surprised how many tourists were still visiting the city. I imagine the city could be quite crowded in the spring and summer.

A Train Trip

In a few days my wife and I are traveling to Washington DC by train. Once I get back I will give the details of the train trip. I thought I will tell why train travel is my choice.

I had three options to travel. Plane, car or train. The plane is not really an option. It is quite a bit more expensive and it is not that faster. I took the plane from LaGuardia last year and door to downtown DC was four hours. Driving to the airport and having to get to airport at least 90 minutes before departure adds to much time to the flight.

The train is scheduled to take four and half hours Stamford to DC. Add in half a hour to get to the train station five hours is the total time. I can drive to DC in five hours if traffic is good that is a big if.

The cost for a round trip train ticket for two is $120.00. You have to buy this ticket about a month before the departure date. Driving would also cost about $120.00 according to my Google question. That price includes gas and tolls.

The biggest factor is not having to drive. I plan on reading, writing, and walking around the train.

I will let you know later how the trip goes.

The River

I grew up in Pound Ridge New York just north of Stamford CT. We had a pond on the property and the water flowed from it to Stamford.

The water went to Laurel Reservoir and from there to the North Stamford Reservoir and then the stream continues and is officially called the Rippowam River.

Yesterday I chose to walk along the Rippowam River. It was exhilarating. We had three inches of rain the night before. The river had overflowed its banks.

Down at Mill River Park the water was roaring through the park.

Finally, just before the river empties into Long Island Sound, we had this lake just for the day.

It is such a nice feeling having been associated with the river since I was a child.

Stamford, the city of rock and water. Yesterday was a great water day.

2024

A New Year

A New Beginning

I have been writing this blog for a couple of years now and have enjoyed immensely telling you about the delights of Stamford that I have discovered walking all over the town.

This year 2024 I am going to add some additional insights into my blogs.

Last year when I was walking on High Ridge Road, I saw the aftermath of a pedestrian/car incident. It was not good. I am continually seeing bad driving, bad walking, and a lack of following the rules of the road.

I am going to be posting blogs about how the Stamford Traveler can do better. A Stamford traveler is anyone who travels through Stamford by any means of movement. Which means just about everyone of us is a Stamford Traveler.

Now on to my next insight.

TWA

Do you know what it stands for? If you are my age, you might say TWA is the airline. Sadly, the airline has been gone for many years.

TWA for me now stands for trains and walking adventures. I have utilized the train to take me on some great walking adventures. I plan on doing more this year and reporting on them.

Here is a TWA you can do. Take the train to New York City and walk around. However, to make it different take Amtrak to Penn Station. Amtrak breaks away from the Metro North Line at New Rochelle and will take you through the Bronx and over Hell Gate to Queens. It is a great trip to see a different part of New York. Buy your ticket three weeks in advance and avoid Friday and Sunday. The cost is not that much.

On to adventures.