Author: Layne Rodney

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.

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.

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.

As I walk all over Stamford, I am always seeing bridges. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were over 250 bridges in all of Stamford. The Rippowam River has 25 bridges crossing it.

Here is a picture of some of the bridges crossing the Rippowam River. You have I-95 the arch bridge was the old train bridge and in the distance is the RR bridge.

Now here is a picture of a cute bridge.

The bridge is located off Wire Mill Road. It just fits the landscape so well. There are many bridges like this one all over Stamford.

They are hard to see in the summer. Fall and winter is when they stand out. They are also hard to see when you are driving.

Another reason for walking around Stamford

I took Earth Science in high school. It was one of my favorite classes. I learned so much about the structure of our planet. I can look at a rock outcropping and tell whether it is syncline or anticline.

I also learned that the Appalachian Mountain range once had the tallest mountains on the planets. Looking at geologic time and they have been worn down over millions of years.

Now onto the Stamford Mountain ranges. Piles of leaves.  We are watching geologic time in a flash of a second.

First there is just a little mound. In some cases, the mountains grow slowly. Other times they appear overnight. Did an earthquake push them up?

No, it is the mighty leaf blower. It has noisy superpowers to build these mountains and they are mountains. They take over the roads and sidewalks.  They are a pain to walk around or even drive.

Then like magic they disappear again.  The trees wait quietly all winter to start the mountain range building next year.

This is the picture I have been waiting to show you.

My neighbor’s Japanese Maple is a brilliant red. It is just gorgeous.

This year all the Japanese Maples are gorgeous.

Here is another maple.  I am assuming that the wet summer helped the maples fall colors.

The regular maples are way past prime for leaf viewing. It looks like this weekend is prime for the Japanese Maples.

I was looking forward to the walk today. We had the first frost of the season. It would be a crisp walk with frost all over the ground.

I hadn’t been gone for five minutes when I heard them. Leaf blowers. They are around all summer. But now the big leaf blowers are out, and they are louder, and they spend more time at the lawn getting rid of the leaves.

I walked north today on Newfield Road. I was coming up to the Italian Center when I heard a car accelerating behind me. I looked back and the car was passing three cars on a double line. The car missed me by thirty feet as it veered back into its lane. I thought I am going to need an eye in the back of my head to watch out for all these bad Stamford Travelers.

Crossing the Merritt Parkway, I gaze into a nice lawn and see a hawk alighting from the lawn with a chipmunk in its talons. Nature at work.

I turn left onto Lakeside Drive, and I am amazed at all the traffic at 10:30 in the morning. Traffic seems to be increasing all over Stamford these days.

I arrive at High Ridge Road and head south. I came to Chokepoint Charlie, and I feel daring. I decide to walk under the Merritt Parkway. Quite often I take the bus but today I walk and no problems.

High Ridge Road south of the Merritt is busy as usual. I saw a couple of thems. I do dislike thems. The is nothing scarier than crossing the street in front of a them. A Them is a car that is entirely tinted included the windshield and is usually a heavy tint. You cannot see the driver.They are just plain dangerous. By the way I took the word them from a SciFi movie called Them.

In the afternoon I am walking on Long Ridge Road, and I find $.32 cents on the street. No sidewalks, no reason for the money to be there. But it is.

Like I say all in a day’s walk

Walking on the sidewalks I see a lot of moss in the cracks of cement.

Here is a typical sample. Now here is a picture of moss gone wild.  Look how big

it is.  The green is just Luscious. This moss specimen is located in the cement wall on North State Street close to the train station.

I am curious how the moss will hold up through the winter months. I shall keep you informed.

This is a picture of my neighbors Japanese Maple. The brilliant red is almost there. The small maple in front of it is mine and you can see how the leaves will look soon.

It looks like most of the trees in Stamford are at peak color of even past. I have a maple tree that is dropping leaves like crazy. I clean up the leaves and three hours later it looks the same.

However, if you want to see some beautiful green, look for moss.    

Here is a picture from Scalzi Park. I love the texture of the moss.

This has been a great year for moss. I see it everywhere when I walk. Even the cracks in sidewalks have beautiful green moss in them.