August 19th 2013: Dinner at Sofia Ristorante, Hudson

Today after work, I decided to use my coupon at Sofia Ristorante, a small town Italian restaurant located in the Hudson town center. Before that, I went into Boylston for a hike at the Hillside Trail Network, located at Elmwood Place near Main Street. The path I took to find Flagg Pond here by walking on the path behind the football field here, which had many kids training today, is shown below in pink.

The pond itself was nothing much to look at though.

Flagg Pond

Other places I visited in Boylston follow.

Boylston Historical Society

Rocky Pond,
Boulder Way and Rocky Pond Road

From here, I headed into the town of Berlin to visit the Fishing Derby Pond at Berlin Memorial School, which was nothing much either.

Northborough was next.

Bartlett Pond from Watson Park,
41 Lyman Street

Smith Pond, ~75 Otis Street

My last stop was at the Tyler Dam at 193 Robin Hill Street in Marlborough.

From here, I headed into Hudson for dinner. The restaurant itself had some interesting decor,

but it was pretty empty tonight, and the Beef Fagottini I got, which was stuffed with parma ham and cheese,

 was too salty, although I still managed to eat all of it. Not a place I will come back to.

August 16th 2013: Cruise Night in Lancaster

Today after work, I decided to check out Cruise Night, an antique car show put on at Kimball Farm in Lancaster every Friday night in the summer time.

The show itself was just a congregation of old cars from the surrounding neighborhoods, as can be seen from my pictures below.

 Other than that, the emphasis was more on the seafood sold here, and the ice cream, which I got the Frozen Pudding flavor. It was okay I guess, tasting a little weird at times.

After seeing the show, I did some sightseeing in Lancaster,

White Pond, ~230 White Pond Road

Town Beach, End of Fire Road 4

Hudson

Bruces Pond, ~164 Apsley Road

and Marlborough, where I first went on a hike at Holt's Grove to find the old ice skating pond here. The path I took while here after parking at the Marlborough High School parking lot is shown below in pink.

The pond itself was small and nothing much to look at, although I managed to catch sight of frogs in the water.

Next, I headed to Ghiloni Park for a walk to see the water bodies there, taking the path shown below in pink,

walking around the basketball courts and soccer fields, which were full of people playing.

The water bodies themselves were mere puddles of water though. After leaving the park, I also visited Hager Pond at ~894 Boston Post Road East,

and the Jericho Hill Recreational Area at ~496 Brigham Street, where I climbed up the old ski slope there to catch the views from above.

The old ski slope

View from the top

Heading to grab dinner at the Bolton Street Tavern, a bar restaurant where I had a groupon to use, I found a family style restaurant which was pretty void of people this late Friday night.

For food, I decided to get the Potachoes (Fresh cooked sliced potato chips topped with melted cheese, bacon and scallions served with sour cream and salsa on the side) for appetizers, the Crock of Chili Con Carni Bread Bowl (Thick and Hearty topped with melted cheese served with nacho chips) for soup and the Mixed Marinated Grille (A combination of chicken teriyaki, marinated sirloin tips and barbeque shrimp, served with rice and vegetable of the day).

Potachoes

Crock of Chili Con Carni Bread Bowl

Mixed Marinated Grille

The potato chips were disappointingly bland, while the soup was just so-so as well, but my entree actually surprised me at how well it was cooked. The chicken was not dry as it usually is here in the US, and the beef was cooked just right for me as well. Unfortunately, I could not finish everything, so it's more leftovers for lunch.

Recommmended Places to Visit: Hudson

Recreation

Water Bodies
Tripp Pond
River Street and Main Street

Bruces Pond
~164 Apsley Road


Parks

Wood Park
Park Street and Rutland Street

Roller-Skating
Roller Kingdom
5 Highland Park Avenue


Shopping Malls

Highland Commons Shopping Mall
Coolidge Street and Highland Common Road East

Waterfalls
Assabet River
Washington Street near South Street

Beaches
Centennial Beach
Sebago Road


Architecture

Monuments

Liberty Park
~3 Washington Street

Memorial
Central Street and Lincoln Street

Assabet River Rail Trail
~300 Main Street

Places of Worship

First United Methodist Church
34 Felton Street

St. Michael's Parish
21 Manning Street

Carmel Mar Thoma Church
467 River Street

Grace Baptist Church
363 River Street

First Federated Church
200 Central Street

St. Luke's Episcopal Church
5 Washington Street

Unitarian Church of Hudson and Marlborough
80 Main Street

Commercial Buildings
Tighe Hamilton Funeral Home
50 Central Street

Town Facilities

Town Hall
78 Main Street

Fire Department
296 Cox Street

Fire Department #2
1 Washington Street

Massachusetts Army National Guard
35 Washington Street

Restaurants

Highly Recommended:
Western
Rail Trail Flatbread Company
33 Main Street
Recommended Dishes:
Spiced Pear 
Cubano
Gorg and Squash 
BLT
Steak and Cheese

Harvest Cafe

40 Washington Street
Recommended Dishes:
Shrimp Quesadillas
Hot Chocolate
Pumpkin Risotto Benedict
Bacon, Cheddar and Tomato Quiche
Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
Orange Soy Braised Pork Ribs
Kahlua Brownie Sundae


Japanese

Feng Sushi and Grill
191 Washington Street
Recommended Dishes:
Dragon Bomb Roll
Shrimp Mango Roll

August 7th 2013: Dinner at Rail Trail Flatbread Company, Hudson

Today after work, I had a meetup dinner at Rail Trail Flatbread Company in the town of Hudson. Before that, I passed through Shrewsbury,

Northborough Reservoir,
170 Reservoir Street

I decided to do a short hike at Edmund Hill, the parking area located at the Northborough Senior Center.

Northborough Senior Center

The path I took while here to try to find the pond here is shown below in pink.

I initially was a little lost, realizing only a little later that I had already passed the pond, which was actually right behind the senior center, and a pretty decent pond at that.

It was then on to Wheeler Pond on Pleasant Street near Alden Drive in the town of Berlin

before finally heading into Hudson for dinner. The pizza place itself was pretty full of people, but even then I could not find my meetup group as they were seated in another section of the restaurant, away from the giant oven in front.

For food, I decided to try a flatbread pizza, with half being Spiced Pear (bottom, Country Sweet Sauce, Cheese Blend, Pear, Chinese Five Spice, Blue Cheese, Berries) and the other half being Cubano (dijon cream, cheese blend, pork carnitas, ham, swiss, pickles, onions, grape tomatoes, arugula), while my friend had hers half Gorg and Squash (top, Garlic base, cheese blend, gorgonzola, butternut squash, blonde and black raisins) and half BLT (bottom, garlic base, provolone cheese, bacon, sweet corn, arugula, grape tomatoes, avocado lime sour cream). I also tried a piece of the Steak and Cheese (garlic base, shaved steak, banana peppers, caramelized onions, american cheese).

Spiced Pear (bottom) and Cubano (top)

Gorg and Squash (left) and BLT (right)

Steak and Cheese

All the different pizzas were actually really good, with all the ingredients going really well together, especially the Cubano, Spiced Pear, Gorg and Squash and BLT. The Pear and the Squash ones were sweet but blended well with the saltiness of it. Simply excellent. A definite recommend from me for this place.

May 8th 2013: Ice Cream at Cabot's Ice Cream and Restaurant, Newton

Today after work, I had a meetup dinner at Cabot's Ice Cream and Restaurant in Newton to go to. Before that, I decided to go find a natural waterfall, the Danforth Falls, located in the town of Hudson.

After parking in front of the sign for the Danforth Falls Conservation Area at the junction of Lincoln Street near Bradford Road, the rough path I took to find the waterfall and get back to my car is shown below in pink.

Walking to find the waterfall was a pretty easy trek, just making sure that the Danforth Brook was always on my right. When I got to the waterfall, I wasn't sure whether it was the actual falls or not, as it looked more like a series of rapids than an actual waterfall, as you can see from my picture.

My GPS wasn't working properly, so I could not tell that I was at the spot where the waterfall was supposed to be, and I also got lost on the way back as a result, emerging at the Farley School down south instead, and having to walk along Packard Road to get back to Lincoln Street and subsequently my car.

Thankfully, I was able to verify that I had seen the falls from Youtube videos, and I was able to spot the exact same rocks in the video that were in my picture as well.

Overall though, I would say this waterfall is not worth the trek.

On the way to Newton for my meetup event, I passed by a the Assabet River Rail Trail in Hudson,

Stow,

Massachusetts Firefighting Academy,
1 State Road

and Sudbury.

Sudbury Fire Department

Finally, it was time to head to dinner. I ended up being a little late due to being stuck in traffic. Cabot's looks like a retro ice cream cafe, and there were a lot of people here today. After finding my friends, I decided to get the Deli-Style Corned Beef Hash (with pot of Boston baked beans and brown bread) for food, and with the exception of the bread, which was a little too sweet and dark for me, the hash was actually pretty good, especially with the good presentation.

Next, it was time to order ice cream, and we all got fudge sundaes, mine with Moose Tracks and Butter Crunch Ice Cream, topped with Butterfinger crumbs and melted marshmallow in place of whipped cream, which came out dripping down the sides of the cup, solidified, and looking pretty cool.

My Sundae

After a while I could not take the extreme sweetness of my sundae and had to stop gobbling it down. Overall, a pretty fun experience enjoying ice cream with friends.