Playing Outside: Walks in Cambridge

Memorial Drive near Harvard

If you live in the Boston/New England area you are a survivor. You have made it through one of the worst winters. We have taken our weather in extreme doses. That six inches of snow wasn’t quite enough for me yesterday, can we make it a foot and a half today? Ok, great. I think I may actually be able to see my first story windows, that’s kind of a problem, can we get a little more accumulation? Spring? No thanks, I’ll take a snowstorm on April 1^st.

So after a since long spring thaw days like this one should be treasured. There are many great areas to walk in the Cambridge area and two of my favorites are along the Charles River and around Fresh Pond. 

The Charles

 On Sundays Memorial Drive is closed to auto traffic and bikers, joggers, and walkers are free to take to the streets. While there are ample paths and sidewalks for all other days of the week, it is really nice to have the street empty. Without the noise and exhaust from the cars you can really enjoy a peaceful walk along the water. 

Fresh Pond through the trees

Fresh Pond is one of the largest ponds that I have seen, and is actually, in fact, a large reservoir. There is a 2.5 mile path around the pond that is great for walking, biking, and jogging. It took about 50 minutes to walk the full loop, but I stopping at times to watch the golfers or take pictures of funny things like this branch that grew around the fence. Serious power walkers like my mom and sister could have completed it faster. 

Nature's mysteries

 My favorite part about Fresh Pond is that as soon as you’re on the path you can forget that you’re in a city. It is a refreshing feeling and I can always use a little more of that in my life.