Boys Day Out

So today, I found myself with two hours just me and my little man.

So we dropped the girls off at a birthday party at “Pump It Up” and headed off to the West End Creamery

Located right of RT. 146 in Whitinsville, MA, this is a pretty cool place to visit. There’s an 18 hole mini-golf (or as the natives in Mass call it, “Putt Putt”), homemade ice cream of some 50 different varieties, and an animal farm.

The animal farm is rather small, 6 sections in total, with the most basic of animals – a few chickens, calves, goats, and a rather vocal rooster. For toddlers however, this is a perfect – albeit eclectic – collection.

The main draw, at least for my little man, was the ice cream! He was particularly psyched that I let him have his own cup of Sprite (Shhhhh, don’t let my wife know!)

This will be a place we return to often this summer, especially since it’s right up the street from Purgatory Chasm State Park, bonus!

Comet Pond

It’s full name is Asnacomet Pond, better known to locals simply as “Comet Pond” and for many years only locals could enter a lottery to receive park passes. That all changed in 2007 when the small swimming area opened up to the general public.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) took the relatively unusual (I say “relatively” only because DCR had previously implemented, successfully, the same approach within Leominster State Forest) step of dropping the park passes AND all associated fees (translation, it’s FREE!) to visit the park.

DCR also supplies the staff and lifeguards, and fortunately my experience at Comet Pond with regard to their staff was markedly different than at Douglas State Forest. Parents should feel quite confident in the staff on duty here. In fact, I was very impressed by their staff there.

We visited the park last week, and about 3 minutes after we got set up a woman who appeared to be in charge walked over to us and said “I noticed you just got here, I wanted to let you know the lifeguards just announced they’ll be on break for 30 minutes” -

Talk about awesome! I love the fact that they noticed us AND gave us the relevant information within the first few minutes of us arriving – These people are really on their game!

The beach area is quite small, and yet, possibly due to its proximity to the larger Rutland State Park or more likely due to the fact most people are simply unaware of the pond – it never felt crowded.

What the park lacks in amenities (no table areas, porta-potties only) it more than makes up for in being a great way to spend an afternoon at a clean, and well staffed swimming hole.

Located in Hubbardston right on RT. 68, I highly recommend this park for families with small kids.