I am beginning to feel like a member of an outdoors club. Every week this month I have hiked a different path through wild Massachusetts. A year ago I was smoking cigarettes and stewing in the basement. Not that I don’t still marinate more than the average lobster, but lately I’ve been climbing out of the pot. This week my friends Jess and Alexa accompanied me to Breakheart Hill in Saugus, MA. I had an idea that there may be a link to marathon running in the inversion of Heartbreak Hill, but found no such connection. Instead we came to a well maintained DCR park with a brand new lodge, excellent marked trails, five miles of paved running trails, a beach for swimming, and spectacular views from atop craggy peaks.
The title “Wild Massachusetts” does not only refer to the great outdoors. There was plenty of other kinds of wildness on display in the state this Tuesday. After the hike we attempted to eat at Sonic Burger on Route 1, but ultimately couldn’t stomach the wait. Sonic is the first location of the best-selling national hamburger chain, the waitresses roller skate up to the car with your burgers, frappes, hush puppies, etcetera. The girls wanted to go to the Christmas Tree Shops. The last time I went was probably with my mom more than ten years ago. Crazy junk, more than I remembered. I am convinced that no customer needed any of the tchotchkes in their carts.
Nonetheless, the buying continued.
Snorks, you are the Thoreau of the city of Boston. The modern 2000-man. The voyager galatica battleatictica star-spangled carpet of moon-dust. All this and more.