Musings from Milford - I

Sometimes, I feel I can easily take up one job - being the official ambassador for the Connecticut Silver Sands State Park in Milford. Don't get me wrong - many a times this has been a topic that runs through my mind - should I meet Gov. Jodi Rell and ask her if she can appoint me as one? Well.. I know.. if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. Sigh!

It is not that I have too many visitors at my place. I have always been more out visiting people than the other way round. However, when people do come visiting me, I ensure they get two things for sure - food, a visit to the Silver Sands State Park..!!

Technically open until dusk, one might not able to come out of the place so easily..! The chilly breeze, the grassy patches, deers moving in and out (if you are lucky enough.!), the winding uphill and downhill country roads - all of them coupled with a sense of serenity would ensure that even the few moments you spend there would remain etched in your memory for eons to come!

There is a sandbar which helps one actually cross over to the island park. And of course, you find the long and short of it too - you better visit the place yourself to find out what I mean here than ask me! The sandbar supposedly gets flooded twice in a day and I am not entirely sure how - except for two times, every other time when I take visitors and friends with me, the sandbar would be invariably flooded..!! Probably, that is the way the big mighty Atlantic wants to show its love towards me - or so I wish to think!! :)

The next biggest attraction is a boardwalk - now, do not let imagination run riot. This boardwalk would hardly be a mile or so. Nevertheless, it is such a fine one I must say! Or at least, I am sure I cannot go over to the Atlantic City every other evening and it is certainly nice to find one right near your place! Neatly written on the path are boards which prohibit anyone from entering the area in their bicycles - something that has had me sad :( Or is it because it is supposed to be board"walk"? Whatever :p

There is something special about the car parking lot there I must say..!! It is a place where I managed to "coach" a few of my buddies how to drive and how to park ;) I would be a very demanding tutor - taking them around in mid-afternoon in the chilly winter and asking them to keep going round and round the lot and demand that they follow all the lane rules when it would be an open secret that one can hardly find someone loitering in the beach during a cold winter afternoon :) And they would promptly ask me - "What's the big deal about me driving when nobody is present,eh?" But my extreme self conscious behavior and a strong aversion to risk would only mean one thing - I got the license, so I can afford to mess up. Not you! Call it a concern or a far reaching and far fetched fear, whatever..!! :p

The ocean would always surprise me... On a bright day, it would be so blue that one would start wondering if there was some mass infusion of copper sulphate into the water! And during the evenings, at times, you would find quite an isolated section with such a flourishing growth of algae that it would transport me to the chemistry labs when I was fiddling with ferrous sulphate crystals that were given to me for experiments - more admiring the colour in it than thinking of the experiment that needs to be completed for the lab work! 

Ocean and waves are inseparable, aren't they? But instead of giving a picture as if it is beating itself and punishing itself for a grave crime, the waves on the water here are more like a soothing hands out to massage one's feet.  But beware, it shows its inner soul when its very touch would freeze you! :)

How can I miss to mention about how I get to the state park? Except for during the cold winters (when I had been there primarily as a driving coach than as a nature admirer!), I prefer walking down the road all the way - though it means it is almost a complete 1-2 miles off.

Signing off for now.

~ Ravi