Picnicking on Talcott Mountain

I was sitting in the living room with my sister earlier tonight watching t.v. and having a fine time, but both of us were feeling bored and wanted to do something more exciting than just sit idly on the couch. Even though the night was cloudy, I suggested we make a picnic and find someplace beautiful to eat our dinner. We diced up strawberries and blueberries, made a salad with bell pepper, avocado, and rice vinegar, prepared cherry tomatoes with mozzarella, and dressed leftover pasta with pepper and lemon juice. All of this, we packed away in a beach bag with a light blanket, our phones, and a beats speaker.

Our initial picnic spot idea was the dock overlooking the lake at Folly Farm, the place where we used to ride horses when we were younger; we had visited before and sat on that very dock with our cousins. However, when we arrived, we realized the area was closed off and not open to the public. Luckily, we had a back-up in mind, only a few minutes past the farm: Talcott Mountain and Heublein Tower.

We weren’t dressed in appropriate hiking gear, but the trek up wasn’t too long and I was able to carry the picnic bag without much additional difficulty. When we arrived at the peak it was around 6:30 pm. We took some photos at the overlook and then walked on toward the tower. In the tower area, along with bathrooms and other amenities, we encountered picnic tables, where we spread out our makeshift tablecloth and laid out our packed dinner to eat.

We stayed there until around 7:20 pm and then made our descent back down to the main overlook. We set up a blanket and took in the view just before sunset, but decided to head down the mountain before it got too dark.

The drive home was easy and went quickly since we blasted our favorite songs through the speakers. I had such a wonderful night taking in natural beauty and spending quality time with my sister. I’m looking forward to more of these moments in the coming days (before I start work) and weeks of summer to come. I still have plenty of places and things on my bucket list to see and do; coming soon are some concerts, state parks, day trips to far-off towns, restaurant reviews, and out-of-state adventures. Stay tuned 🙂