Monday, October 27, 2008

Walden Pond


IMG_0534, originally uploaded by eesley.

I biked to Walden Pond with Yoojin on Sunday. It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, instead of taking the Minuteman Bikeway, we took a shorter, but much, much more hilly route. So it was quite the workout but made the picnic once there that much more enjoyable.

I had wanted to visit Walden Pond ever since reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau in Mrs. Eddy's English class in High School.

I was inspired then and re-inspired by his words once confronted with life's many choices in undergrad. This particular quote still strikes me and it was printed next to the site of his cottage near the pond.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

I was a bit disappointed though to learn that the site by the pond where he stayed was only a 30 minute walk from his parents house!

p.s. Unlike some of the photos I've posted recently, I actually did take this one. It was a beautiful fall day in New England.