CFPA Meetings

Last month, our family attended the annual meeting of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association. It was the night before Curly’s Trail Marathon and a tempest was raging in Connecticut. We made it safely to Derby where the meeting was being held at the Kellogg Environmental Center located on the Osborne Homestead Museum. It was the first time we had been in either building. Actually, it had been years since I was last in Derby for a bachelor party. 

Well, this was a different kind of party. CFPA is one of the leading environmental organizations in Connecticut. I recently joined the board of directors, so I’m an insider now. We have been long time members. Most Connecticut trail users don’t realize that CFPA is responsible for the 825+ Blue Blazed Hiking Trails that criss-cross our state. In addition to trail maintenance, CFPA produces many conservation education programs and advocates at the State Capitol. That is just the tip of the iceberg. The organization has a broad mission. 

 

Flash forward to yesterday. I had a board meeting in Lyme, Connecticut. It was one of those spectacular October mornings with great light and lots of mist hanging low in the valleys. Before the meeting, I stopped to snap photos. I took some great shots of a meadow on Ferry Lyme Rd., then went down to the ferry landing. The Connecticut River was gorgeous.

Eventually, I made it to my meeting on Joshuatown Rd. That road has to be one of the best I’ve been on and I wished I had a bike to ride. The views from our host’s property were spectacular. It was right near Selden Neck State Park, where I’ve never been and now need to visit. We could see straight down the river to Old Saybrook with the shape of Long Island clearly visible 12 miles beyond the Connecticut Shore. It was idyllic.