Walking. With Frost’s Road Not Taken.

~ Live & Learn

4:16 a.m. Day #774, consecutive (almost) daybreak walks at Cove Island Park. Like in a row.

I’m on I-95 heading North, mixing it up this morning and heading to Calf Pasture Beach.  It’s a big deal for this Plow Horse to shift one step to the left, or shift one step to the right, the plow cutting the same furrow deeper. No chance of surprises when one is going straight, and straight down.

Back to I-95. It’s me, the Truckers, and hopefully not the drunks.  I’m in the speed lane, a giant tandem tractor-trailer to my right, driver has his window open taking in the cool morning breeze.  I glance over. I do everything in my power not to pump my fist in the air with the trucker salute to prompt a blast of his air horn.  Apparently it’s a dying tradition. Jesus, how old are you. And for all I know, it could be mistaken for a proposition. Keep your bloody hands down.

I approach the parking lot, it’s full, and cars line the shoulder.  And this being 4:29 a.m.  Irritated. WTH is this?

I pull up on the sidewalk, shut down the ignition, and watch. High School. Graduation parties. Sunrise. God, how long ago was that for me? OK. This wasn’t meant to be.  Just go home. No, you came this far. Come on. Just take a few shots and then you can go.

I watch kids pour out of their cars. Boomboxes blaring Rap. Peaceful easy feeling. (Not.)

I walk down the street and around the crowd that’s building on the shoreline.  I take one shot. That one above, and head back to the car. Not interested in tangling with some drunk, testosterone raging teen. Just like the smart-a** idiot you were then.

I’m in the car and back on the road, and the mood sinks. Road less taken, turns to be a bust. Let’s go home. Eat half a dozen glazed donuts. That’ll bring some joy for a moment. Palahniuk: “A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection. You wake up, and that’s enough.” And then the mountain of regret torpedos you for the rest of the day.

So, I take a left off the highway and head into the Norwalk city center. Who knows?

I take some alleys along the water front.

I continue down along the bike paths.

I pass warehouses, shops, Nordstrom’s.

And then arrive at something called Norwalk Heritage Park. A waterfront and wildlife restoration effort.

The parking lot is empty. No humans.

I walk.

A beautiful little park with an observation platform at its highest point overseeing downtown Norwalk. And these scenes, a stone’s throw away from I-95.

Where did this come from? 16 years here, and didn’t know this existed.

I recall reading Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” in a college lit class.  Never got it then. Beginning to get it now…

“…I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference…”

I’m going to remember this.

Notes:

  • Photos by DK @ Daybreak @ ~5:15 am, June 18, 2022. 68° F. Norwalk Heritage Park, CT. More photos from today’s walk here.

21 thoughts on “Walking. With Frost’s Road Not Taken.”

  2. You know I love these posts. And seriously, what the hell were the chances of landing on a grad pack? Well, okay, it IS mid-June, so fairly high, apparently. Don’t let it stop you from trying again, say in July 😉
    That being said, it brought you to this spot, that you didn’t know, and which made it all worthwhile. I love choosing the road not taken. Beautiful post, my friend.

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  3. Local school had their last day yesterday, as well…My road less taken…When I was a senior in High School…they had the traditional Senior Skip day at some point within the last 2 weeks of school…two students didn’t participate in the Skip Day where they kids drank and partied…One boy & one girl (of the Senior class) went to school that day…the boy an exchange student and ME…(as I didn’t want to loss my scholarships) of course I got pulled into the dean of students office and pumped for info…I knew nothing of the info for the day, thankfully! At our senior breakfast there was a slide show of which there were plenty of photos for that skip day…looked like it was fun…/// I still pump my arm to hear the horn…I stand in my backyard when a light plane is flying low and arms outstretched, tipping my arms from one side to the next -once in awhile a plane will tip its wings…Ha, Nordstrom’s I worked there in High School and occasionally in College I also was working at a law firm at the same time…I am glad that you had some Nostalgic moments in your earlier morning (the rockus graduates) & a new discovery of a park…As you know, I had some Nostalgic moments last evening noted in the email I sent you, HA!/// your photos keep gracing us…and a delight today as we are still cold and rainy…shockingly my husband just said starting Monday extending to Friday a drying and warming trend, hmm…it will be nice to get out of the 50’s and hardly ever this season low 60’s for daytime temps…

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  4. I don’t know – the counterpoint of a bunch of kids celebrating in the pre-dawn hours, seeing the sunrise as only hormonally-fueled kids can – they made you take a quick photo and it is gorgeous and somehow just knowing how happy they were, gives a certain joyous promise to the day…How prescient to find a quiet place thereafter, to think and regard the path you took this morning as perfect. And it was.

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  5. See? See? It did work out to be a good thing. The Road Not Taken has been one of my favourites since I first heard of it in high school. I often think of it when I’m out mushroom picking and I come to a spot where it’s easiest to go around a big stump following the trodden down passage through the undergrowth, or I can go to the effort of ducking under a fallen log or pushing aside a prickly bush, and do “the one less traveled by.” Almost every time I’ve used the “less traveled by” way, I find a mushroom (which I wouldn’t have found if I’d gone where everyone else has gone).
    So you ended up having a good “less traveled by” experience.

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  9. David, I’ve always loved your stories…and kind of miss the “commuter” stories. Did you retire? Are you working from home? No need to answer if I’m asking too much. I honestly feel you have found who you were meant to be with your photography. You’ve always had a deep connection to the world it seems, and that can only be strengthened through the photos you take. You give so much each day through your amazing photography.

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    1. Hi Carol. Thank you so much for your kind words. As to Photography, I feel like I’m the first inning of a game going to extra innings. So much to learn. So much beauty. So little time. Your words inspire me. And no, I haven’t retired. Thank you again.

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