Nice spot with a bench along the mostly-developed 10 mile Tri-Community Greenway, north of Boston. Easily reachable by bike from the city in about an hour, or by commuter rail to Wedgemere. The Greenway itself is mostly a paved rail-trail, with some on-road segments, and many crossings. The Stoneham end of the trail is a few hundred feet higher elevation than the Winchester end; Stoneham to Winchester is the easier direction.
One of the nicest rides north out of Boston is getting a major upgrade to its "Bike Kitchen."
Near Science Park, corner of Land Boulevard and the Charles River Dam road May 18 midmorning. This clown pulled up to a red light blocking both the pedestrian and bicyclists crossings. I had been crossing from the other side, and had to go around him. I expressed my displeasure as I did, so he started mouthing off, honking his horn, generally acting the ass, as if I had offended him or something.
When I finished crossing, I stopped to take the picture; and you can see from the intersecting's yellow light that the truck's red light cycle is about to end--- he had been there, blocking both the pedestrian and bike crossings, for his entire light cycle, mouthing off, gesticulating, and honking his horn.
When he drove off, he honked his horn angrily again, to show me who was the boss, I guess.
Shitty driver. Model citizen.
(3 pix) I'd heard the story and seen the paint marks (now maintained by the City), but never saw the plaque:
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of
The Smoot
In October 1958 the span of this bridge was measured using the body of Oliver Reed Smoot MIT '62 and found to be 364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear.
This provided a very useful metric for generations of bridge travelers since and the smoot has joined the angstrom, meter, and light-year as enduring standards of length.
Ollie's contributions to measurement continued after his raduation from MIT. He went on to head both the American National StandardInstitute and the International Organization for Standardization.