love the place you live: Walden Pond

I love Thoreau. I have a copy of Walden that I cherish. I purchased the book back when I was collecting the fake gold-leaf Barnes & Noble leather-bound books in my early twenties. Do you remember when they re-published the classics? I enjoy them tremendously, even if they are cheap knock-offs of the originals. Among them, my favorites are Walden and the collected works of Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe. I love my copies not just because of the obvious reason they are so well-written, but also because seeing them reminds me of when I used to purchase random objects with abandon in my early twenties--without the experience of moving heavy books a hundred times to weigh down my decision. I had no further plans to do anything with them (or read them, for that matter), I just thought they might enhance my life in some way someday. In that far-off dwelling of twenty-somethings' fantasies. And they have!

I loved seeing Walden Pond on our recent visit, and though I wrote briefly about the experience of seeing it firsthand, I have been thinking ever since we returned that I wanted to devote more blog time to the topic. I'm thankful to Design Mom for starting the {Love the Place You Live} series and giving me the chance! I did already write about Concord on her first edition of the series, so you could consider this post an extension of that one.

Walden is as peaceful and lovely as you would imagine. We were amazed that even on such a cold day there were so many visitors, but neither the crowd nor the chill diminish our pleasure in the experience. Genevieve delighted in throwing rocks into the pond and indeed spent nearly the whole of our time there in search of the perfect stone to plunk.

While strolling the path around the pond, I couldn't help but remember my favorite passage in Walden. Although I've written about it before, I am going to share it again today because I think it will enhance this review far greater than any recommendation I could give. It goes:

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep."

Want further proof that Walden Pond should be on your list to visit? Here are some of my snapshots. Enjoy and come visit Walden!

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Editor's note: This post is part of Design Mom's {Love the Place You Live} series.