My daughter was home from school today for the holiday.  She and her friend asked if could go out “to the woods” somewhere.  A few months back a friend had told me of an odd attraction called Martini Junction in the middle of the Needham Town Woods.

A few minutes on the Internet, and I had the details including GPS coordinates.  I downloaded a GPS app into my phone and off we went.  I didn’t tell the girls what exactly was going on.  When we got to the parking area off Central St I handed them the phone and told them to follow the big arrow on the screen.

Of course the arrow pointing to the destination didn’t necessarily point along the trails so part of the fun was figuring out how to get there via the trails or when to just head off the path.  It was about a half mile as the crow flies to the destination but we probably covered twice that via our circuitous route.  We came around a corner and there it was -a beautifully built model railroad track up on hand made trestles in the middle of the woods.  Aside from the tracks there were lots of other details – miniature trees, benches, a table, pigs in a barn, etc.  Apparently the folks who built and maintain this, regularly bring trains out there and run them for special occasions, unfortunately though today wasn’t one of those days.

There’s nothing I like more than an oddball personal project fired up by a healthy doe of obsesssion and quirkiness … and this definitely fit that bill.  If you’re looking for an interesting walk nearby, it’s a good one, and only 10 minutes from Upper Falls.