Good Grief! LbNA #9181

Life is too short. Let's not take it too seriously... GOOD GRIEF! have a little FUN along the way!

NOTE: These are revised clues as of August 2006. Please do not use clues printed prior to this date.

DIRECTIONS
FROM GLASTONBURY: From the intersection of Route 2 and Route 94 in Glastonbury, head east on Route 94. Continue past intersection with Route 83. The trail head is about 3.5 miles from intersection with Route 83. Look for the sign on the left "Blackledge Falls". (Park directly across the street.) It is before the Glastonbury/Hebron town line.
FROM HEBRON: Head west 1 mile from the intersection of Route 94 and Route 85 in Hebron. After crossing the border with Glastonbury look for the sign on the right "Blackledge Falls".

GOOD GRIEF!

Enter the trail at the sign for Blackledge Falls.

SCHRODER, who idolizes Beethoven, brought classical music to the Peanuts strip. Reserved and usually unruffled, Schroeder reacts only when Woodstock tries to make his grand piano into a playground, or Lucy seeks to make it her courting grounds. The latter can lead to minor violence. *****Cross over three wooden bridges and continue on the blue/white/blue trail until you are under a large tree that has fallen across the trail. Count 28 steps to a grassy path on your right which curves towards the water and by the burnt remains of a mill on your left. As the path bends left back towards the trail, listen for piano music and find the lonely boulder on the right. Walk to the boulder and look just beyond for a stump. Behind this stump under 2 stones find SCHRODER.

SALLY Brown's brother, Charlie Brown, was so pleased and proud when she was born that he passed out chocolate cigars. Since then he's been trying to understand her. She always looks for the easy way out, particularly at school. Uninhibited, and precocious, she has a schoolgirl crush on Linus, her "Sweet Babboo." She may never win Linus' heart, but she has her big brother wrapped around her little finger. ***** Continue on this grassy path and turn right back onto the main trail. After only 18 steps up the trail, take a less travelled path on the right to a grouping of stones where SALLY is hiding.

WOODSTOCK is the smallest of the Peanuts characters but has a big presence for a little bird. He's a little inept, his flying and logic are erratic, but he can type and take shorthand and usually is game for anything Snoopy wants to do. Although he's the butt of many of Snoopy's practical jokes, he's the beagle's closest friend and confidant. Because of his size and the company he keeps, Woodstock is an accident waiting to happen. Being a bird and tiny, he gets a little insecure around Thanksgiving and big moving objects. He's the only baseball player who gets an automatic walk if the ball rolls over him. Woodstock talks birdspeak only, and finds an alphabet made up entirely of exclamation points quite adequate to express such emotions as distress, frustration and a real temper. ***** Back on the trail, follow it as it bends right. Look for the very tall rotting tree on the left. A few steps more up the trail, look for the great tree on the right. WOODSTOCK is waiting at its base behind a stone door.

SNOOPY is an extroverted beagle with a Walter Mitty complex. He is a virtuoso at every endeavor - at least in his daydreams atop his doghouse. He regards his master, Charlie Brown, as "that round-headed kid" who brings him his supper dish. He is fearless though prudently cautious about "the cat next door." He never speaks - that would be one human trait too many - but he manages to convey everything necessary in facial expressions and thought balloons. A one-man show with superior intelligence and vivid imagination, he has created such multiple personalities as: Joe Cool, World War I Flying Ace, Literary Ace, Flashbeagle, Vulture and Foreign Legionnaire. *****Continue on the trail. Soon you will see a thin tree on the left side of the trail with a blue/white/blue blaze with 2 areas of tree "yuck" above. (You will know this is the tree if right beyond it is a thin stump of a tree.) Almost directly across the trail on the right are two trees standing so close you'd almost think they were sisters. SNOOPY is hiding behind them under rock. HINT: If you get to the BIG ROCKS on the right, you have passed by SNOOPY!

LINUS Van Pelt inspired the term "security blanket" with his classic pose. He is the intellectual of the gang, and flabbergasts his friends with his philosophical revelations and solutions to problems. He suffers abuse from his big sister, Lucy, and the unwanted attentions of Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally. He is a paradox: despite his age, he can put life into perspective while sucking his thumb. He knows the true meaning of Christmas while continuing to believe in the Great Pumpkin. *****As you continue up the trail and navigate over the stones, look for the colony of small boulders on the right. Go up and around to the backside of this grouping and find LINUS under the ledge of a triangular stone.

LUCY Van Pelt works hard at being bossy, crabby and selfish. She is loud and yells a lot. Her smiles and motives are rarely pure. She's a know-it-all who dispenses advice whether you want it or not...and for Charlie Brown, there's a charge. She's a fussbudget, in the true sense of the word. She's a real grouch, with only one or two soft spots, and both of them may be Schroeder, who prefers Beethoven. As she sees it, hers is the only way. The absence of logic in her arguments holds a kind of shining lunacy. When it comes to compliments, Lucy only likes receiving them. If she's paying one--or even smiling--she's probably up to something devious.*****Back on the trail, (and BEFORE the open log across the trail) follow the blue arrow left. Up, up up to the grouping of rocks on the left with the stump behind. LUCY is impatiently awaiting you here.

CHARLIE BROWN wins your heart with his losing ways. It always rains on his parade, his baseball game, and his life. He's an inveterate worrier who frets over trifles (but who's to say they're trifles?). Although he is concerned with the true meaning of life, his friends sometimes call him "blockhead." Other than his knack for putting himself down, there are few sharp edges of wit in his repertoire; usually he's the butt of the joke, not the joker. He can be spotted a mile away in his sweater with the zig zag trim, head down, hands in pocket, headed for Lucy's psychiatric booth. He is considerate, friendly and polite and we love him knowing that he'll never win a baseball game or the heart of the little red-haired girl, kick the football Lucy is holding or fly a kite successfully. His friends call him "wishy-washy," but his spirit will never give up in his quest to triumph over adversity. *****Continue to the top of the hill and rest a bit while you enjoy Blackledge Falls (especially after a good rain.) (NOTE: Clues to "Deertracks In The Snow" would sure come in handy HERE.) Continue a short way up the trail with the falls now on your left. Look for the thin tree with many spindley legs just off the left side of the trail. A few steps more up the trail will bring you to a boulder with a "nose" on the right. CHARLIE BROWN awaits you on the right side of the boulder in a small cave behind a stone door.

Backtrack all the way. (You can bypass SCHRODER'S "grassy path" by keeping right and staying on blue/white/blue).

GOOD GRIEF!! I sure hope you had fun with the Peanuts Gang. I'd love to hear about your visit with them!

A BIG smooch for my husband who helped me schlep all the boxes up the "Falls" and patiently waited while I obsessed over the clues. You are IT!