Bucksteep Manor Inn Becket

So you might think that a trip to the very posh Berkshires would spawn tales of privilege: BSO concerts at Tanglewood, days spent luxuriating at Canyon Ranch Spa, garden parties at Bootsy's country house. But no. The climax of our trip to western Massachussets' high-end vacation enclave occurred at October Mountain State Forest with a visit by a black bear. (So ...

... to visit family in 5 minutes versus 2 hours. I will surely enjoy my time with the Harts and Cains whilst I'm a resident in Southwick again. I will be spoiled by home cooking, the lack of housing expenses, free laundry, sleeping in, and good conversation over a tasty meal and glass of wine. Not so much by the deflated air mattress Jesse and I share every night.

Two weeks from today, friends and family will get smaller and ...

... moved by my experience but know that its time for me to hit the road, especially with all the changes that are happening... its hard to hold you chin up and besides that i crave more.

So before i begin my new journey in Hartford, taking a detour to Brazil. I leave tomorrow in the early early am and have so many loose ends... have to be done by 5pm cause i got a hot date!!! =) going with a small back pack... beach hopping.

... the boundaries of town and country made vague, if only for a moment before little roads start popping up again after the roar of engines and the chewing metal on the pavement are heard. Purple cow that I am, I've chosen to eat some other fodder--for now. ---- Thanks to my PRC friends for helping me pack, and my chef for having given me a space to store my **** (pardon the deterioration of my language, and my adoption of the uncouth colloquial lingo for "stuff").

When I woke up Friday morning, I felt like sh*t. The shivers, feeling like my head was 3x the size (not including ego, ha-ha). I really didn't feel like driving and figure the road out. I decided to stay put, the motel was kind enough to charge me the weekday charge instead of the Fri/Sat (almost double), and that was very nice. I've been sucking on the zinc lozenges like there is no tomorrow, downing the Echinacea and all ...

... We passed many beautiful rivers and creeks. I saw another moose - yeah the painted on a road sign kind :o) but I did see one deer and a handfull of wild turkey along the interstate. A3 C14 odometer reading 10958 miles. Again we forgot to record Rusty's. We arrived at Bangor Motorsports (http://www.bangormotorsports.net/) at 9:30am, and they had me ...

We left Tuxbury Pond this morning and drove about 3 hours into the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, where we'll stay for a couple of days. This is kind of en route to our next stop in Upstate New York, with an opportunity we couldn't pass up while in the area! This area is well known for its performing arts venues and festivals ...

Today, woke to rain. Had coffee and breakfast in my condo for the weekend (actually, it's a very nice condo ... too much space for me). Then decided to go to The Mount, Edith Wharton's estate near Lenox. The home was beautiful ... the main floor is decorated in as close a manner as possible to Edith's wishes (her first book published was about interior ...

Packed up the testing material, threw it in the back of the rental car, and drove out to the Berkshires. Long traffic jam due to road construction ... and the fact that people shifted lanes even though the lane closure was TWO MILES ahead. Sigh. One car made "shooting" gestures at me as I sailed along the open lane. Well, seems silly to me to lose all that real estate. But I guess I don't get Massachusetts road etiquette.

... out to the car and snarf down the small bag of Fritos and a few animal crackers we have stashed in case of emergencies. Feeling crazy, and driven further mad by the huge schizophrenic billboards used to advertise the marvel that is Secret Caverns, we drive a little further up Cavern Drive to find this sensational often-looked-over neighbor of the bigger Howe's Caverns complex. Secret Caverns ...