berkshire weekend

e surprised us with a 2 day trip to western mass this weekend. we packed up the car on Saturday morning and took the pike all the way to the end. We arrived in the afternoon, and headed straight to Great Barrington, a wonderful old new england town- deco neon package store signs, restored movie theatre with the the old palace marquee, every building a deep brick. GB is filled with a lovely mix of restaurants, cafes, cool shops. We ate salted caramels at a cheese shop, sour dough crusted pizza at an Italian restaurant, and the best latte of my life at the coffee shop. We walked carver around main street. the people were super friendly and interested in carver. he received lots of pats and well wishes. It made me realize (again) how shut down people can be in the city, how rushed, and inwardly focused. It felt great to be moving at a slower pace, along with everyone else.

we stayed at an Inn in Lenox that was dog friendly, and had a room on the first floor. when we arrived we found that the room was so small that carver would have trouble even turning around, he and his bed taking up a lot of space. Luckily the stairs to the 2nd floor were carpeted and spacious-carver had no trouble getting himself up, and the room upstairs was HUGE with plenty of room for us and a fleet of three legged dogs. The Inn itself was crazy-a huge rambling place, the halls and stairs lined with animal shaped iron door stops, paintings on every inch of wall. stuffed animals sat at the dining room table. Our room was 90 F and smelled of cat pee and rug cleaner. we slept with the windows wide open, despite the cold. the walls were thin and we could hear every word of our neighbors discussion about exfoliants. But the Innkeeper was very kind, an eccentric old duck. When asked how many cats she had, she replied "I think four". we didn't have the heart to complain. we did get up VERY early the next day, to avoid the continental breakfast and the inevitable questions about how we slept, etc, and escaped back to GB for something to eat.

After breakfast, we drove back to Lenox to take carver for a walk in the woods. This was my favorite part of the trip. Kennedy park is a wonderful town owned hardwood forest, with well marked trails. The park is on the former grounds the Hotel Aspinwall, that burned down in 1932. Some of the trails are old carriage roads from the hotel. It is a excellent place to walk, and we ran into some nice dogs and people.



We all had a grand time, carver sniffing, playing with sticks,



e taking pictures, and me being outside, in the woods. It was quiet, only the sounds of the wind in the tree tops and water moving under the ice of a small stream.

we headed back to the inn to pack up and rest a while before we headed back to town. I brought carver's bed into the living room, where he took a good sleep while e and I read.




one last trip to great barrington, our new favorite place. I had a life changing grilled cheese sandwich at the cafe the cheese shop runs, then delicious espresso cookie ice cream from soco creamery. It was cold and rainy, and time to head home.



thanks e for the adventure and for taking pictures!