Mini Vacation with "Baby"

 Our RV trailer and truck have got a lot of use this summer and now in the fall.  Our fourth trip was down to the North Adams, Massachusetts area for 3 days in September. We stayed at the Mohawk Trail State Forest for 2 nights. That turned out to be a different experience than we expected. There was extensive road work going on right outside the park. One-way traffic on several sections caused long waits and the noisy machines were busy from 7:30 in the morning till late in the day. Otherwise, this is a remote park from anywhere. It took us 20 minutes to get to a spot where there was cell service and it was 30+ minutes to Adams or North Adams. 

This is site #1. We were uphill from the river and right on the park road. But it was fairly easy to back in - now, last year this would have scared us to death!

Our Senior Center has 2 E-bikes for free for up to 3 days. We made reservations well in advance and spent two hours enjoying the Rail to Trail bikeway south from Adams. Scott's cousin Lisa drove from Amherst to join us with her normal bike. As the trail was mostly flat, we didn't need much assistance from our E-bikes but on the uphill sections, it was great! They are very heavy though so it was a job for Scott to get them into the back of our truck when he picked them up. After our bike trip, we enjoyed a nice lunch outside overlooking the path in Adams. 

Scott and I and our E-bikes ready to roll. I'm sorry that the selfie we thought we'd taken with Lisa has been lost somewhere. 

We had hoped to go into North Adams for dinner that night but a series of thunderstorms and torrential rains called a halt to that. The road was hard enough in good weather! So we snuggled into our trailer and enjoyed a good dinner and books. The next day we had reservations for Mass MoCA. This was our second time this year, but there is SO much to see and do there, that we had few repeats. We started with reserved tickets to the James Turrell exhibit "Into the Light" and got to go into both the light and dark "happenings".  It was a lovely morning, followed by lunch in their courtyard. We had to get back to Rutland by 4 PM to return the bikes but it was a great weather day and only a 2-hour drive. 

This is the largest watercolor in the world. Barbara Prey is the artist and it is 8 X 15 feet and SO beautiful. It took a year from start to finish and portrays Building 6's second floor before it was remodeled into the current art gallery. 

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This traveling art class studio fascinated us and
I'm sorry we didn't have time to do some painting.

Inside is so cozy and many of the pieces people
have produced are displayed. 

Molly Wolf and Patrick Mascia with their new 
baby, Eleanor. We visited them at their home in 
Cambridge on September 21st. 

What a fabulous time we had at the Paramount 
Theater in Rutland seeing Straight No Chaser!