For the Memorial Day weekend, Inna made a Bed & Breakfast reservation at the Stockbridge Country Inn in Stockbridge, MA. We planned to explore the museums and hiking trails in this area.
We expected to pick up our Turo Honda Civic at 7:00pm and start our long, 2-hour drive to Stockbridge, where we would stay for 3 nights.
However, Mounisha encountered traffic on the way to drop off the car, arriving at about 7:20pm. After photographing the car for Turo, I loaded the trunk with our backpacks and plugged in Inna's iPhone. We decided to use Apple Play, which worked with the Google Maps app) for Navigation. Inna also used Spotify for music, initially playing relaxing Spa favorites and switching to more lively road trip songs. Luckily, the promised rain did not materialize, and our drive was easier than expected.
The Honda Civic was quite lovely, with an excellent dashboard. I liked the Apple Play integration.
The drive to the Berkshires was surprisingly easy, as the toll road we followed (U.S. 90-W) was relatively smooth. It took us about two hours to drive 120+ miles to the Stockbridge County Inn.
We arrived at about 9:40 pm and had difficulty driving up the steep road to the Inn. When we entered, no one was there to greet us, so we waited a bit, calling the Inn's phone number in the hope of getting a response. Eventually, we knocked on a door where we heard television, and our hostess answered and took us to our room upstairs.
Our room had a beautiful 4-poster bed surrounded by colorful, flowery wallpaper. Breakfast would be served at 9:00am, and I was looking forward to a new day exploring the Berkshires.
We unpacked our backpacks, and I connected my phone charger. Once connected to WiFi, I also checked my work email and responded to a few queries. Inna spent the time playing with her phone.
Saturday, May 28, 2022
In the morning, I woke around 7:30am and decided to listen to some online Hillsdale College lectures with my eyes closed. I finally woke at 8:15am, showered, shaved, and dressed.
Inna woke and showered, too, and we walked down to breakfast in our Stockbridge Bed & Breakfast. We sat at our table for breakfast and ordered coffee, eggs, and toast.
- Boris: Coffee, Poached Egg on Sourdough, Apple Cider
- Inna: Coffee, Scrambled Eggs, Sourdough, Apple Cider
We overheard our neighbors talk. One couple was from France (but lived in Boston) and was visiting the Berkshires.
After breakfast, we focused on museums since the weather forecast called for showers. We drove one hour to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown.
The Clark Art Institute has an excellent collection of Renoir paintings, and we ended up following a tour guide explaining some of the museum's highlights. We spent three hours in the museum, taking multiple photographs and enjoying the fine impressionist collection and many sculptures.
After the museum, we decided to eat lunch nearby in Williamstown. Inna selected Pera Bistro on Spring Street, and we found parking nearby. Williamstown looks like the quintessential New England small town (like out of Gilmore Girls).
We sat down outside at Pera Bistro, looked at the menu, and ordered the following items:
- Boris: Chicken Flatbread, Lemonade
- Inna: Traditional Gyro (with lamb and salad), Lemonade
The Chicken Flatbread was delicious, and the Gyro was not bad either. Inna and I split both dishes.
After lunch, we walked around the Williams College campus (the top-rated liberal arts college in the U.S.). The campus reminded us of Harvard, just on a smaller scale.
As it started to get windy (as if about to rain), we decided to warm up in the nearby coffee shop. We stopped by Tunnel City Coffee and ordered a mocha and a latte.
Since it started to rain, we decided to try to drive to the MASS MoCA Museum (which closes at 6:00pm). However, when we arrived there 15 minutes later, we could not find parking anywhere. Eventually, we gave up and decided to return to our Stockbridge County Inn to rest.
For dinner, Inna made reservations for 7:45pm at Once Upon a Table in Stockbridge. We drove to the restaurant but initially had trouble finding it, as it was hidden behind others. After sitting down and looking at the short menu, we ordered the following dinner items:
- Boris: Hard Apple Cider (New York), Roasted Chicken Breast with Asparagus, Bread Rolls
- Inna: German Riesling, Beets & Strawberry Salad with whipped Goat Cheese, Dayboat Cod with curried lentil + yogurt ragout
- Dessert: Chocolate, Hot Tea
I liked the Roasted Chicken Breast, and Inna really liked her Cod. The freshly baked Bread Rolls were delicious, and the Chocolate dessert was outstanding.
Sunday, May 20, 2022
I woke at 8:00am, took a shower, and dressed in the morning. Inna woke up and showered, too, and we walked downstairs for breakfast at about 9:00am.
For breakfast, we requested coffee and scrambled eggs with sourdough toast. We enjoyed talking to our neighbors, who planned to attend an afternoon wedding.
Our Sunday activities program was quite extensive. We planned to do the following activities:
- Explore Chesterwood and the sculpture of Mr. Daniel Chester French
- Visit the Norman Rockwell Museum and explore his studio and nearby trails
- Visit the Berkshire Botanical Garden
- Taste freshly made ice cream at the High Lawn Farm
- Riverwalk in Great Barrington
Our first stop was the studio and exhibit of Daniel Chester French in Chesterwood. Although he created over 100 sculptures, he is best known for his design of the monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln (1920) in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
When we arrived at 10:15am, we purchased tickets to see the collection and listened to the guided tour at 11:00am. Since we had some time, we decided to stroll the estate's grounds. After a short walk (I thought I spotted a large animal - perhaps a deer ), we returned to his studio, and I took photos of his statues of Abraham Lincoln and Andromeda.
French first earned acclaim for The Minute Man, commissioned by Concord, Massachusetts, unveiled on April 19, 1875, on the centenary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Daniel French was studying sculpture in Florence then and worried his sculpture would be received in the United States. Due to favorable reviews, he returned to the U.S. shortly.
In 1914, Daniel Chester French was selected by the Lincoln Memorial Committee to create a Lincoln statue as part of the memorial to be designed by architect Henry Bacon (1866–1924).
The 170-ton statue comprises 28 blocks of white Georgia marble and rises 30 feet from the floor, including the 19-foot seated figure upon an 11-foot high pedestal. The final 19-foot statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers (who should have received more credit due to their exemplary work of cutting marble).
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over nearly five decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, The Problem We All Live With, Saying Grace, and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his 64-year relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), during which he produced covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations. These works include popular images that reflect the Scout Oath and Scout Law such as The Scoutmaster, A Scout Is Reverent[2] and A Guiding Hand,[3] among many others..
After the gallery, we decided to stop by the Lost Lamb Patisserie for lunch in Stockbridge. After looking at the menu, we ordered the following items:
- Boris: Mocha, Pepper + Mozzarella Sandwich
- Inna: Earl Grey Tea with Milk, Egg-salad Sandwich, croissant
I liked my Pepper and mozzarella Sandwich on a French baguette. Inna's sandwich was delicious, too.
Now that we had more energy, we decided to visit the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. After a short drive, we parked our Honda Civic and purchased tickets.
We walked across the street to the Botanical Gardens, enjoying the beautiful views and taking many photos. I noticed more bugs & mosquitos out, which annoyed me at times.
Feeling a bit hot (due to the warm weather), Inna had an idea to visit the nearby High Lawn Farm to try freshly made ice cream. We drove 10 minutes and waited in a very long and slow ordering line for about 20 minutes.
It was finally our turn to order, and we selected one cup with chocolate ice cream and the other with Purple Cow. I was disappointed as my chocolate ice cream tasted no better than store-bought ice cream. Inna's Purple Cow was better, but not to the fine gelato we enjoyed in San Francisco, Vancouver, or even Boston (in Eataly).
Now that we were rested, we decided to stroll the riverfront in Great Barrington. After parking our car, we walked downstream for about a mile (before turning around). The walk along the riverfront was pleasant and mostly flat, with occasional views of the shallow, meandering Housatonic River.
After the 2-mile walk, we were tired and returned to our Stockbridge County Inn at around 6:00pm.
We decided to eat dinner at Michael's of Stockbridge in the evening. We were seated outdoors and ordered the following from our menu:
- Boris: Angry Orchard Apple Cider, Thai Salmon
- Inna: Angry Orchard Apple Cider, French Onion Soup, Cajun Shrimp & Scallops
My Thai Salmon was not bad, but the dishes were average at best. However, I enjoyed sitting outside on this glorious spring day, soaking up the last remnants of sunshine.
After we returned to our Inn, we talked briefly to the Inn's owner about her enterprise. She and her 99-year-old husband (a World War 2 Veteran paratrooper) have been running the Inn for many years. Her kids are grown up and live in Florida, and she saw them recently, in March (during a family get-together).
She mentioned that winters in the Berkshires get cold but not as cold and windy as in Chicago. She also said that the fall foliage is beautiful and worth seeing.
Monday, May 29, 2022
I woke at 8:00am, took a shower, and shaved in the morning. I started to pack my backpack to prepare to return to Boston. Inna also showered and packed her backpack.
At around 9:10, we descended downstairs for our last breakfast at the Stockbridge County Inn. We sat at the large table and ordered coffee, scrambled eggs, and apple cider.
After breakfast, we said goodbye to the excellent staff and to the Inn's owner and loaded our Turo Honda Civic with our backpacks.
Our first stop was the TurnPark ArtSpace in West Stockbridge. As we walked around the extensive grounds, we encountered many intriguing statues. Unfortunately, mosquitos were out in droves, and I tried hard to swat them away.
After spending an hour taking photos, we decided to continue the drive to the Mass MoCA Museum in North Adams. When we arrived at noon, the parking lot was mostly empty, and we parked immediately.
Before entering the museum, we stopped by at a nearby coffee shop. We went into the museum and put on our masks (which are required). We walked around until 1:00pm, when we joined a guided tour focused on a few prominent exhibits.
After the tour, we explored the museum, which is pretty significant. We enjoyed playing music in one of the instrument rooms. In one of the rooms, the alone upright piano was sitting idle, and Inna tried playing "Fur Elise."
At around 3:00pm, we ate lunch and ordered a few items from the Lickety Split eatery inside the museum.
- Boris: Greek Salad, Matcha Latte
- Inna: Chicken Brioche, Potato Chips, London Fog (hot)
The Greek Salad was fine, and I liked my Matcha Latte.
We returned to our Honda Civic and drove back to Boston for about 3 hours. As we went back, we crossed dozens of rivers and lakes. I never realized that Massachusetts had so many waterways.
We returned to Cambridge at about 6:30pm. I parked the car on Harvard Street, and we unloaded our backpacks. I started to sneeze, as Boston had a very high pollen count.
At 7:10pm, Mounisha arrived to pick up her Honda Civic. I handed off the keys, and Inna and I walked to the nearby Tatte Bakery for our small dinner. The bakery closed at 8:00pm, so we hurried to place our order. I ordered a Chicken Salad sandwich, while Inna selected a Lamb entree with a few small tea cakes for dessert.
The Honda Civic was a very nice car, and I really liked the integrated Apple Play, so Google Maps and Spotify music worked seamlessly.
When Tatte Bakery was closing, we returned to our apartment, and each took a shower. We were a bit tired and drank some hot tea. The allergies were really bothering me a lot.
Berkshires Trip Report
Highlights
- Viewing one of the largest collections of impressionist Renoir paintings at Clark Institute
- Seeing the many beautiful sculptures in Chesterwood
- Seeing some of the wonderful works of Norman Rockwell in the Norman Rockwell Museum
- Savoring the country-style comforts of the Stockbridge County Inn.
- Seeing the weird contemporary art exhibits at the Mass MoCA Museum
Lowlights
- Ice cream at High Lawn Farm tasted no better than supermarket ice cream
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