Berkshires Vacation - Day 7

Ah, our last day here in the mountains. We got a very late start - Shara didn't get up until close to 10:30, and I had to wake her. I guess this vacation schedule is getting a bit out of hand. Today we decided to take a hike and found the Ice Glen in Stockbridge. We grabbed some lunch at The Housatonic Cafe in Lee. The Yelp reviews sounded great and indeed it was. It was also slow, as stated, so best not to be there when you have somewhere to go. I had the Everything veggie - Lettuce, tomato, cukes, olives, roasted red peppers, onion and fresh basil with honey mustard on an herb-cheese ciabatta roll. Shara had the Brooklyn Bridge - First-cut pastrami shaved with Baby Swiss, sauerkraut and spicy mustard on sour dough bread. Grilled for the thrill! The bread was amazing as were the sandwiches. This was honestly one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. I think it was the combo of the calamata olives, peppers and onions. But tomorrow we're going to get more of this bread. I found it's Berkshire Mountain Bakery bread and it is incredible - chewy and perfect for sandwiches.

Once we got out of there we went to the car and helped someone out with a jump. I had to get the manual out, but refound how to open the hood of the car. He was most grateful. On to Stockbridge to find the Ice! And find it we did. I stopped at town hall to ask exactly where it was and the tax collector gave us the directions on getting to the trailhead. We were parked where we should be to get to it, so all was perfect. The weather was nice but we still put on bug spray. The trip into the woods was very nice - old growth forest with tons of knotty roots to climb over. We made the decision to go to the ice glen, rather than the fire tower and this was a great decision. Shara led the way up the boulders and down and through the narrow paths, It was a lot of fun and cool and cool - the boulders stored lots of the cold in between and made little caves that could hold ice through summer. We didn't see any ice but did get cooled off nicely. On the way out it started to rain and luckily we were in the forest so not a big downpour on us. Shara then took a look at the nearby playground and then we headed back to the resort. On the way back we stopped at Chocolate Springs for a treat. Shara chose the Coffee Mousse Cake and I got some dark chocolate basil discs to have at a later date because I was wanting to try that Wow Cow "ice cream" again.

Back at the resort, Shara hung out in the bedroom while I had a conference video call with church, then we went to dinner. You can see the Yelp review but one comment Shara made that didn't get into the review was, "the wings are like little bites of heaven." We had a fun time being girls on the town. and didn't get back until after 10 PM. That was bad enough but then it turns out she read for a while, slept for a bit and was then up for 45 min. around 12 AM. Obviously she's still sleeping so I will pack around her.

Today we'll head back and will stop at the Berkshire Mountain Bakery to get some of that amazing bread and try to recreate the sandwich experience we had yesterday. Also need to stop and get blueberries. The ones we had the first day tasted like what blueberry flavoring is modeled after! All in all, this was a great vacation, despite the sadness that reminds us to appreciate all of these times as much as possible because life is short. Not just the big vacations but the everyday events and the people we're fortunate enough to share them with.

Boston Public Market

Shara and I had a fun trip into Boston to mingle with other foodies at the Boston Public Market. It's the new indoor market with various local vendors such as farms, bakeries, etc. We tried a cup of beef chili (Lilac Hedge Farm), Shara sampled the watermelon fudge (Red Apple Farm?) and said it was great, we then split an Amazing Brown Butter Hazelnut Crunch doughnut (Union Square Donuts) and while in line,, grabbed a taste of a green apple vinegar from Mangé. We did go back and get the bottle after trying a few more. Across from the vinegar was a farm selling green plums and I had to get some of those. We also tried a few nuts from Q's Nuts and decided on the Chocolate Blood Orange Almonds and the Hot Peach Cashews. I believe we'll be getting some blue cheese, which we didn't think to pick up at the time, and make a salad with the plums, cashews, and green apple vinegar.

doughnut!

Shara eating the doughnut!

After the market we went across the street to the Puerto Rican Festival. The nut vendor mentioned the food over there was better than at the market, so I had to drag Shara to see if that was true. It was. She wasn't hungry so only had a bite but I ate a fried sweet plantain stuffed with meat. It also was amazing. Must be something about fried food?

On the way back to the T we took a walk through the Holocaust Memorial. At first Shara wasn't interested but then she started reading some of the facts changed her mind. She wondered if Aunt Jill or Aunt Susan would have cried like I did and I said probably not. As most things, I was fine until I read a quote, a fact, etc. then the tears sprung. I explained to Shara how I grew up with it and it meant a lot to me.

We made it back to Braintree and home. Chilled for a bit and then headed out to the pool. Water was practically hot compared to the nice, cool air. Had some races, played tag, practiced surface diving, and had a generally nice evening.

Baseball

Last night a friend who used to be a little league coach couldn't help but give Shara pointers on batting, catching and throwing. We had a good half hour before being chased away by the hordes of mosquitoes on that rainy evening. It was great because she listened to him and he knew how to give her direction in a way she would understand and respect. He told her how to hold her arms in terms of geometry. She commented that it was more of an isosceles triangle than a right triangle, but we're not going to quibble, right? I was really happy because I miss playing sports. Until recently I stopped thinking about how much sports was a part of my growing up and want Shara to have good experiences and learn to appreciate the benefits too. Even if she never wants to play on a team, she should have the skills and be able to make the choice for the right reasons, not just because she thinks, "I don't like sports". That's something I tend to say but when I get away from that rote response, I have to admit that I actually like sports a lot. Playing and watching, if not by myself. Maybe this will be an activity we could enjoy together. Branch out from mini golf and bowling.

A tough looking Shara and her "Penguin"

Labor Day weekend - we went to the Looker's camp where we made a penguin! Shara also had a great time visiting with her cousins. She swam with them across the "cove", played a lot of ball/catch, played a game of Apples to Apples Jr. and ate far too many marshmallows. Funny thing about Apples to Apples - Samantha wanted to let Shara have first dibs on the game. I thought because we had bought it for her when she was little, but she forgot that and just loved the game so much she thought Shara would appreciate it too. She does!

The day before we drove straight to Saratoga to look around the town a bit before going to the Lookers. We ended up looking around at the Dance Museum, having a very nice crepe lunch, enjoyed browsing the used book store and a new agey shop, before heading to the park to assault the ducks. They didn't seem to mind much. Then we had a little tiff about where to go for ice cream. Of all things to argue about! The known Ben & Jerry's or the riskier "Ice Cream Man". We ended up risking it and had some good ice cream at an old fashioned ice cream shop.

Marshmallows - and S'mores of course

Snuggling on a float

Loving hanging with the big kids!

Here chicky chicky chicky

Fulfilling the End of Summer Bucket List

Miniature Golf - we have a beautiful mini golf course so close to home, but this is the first time we've ever gone. Won't wait so long to make another visit. Alan went to a meeting and we had a girls night out. Shara and I were pretty closely matched. She was good about chasing the balls that got away - and we both overshot and had them taken away by water or fly down a hill!

Ended with a lot of mosquitoes so had to have our ice cream in the car. What suffering!















Shara's bucket list includes a lot of camping out. Since I wasn't wanting an overnight outside, she set up her own tent in the family room.