Text 15687, 109 rader
Skriven 2008-10-28 16:50:04 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: NE Trip report 3
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Saturday began with another continental breakfast at 8 am.  We then
visited the Ben & Jerry ice cream factory.  There was a half hour tour,
ending with a small sample of ice cream.  Nearby, we went to the Morse
Farm sugar shack where they make maple syrup in the spring.  This
particular farm had been in the same family for generations.  Of course,
they had a gift shop selling their products:-}}

The next stop was at the "Rock of Ages" granite quarry in Barre VT.  The
step on guide took us up to the top of the open pit quarry.  Then we got
off the coach and she gave us a good talk on how the granite is mined
from the open pit.  Since it was Saturday, they were not working -- and
I think we were lucky at that.  The noise of the working quarry would
have drowned out the guides talking while we were standing near the edge
of the pit.

Lunch was at a small restaurant in Barre.   Our group was the only
people there.  The chef did a presentation on his version of an apple
crisp, and talked about the pasta dish that was favored there.  Then we
were served buffet style with a selection of a chicken dish, a salmon
dish and the pasta.  The pasta was only average, but the other dishes
were pretty good.  Dessert was apple crisp, such as the chef had
demonstrated.  After lunch, the coach tour continued through the Green
Mountains and on to Brattleboro, VT where we spent the night.  Dinner
that night was again at the "99".  I had fish and chips -- pretty good.
Gail had what was described as a boneless Buffalo wing salad.  It was
chicken tenders, coated and fried crispy -- then coated with Buffalo
wing sauce, and served over a bed of mixed greens and crumbled blue
cheese.  I had a bite.  Excellent, plenty of blue cheese flavor and just
enough heat in the sauce.

The final full day was Sunday.  Breakfast was better -- full buffet
instead of continental.  The first stop was the Yankee Candle company in
South Deerfield, MA.  They had loads of stuff.  Gail bought a bee's wax
candle and a few other small items.  The store had promotions, including
free shipping on $100 or more.  We did not come close to that, but I
think that one woman might have bought enough to allow free shipping for
the entire coach.  Her sales slip was about four or five feet long.
After leaving the candle store, we drove to Housatonic and had lunch at
a place called Jacks Grill.  It was not open to the public, but we had a
sit down lunch served -- pre-ordered.  Gail and I both had pot roast,
which was a huge hunk of sliced beef and fork tender.  The other choice
of chicken pot pie looked good.  It was chicken pot pie filling topped
with a three inch thick piece of puff pastry.

After lunch, the coach took us to the Norman Rockwell Museum in
Stockbridge, MA.  Gail and I had been to a Norman Rockwell museum
perhaps 15-18 years before on a trip to NE.  Then it was basically a
small split level house, with a display of his magazine covers.  This
museum opened about 15 years ago.  It is easily twenty times as big,
with a lot of original oils from which some of his posters/covers were
done.  The magazine cover exhibit is on display in the basement, but we
did not have time to go down there.  The museum grounds also has his
studio (or a replica, not sure) and some other buildings.  After a visit
to the museum, the coach dropped most people off to walk around
Stockbridge (and shop) for about a half hour.  Gail and I and a few
others opted out of that, and just drove around the country side in the
coach until he picked up the others.  Finally, the coach took us back to
the Sheraton at the Bradley airport near Enfield.  Gail and I were a bit
worn out, so we just had sandwiches in the hotel bar/dining area.  She
had a hamburger (1/2 pound -- we could have split it easily) and I had a
reuben.  Both were excellent, albeit pricey.

Monday morning, Dave Sacerdote picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 and
drove us back to his house.  He picked up Maryanne and Lynn.  We then
all went to the Country Diner where the five of us had breakfast.  After
breakfast he dropped Lynn back home so she could sleep.   He then drove
us to a scenic overlook at Mount Holyoke in J. A. Skinner State Park,
which is not to far from his home, perhaps a half hour drive.  Since it
was a holiday, traffic and parking there was pretty tight but he
managed. Afterwards, we stopped at a couple of road side stands.  One
had fresh corn, and Dave got a bunch for dinner later.  The other was
really a front yard, and had pumpkins and other fall stuff. Dave scored
some pumpkins for decorations and a huge hubbard squash. Gail got a few
decoration items, which are now on display in our kitchen with the bee's
wax candle she had bought.  Then we went back to Dave's house, sat and
chatted.  He served some sliced sausage and apples and we shared one of
the apple cider wines we had bought for him in Mystic.

Later on in the afternoon, we went with Dave on a run to his favored
dairy.  It is a family run farm, selling the milk in a small store front
connected to the front of the milking barn where they had about 15 cows
lined up.  Then back to his house where he began preparing dinner.
Dinner was fried fish, the cod he had caught the day before on a group
charter.  It had to have been fresher than any we could ever have bought
in the store, and tasted very good with a light coating of flour, egg
wash and panko.  To go with the fish, Dave steamed the corn in a big
canning pot and made rice in his rice cooker. We had a second bottle of
cider wine with dinner.  I'll let Dave do a full description of the two
wines.  Our reaction to wines usually consist of "yes, we like it" or
"no, not for us".  Both of these were likeable, but not what I had
expected when we bought them.  I thought that they would have more of a
hard cider flavor -- but were instead both fairly fruity, moderately
sweet wines with not so much cider taste.

After dinner, Gail and I retired to the Red Roof Inn about a mile+ from
his house.  Tuesday morning we drove back to his house and he cooked us
breakfast.  We had eggs to order (over easy for both of us) plus home
cured bacon.  The bacon was VERY good -- yum, yum.  Well fed, we go into
our car and headed home back to Maryland.

This was an excellent trip, and a route that I would easily recommend to
anyone -- especially in the fall.  The only thing is that it has to be
booked well in advance.  Motels fill up early.

... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 15:54:39, 28 Oct 2007
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