 | | May. 17th, 2005 @ 12:54 am A Whirlwind Tour of Western Massachusetts |
|---|
Current Mood:  productive
25 April
For our last full day together, I wanted to take John to some of my favorite places in western Massachusetts....
- Quabbin Reservoir We parked up at the Enfield Lookout, which affords the best view of the reservoir itself. (And unlike the dam and the dike, it hasn't been closed to the public since the post-9/11 paranoia.)
- Leverett Peace Pagoda I once followed online (Mapquest? Mapblast?) directions to the pagoda and ended up on a bumpy and narrow dirt road that's "NOT MAINTAINED IN WINTER." Well, my brother's GPS directed me onto that same road (which meant a brief stop at Cranberry Pond). John was pleasantly surprised by the scale of the pagoda...but then, who would expect such a wonder as this in a rinky-dink Massachusetts town? (Kudos to John for the absoballybrilliant composition.)
- Mt. Sugarloaf No, we didn't hike it, as we were lazy and on a schedule (of sorts). We drove to the top, climbed the spiral staircases of the lookout building, and...well...looked out.
- Shelburne Falls The Bridge of Flowers wasn't in full bloom, but there were still plenty of blossoms. This being a Monday, most of the great little shops -- including Wandering Moon and Boswell's Books (which is now where the Whistling Crow used to be) -- were closed. We did stop into the glass gallery, though, to watch the glassblowers and browse the shop. And of course we had a look at the glacial potholes. The floodgates were open, and the rushing water obscured many of the rock formations. That was a bit disappointing, but it was still quite pretty.
- Mohawk Trail Trading Post I think that's the name of the place we visited on Route 2. We only stopped at this shop because it was almost guaranteed to be spectacularly cheesy. Little did we suspect that here John would find the perfect Deadlands hat. Now all he needs is an oilskin duster....
- Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory I was pleasantly surprised to find that a second room had been added since my last visit, and the conservatory now housed a few birds. I especially liked the pudgy-looking quail, even though John kept referring to them as food. (At one point a blue morpho walked on my hand: I had placed my palm on the ground in front of it, as I thought its wing was broken; but while I was looking around for a safe place to deposit the butterfly, it surprised me by flying away.)
- Northampton We went to Osaka for an early dinner. (It was so early, in fact, that we were the first to arrive; I think we might've roused the hostess from a nap.) We dined on the balcony overlooking the street. Our food was really good...especially the steamed dumplings. After dinner, we went to La Fiorentina, where we ogled the pastry array, bought our desserts, and observed the woman with -- how did John put it? -- "all the parenting skills of a cabbage"? I think that's right. (She lost an argument with her eight-year old.)
- Build-A-Bear For the second consecutive evening, we found ourselves at the Hell Mall. this time it was for the purpose of "building" John's early birthday present: a plush polar bear. This was so much fun! After John had selected his ursine companion and a sound box (giggling: because we'd been doing so much of that), we went to have the bear stuffed. An employee did this part...which looked something like liposuction in reverse. She put the squeeze-activated sound box into one foreleg; had John approve the polar bear's plumpness (she had to extract a bit of fluff to make the body squishier); inserted the heart (after John had rubbed it between his hands to warm it and pressed it to his forehead to wish upon it, and both of us has kissed it); then finally tightened and tied off the lacing all down the bear's back.
Next, John took the bear for an air-bath and brushing, to fluff up the fur and eliminate any stuffing stuck to it. (That was so cute; I took pictures!) And then we put together an outfit: brown vest, cowboy boots, and a stetson (stolen from an Elmo on display) to match John's own new accessory. After entering the polar bear's name (Pardner) into a computer, John got a personalized story print-up about the building of his bear. Finally we were ready to check out (and leave behind the loud brownie troop who'd been there the whole time). Into the cardboard "I'm going home!" box went Pardner, vest, accessories, and pawprint fluffing brush.
- Home After that, we called it a day, returned to the Crackhouse (be it ever so humble), and spent the evening with Rachel, hanging out and watching A Christmas Story.
25 April
John's flight was at 8:15AM. This seemed like a great idea when we were planning his visit. (At first, I thought I'd be able to go straight to work from the airport. Ha!) It didn't seem like such a great idea at 4AM, when we were getting up....
Oh, well. The sunrise was pretty, anyway.
We made it to Logan Airport the suggested two hours before takeoff, and hugged our good-byes outside the terminal. I was sad to see him go; he was sad to leave.
A comfort:
Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends. -- Richard Bach
Well...we'll just make sure it's not "lifetimes," eh? |
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
gossamer_gull's journal
reflective
okay
stuffed
tired
amused
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
mixed
anxious
awake