a guide to the berkshires

Getting There
Start in Brooklyn. Take the R train to the N train, and the N train to the 4, 5, or 6 train, then get off at Grand Central Station. Wade through a sea of New Yorkers also anxious to leave town for the weekend (which, for quite a few people, including yours truly, was going to last 3 days, on account of Columbus Day) to purchase tickets for the next leg of the trip, and somehow, on account of several miracles and cell phones, meet up with the rest of your party. Find your way to Platform 17, board the Harlem Line train to Wassaic. Transfer at the Southeast station. Get off at the end of the line (Wassaic Station). Hitch a ride with a loving uncle and aunt, and drive through the gorgeous Western Massachusetts countryside. Stop at Pittsfield. Total travel time: roughly 4ish hours.

Things to See, Do, and Discuss
Wake up to waffles topped with a brand of local maple syrup. Go on a walk through the neighborhood to admire the changing autumn leaves, taking special care to breathe in deeply the clean country air. Discuss the fact that both Arlo Guthrie and James Taylor live nearby. Drive through downtown Pittsfield, admiring the scarecrows up for the Scarecrow Festival, to Museum Facsimiles, where you can get the coolest letterpress cards for wholesale prices. Watch General Conference at the Pittsfield chapel; spend most of the sessions in the mother's room with your baby. Drive to the nearby town of Becket, birthplace of Eliza R. Snow, to see the marker in the yard of the athenaeum which my aunt oversaw the placement of noting that fact. Discuss the fact that an athenaeum is a New England way of saying library. Drive by Herman Melville's home, Arrowhead. Discuss the awesomeness of the fact that he wrote Moby Dick at that house. Drive by Miss Hall's School for Girls. Discuss the romance of New England boarding schools. Make and scarf down some delicious New England clam chowder.

Photographs


slideshow includes: visit from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Dave in Brooklyn; trip to the Berkshires in Massachusetts; Columbus Day excursion to Coney Island; plus a smattering of uncategorizable, yet utterly adorable pictures of The BooBoo, yea even Baby Garrett.