The Mohawk Trail

Today marked day 1 of a desperately needed vacation.  If you can't tell by now, I LOVE the fall, so a trip to the Berkshires sounded like the perfect getaway.  I was able to find a beautiful house (which has ended up being waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere) for us to rent through Sunday, so off we went!

Sunday after church, a friend suggested we check out the Mohawk Trail, a section of Route 2 in Western MA, for the drive over.  She sent me a recent article from the New York Times with more information, and I'm so glad we scrapped an I-90 drive for this beautiful scenic route!  There were lots of winding roads, beautiful leaves, and cute towns to stop in along the way...check out a few of our pictures!

The French King Bridge, which spans the Connecticut River near Erving, was one of the first "slam on breaks to pull over on the side of the road" stops we made.

The next stop on the trip was Shelburne Falls, MA.  There was a really cute downtown area, which would have been fun to shop in if they hadn't all been closed.  Apparently nothing in Western Massachusetts is open on Tuesdays.  Oh well.

Thankfully the natural aspects of Shelburne Falls couldn't' close, so we walked down to Salmon Falls and the "Glacial Potholes".

There were beautiful glass mosaics throughout the town...and of course lots of beautiful foliage.

There was also a "Bridge of Flowers", a trolley bridge converted into a pedestrian-only bridge that the Women's Club tends to.  It was full of (you guessed it) flowers, plus full-sized trees and vines.  I'd love to see it in the spring!

We also rode up to the "Little Big House", a brightly colored home and studio of a metalworking artist.  Following the Western MA tradition of not being open on Tuesdays, we couldn't go in, but it was neat to see.  The house itself is an optical illusion - it appears to be a tiny cottage (see the pic below), but is ACTUALLY quite large!  It's 34 feet high, so sticking with proportions, that makes the yellow door 11 feet tall and the door's handle the size of a dinner-plate.  Funny.

Of course, we HAD to stop and take our pictures with the giant Native American and Teepees.

Everything was just beautiful...

Toby found a nice patch of clovers to roll around in.

The last part of the Mohawk Trail is the famous hair pin turn - so cool!  This turn is at 1700 feet and had breathtaking views.  A camera truly doesn't do it justice!

Today was great...can't wait for the rest of the week!  Pictures of the house we're staying in will be coming tomorrow!