yk's Family Trip to the Berkshires, 2016

Old Aug 11th, 2016, 05:00 PM
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yk
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yk's Family Trip to the Berkshires, 2016

Our family just spent 4 days in the Berkshires in Western MA, and I thought I'd share what we did. Our family included myself, DH, our son (who turns 4 soon), and my parents (in their 70s & 80s). I rented a beautiful 3BR/2.5BA house in Stockbridge via VRBO.

Since my son still takes a daily midday nap, we divide our days into morning outing and afternoon outing, returning to the house daily for his nap. The rest of us also enjoy a little respite.

We really lucked out with the weather; it was sunny, dry, in the 80s the whole time we were there.

My parents live in Houston; they flew up to Boston Logan first thing on a Wednesday morning. After picking them up, we set off on MassPike westbound. Traffic was light. We arrived in Stockbridge under 2 hours.

We didn't do much that afternoon/evening, except heading to the BigY supermarket in Lee to stock up groceries for our stay. We ate in that evening.

Thursday
In the morning, we set off to the Berkshire Botanical Garden https://berkshirebotanical.org
It's a nice garden but not too outrageously large. My mom has trouble walking long distances but she was able to manage the garden with occasional rests on benches. Apart from plants, the garden has a small farm with chicken, rabbits, goats, and a llama.

For lunch, we went to one of our favorite places - the Starving Artist Creperie - in Lee. It is very child-friendly, and the crepes (both savory and sweet) are delicious and very filling. http://www.starvingartistcreperie.com

After the midday rest, in the afternoon we headed to the Stockbridge Town Beach at the Stockbridge Bowl. The beach is open to residents only; our rental house owner has left behind the resident parking pass so we could use it. In any case, when we went on this Thrusday afternoon, no one bothered to check for our parking pass. Too call it a "beach" is a bit of a stretch however...it can't be more than 50 yards wide and just a few yards deep. It's not a big deal if you go there to swim. However, our son isn't too fond of water but he LOVES to play with sand...which is rather tricky because there is so little sand there! Nonetheless, we made the best out of it and he had fun.

We ate in that evening again.

More to come
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Old Aug 12th, 2016, 01:22 PM
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Friday
Friday morning we visited Hancock Shaker Village, a historic village that shows ways of life of the Shakers. http://hancockshakervillage.org We went a year ago when we were in the Berkshires, and we enjoyed it so much that we went back again. It also helped that it was free admission on this particular day (once a year, part of Highland Street Foundation's Free Fun Friday program).

The village has many buildings scattered across its grounds, but it isn't that huge in size that gets overwhelming. My son enjoyed visiting the barn and seeing the animals, as well as the blacksmith at work. The village also has a building dedicated to kids activities (like a miniature weaving machine, a fake cow that you can milk etc). One of the buildings have a SoCo Creamery ice cream stand so we stopped there for snack. http://sococreamery.com

We were there for 2+ hours but only covered 70-80% of the buildings. Since admission was free, we decided to eat lunch at the Harvest Cafe inside the compound. Their sandwiches are decent.

In the afternoon, we were rather low key as we only went to a playground in Stockbridge. Originally we were going to eat at a restaurant in Stockbridge, but we were still so full from lunch that we ended up getting some provisions from a market and made a simple dinner at home.

That evening I left my family behind and went to Tanglewood for a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert. I'm a big BSO fan and I go to their concerts in Boston regularly. But being in Tanglewood is a totally different experience; it's rather magical there. https://www.bso.org/?clear=1&
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Old Aug 12th, 2016, 01:39 PM
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Saturday
Saturday was the only unsettled weather day during our trip. It was rather humid with threat of thunderstorms in the morning. Our plan was to go to Tanglewood altogether for their Saturday morning open rehearsal at 10:30am. The open rehearsal is the only concert that my son can attend because of his nap/sleep schedule. We decided to try our luck and went there. Luckily, despite some threatening clouds, it never rained.

On Saturday mornings, the BSO has a kids corner (kids art activities) at 9:30am. One is free to roam the grounds as well. We got lawn tickets (kids are free) and set up a spot under a tree. My dad was fascinated by the rehearsal process; he thought that was more fun than attending a regular concert.

There are plenty of other kids activities at Tanglewood. During the open rehearsal, we saw many many families with infants and toddlers. FWIW, kids <5 are not allowed inside the shed, but the lawn is perfectly fine. We packed a picnic lunch.

On Saturday afternoon, we drove to Pittsfield to visit the Berkshire Museum. http://berkshiremuseum.org It is quite a quirky museum with a little bit of everything that appeals to all ages. It was the first weekend of the month, so DH & I got in for free with our Bank of America card ("Museum on us" program). My son was free admission too as he was <4. We only had about 80 minutes to spend there but that ended up being quite adequate. They have a small aquarium in the basement (including some amphibians/snakes). Upstairs the collection range from Native Indian artifacts, to natural habitat dioramas, to an Egyptian mummy, to children's toys designed by Alexander Calder, to contemporary art exhibit, to minerals.

Afterwards, we headed a few blocks west to the newly-opened Berkshire Carousel for a ride. http://berkshirecarousel.com It had literally just opened a week earlier.

For dinner, we got food at Guido's Fresh Marketplace in Pittsfield. https://guidosfreshmarketplace.com It's a produce store that has a salad bar and hot food counter with tables and chairs for eat-in or take-out. We also bought a bit more produce for our final day Sunday.
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Old Aug 13th, 2016, 04:33 PM
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Sunday
Our final day in the Berkshires. Just like our trip the year before, we decided to end it by spending the morning at Chesterwood, home of Sculptor Daniel Chester French (best known for Lincoln Memorial in DC, and Minute Man Statue in Concord, MA). http://chesterwood.org

We like this place because the grounds are very beautiful, with a small formal garden, lots of open space, plus wooded trails. Besides, every summer, they curate a contemporary sculpture exhibit on its grounds. One can choose to tour both the house/studio/grounds, or just the grounds. We opted for grounds only because I don't think my son would be interested in touring the house. We do an "I Spy" game with him with regards to the contemporary sculptures. Moreover, visitors are welcome to sit at the studio's veranda, where one can take in an expansive view of the Berkshire mountains, while enjoying nice cool breezes. I swear we could have sat there all morning.

We spent about 2 hours there. Another plus of Chesterwood is that next too the parking lot, is a grassy picnic area shaded by apple trees, complete with picnic tables and chairs. We brought along our picnic lunch and ate there.

That sums up our short 4-day visit to the Berkshires. There are so many places we didn't go this time, but will visit as our son gets older. We look forward to another Berkshire vacation next summer.
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Old Aug 14th, 2016, 01:10 AM
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Nice report, and I really like the way you avoided expensive restaurants with long lines by eating in and eating takeout.

I love Hancock Shaker Village and Chesterwood, too, so I am happy when others do.

Did your family from Houston think it was humid? We are dying, and our Southern visitors are in heaven.
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Old Aug 14th, 2016, 11:06 AM
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Thanks Ackislander. My parents are very casual people, and with a young child with us, it's much more relaxing to eat at low key places, or just eat in.

Last week was perfect weather in the Berkshires, with low humidity (except for Saturday morning). In any case, any summer weather in NE is better than what they experience in Houston.
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Old Aug 31st, 2016, 04:26 AM
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This sounds like a lovely way to spend a long weekend. Nice that your son gets to do a bit of traveling at a pace that suits him and still gives you some fun too. Thanks for the report.
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Old Aug 31st, 2016, 08:03 AM
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Lovely report, yk, and so nice that you got to go to Tanglewood.

I went to the Berkshires for the very first time last March and really loved the area. I lucked out with great weather, too. I can't wait to go back.
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