Berkshires
 

We are thinking of going to the Berkshires for a Wednesday to Saturday morning stay in July. I spent many summers there but that was also many years ago and that was primarily in and around Gt. Barrington.

I noticed that many inns for those towns are about $250 a night. Do you have any favorites, it can be in Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge or GB?

What are your favorite moderately priced or inexpensive restaurants? They have not invited a cuisine we do not eat.

Has anyone been to the Crane Museum of Papermaking?

Do you have a favorite easy to medium hiking trail?

Thank you in advance

The Crane museum is wonderful an unusual, open only on weekdays I believe. It would be a perfect combination with Elizabeth's restaurant in Pittsfield , a hidden gem which should not be missed.

Thank you.

I've never been to the Crane Museum, I may have to check that out.

I like the Diner in downtown Great Barrington for breakfast or lunch. And Babalouie's,also in GB has very good pizza. I'm not sure if it fits your idea of moderately priced, but Castle Street cafe is quite good.

Too many good places to eat.

Two you might under-rate:

Stockbridge: the dining room in the Red Lion Inn for breakfast. It is a period piece with enormous charm, and they make their own corned beef hash, a real test of a restaurant. Very leisurely and relaxing.

Great Barrington: there is a Mexican restaurant on the highway on the edge of town with a name like Axolotl, though that is not it. The first few pages of the menu are standard Tex-Mex, but once you get into the back, it is the kind of real Mexican food that Rick Bayliss cooks on television.

Must sees: Clark Museum in Williamstown though the Williams College Museum has extremely good shows as well. The remodeled Clark is not nearly as good as the Old Clark, but the collection is worth putting up with the egos of the architects.

Daniel Chester French's house and studio

Hancock Shaker Village

Frelinghuysen-Morris house in Lenox.

If you are near Jacob's Pillow, they have free outdoor performances every afternoon by young dancers, even if you can't get tickets to the biggies.

Thank you all for your suggestions, they are most helpful.

Bartholomew's Cobble, in Sheffield, MA has some easy walks and beautiful views. The natural history museum has a nice collection of Native American artifacts found on site.

http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to...ws-cobble.html

Thanks for the hike hint.

Bash Bish Falls is one of my favorite hikes. http://berkshirehiking.com/hikes/bash_bish.html

You might also enjoy a drive to the top of Mt Greylock, the observation tower, and very easy hikes around the summit with views into 3 (as I recall) states.

As a kid I played in a tennis tournament at Greylock. And fondly remember Bash Bish which for some reason we called Bish Bash.

Thanks for the suggestions.

There used to be a great place in GB called Spudnuts who sold donuts. I would imagine it is long gone. We used to go Friendly's before they sold out for an Awful-Awful, which is now called a Fribble. The marketing geniuses thought who would want to buy a drink called Awful-Awful?

The people who supported Friendly's for the first 40 years.

IMDonehere, did you grow up there? If so, I did too, leaving after college (UMass '65). We were all Friendly's junkies back then, there being one within reasonable walking distance of our hs.

Are you driving up? Lots of good spots to stop at and explore.

No, we spent many summers up there.

opps too soon -

http://www.olana.org/

Hyde PArk

Storm King Art Center

Sleepy Hollow sites

http://www.redhook.org/

nevermind....

We are driving start up and used to live in the Lower Hudson Valley.