A nice little detour off of Rt. 2 is the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls. http://www.bridgeofflowersmass.org/index.html

WOW! We are looking forward to visit most of the places you have mentioned in your posts. I have my camera and camcorder already charged. :-)
Another question: We have 1:30PM flight out of Boston airport. Is taking 91 S, 90 E the best way to get there from Hadley? We'll need time to drop rental car and check in. Will we have enough time if we leave at 9 AM ?

It should be about a two-hour drive so I would add 30 minutes for unforeseen delays, construction, accident, etc., and allow 30 minutes to return the car and catch the shuttle to the airport, all of which will get you to check-in at noon if you leave at nine. You'll probably be earlier, but I like to allow extra time when going to catch a flight.

You'll have time to have some lunch before leaving.

The five college area , other than Hadley , is very interesting. The art museum at smith is good, there are several very good galleries in Northampton, as well as the Emily Dickenson house in Amherst, great hikes in the Holyoke range. Don't skedaddle out of the area.

As to Grey
Ok, yes, I would definitely go to the top, well wort it for the views and the interesting lodge at the summit.
My favorite restaurant in the Berkshires, Elizabeth's is in Pittsfield, and Barrington Stage has very fine theater beyond the regular Berkshires summer season.

Greylock, not grey.

I live very near Hadley and I often make it to Logan airport in 2 and a quarter hours, but I always allow at least 2 and a half for traffic. It frequently does take that long. Then of course you need to leave time to return the car and I'm not sure how long that takes at Logan. In terms of how long you need for check-in, etc. depends on which terminal. It's not a huge airport but the domestic terminals can be slower than the international for some reason. If it were me I'd be leaving by 8 or 8:30, but I admit I generally get to airports too early.

If you decide to take the "Mohawk Trail" (Rt 2) to N. Adams, etc. one day I would suggest that from Hadley you take Rt 116 north to Conway and then Shelburn Falls Road (from the center of Conway) to Shelburn Falls which was suggested above. The Bridge of Flowers is pretty and the town is cute. Won't take you long to see the town. But that route is prettier and no longer than going through Greenfield, and you'd get on Rt 2 in Shelburn and continue west from there.

Here's a photo of the Bridge of Flowers, it's an old railroad bridge that has been planted with flowers. Nice, five minute walk across it. http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/147344570

Thank you Isabel. Sounds like a good plan. But the problem is that we will be staying in Hadley and there is so much to see that is North West and West from Hadley. How would you plan you time day by day if you were in my shoes and had 5 full days to explore the area?
Here is what I have so far..
Day 1. Arrive to Logan Airport at 6pm. Rent a car and drive to Beverly. Stay overnight at friend’s house.
Day 2. Drive to Concord, MA. Sightseeing in Concord, Take #2 W, 91 S to Historic Deerfield. Historic Deerfield. Continue to Hadley. Maybe just skip Historic Deerfield and add something else?
Day 3-4-5. Shelburne Falls, Bridge of Flowers, North Adams (Museum of Contemporary Art,Natural Bridge State Park),
Williamstown (Clark Art Institute, William College Museum of Art), Greylock, Hancock Shaker Village, #7 down to Bartholomew's Cobble - Ashley Falls, Bash Bish State Park, Quabbin Reservoir area, Old Sturbridge Village. Also sightseeing and hiking in Northampton-Amherst area...
It seems to me that having a base in Hadley it simply impossible to meaningfully cover all this in 5 days.. I need to drop something and leave it for the next visit to the area. But what?

Lev.

Sorry. I forgot to add
Day 6. Described in Day 3-4-5.
Day 7. Back to Logan airport to catch 1:30 PM flight.

Lev.

Thank you, guys, for answering my questions and helping to polish my itinerary.

When exactly is your trip? And you have four days between Day 2 and the day you need to leave to go back to Logan?

Day 2 sounds very doable - Concord in the morning, couple hours (less really) to Deerfield, few hours in Historic Deerfield, then you'll be in Hadley by mid-late afternoon.

The problem I see is that Shelburn Falls, Mohawk Trail, North Adams, Willamstown, Greylock, Hancock Shaker Village and Bash Bish is that they are all quite a bit west of Hadley yet you can't do all of them in one day, so if you divided those things into two days you'd be doing some driving back and forth. Of course it can be a nice drive. To be honest I had never heard of Bash Bish (had to google it) and I've lived in Mass for 30 years. But even with the rest of the stuff you listed it would take two days.

Quabbin and Old Sturbridge Village are east of Hadley and could be a nice day. Most people spend about a half day at Sturbridge and it's only an hour or so from Hadley. Quabbin could be a stop on the way back.

Definitely spend one day in the Amherst-Northampton area. If you are visiting friends in Hadley I'm sure they'll suggest things to do but stuff we usually do with out of town visitors is: walk around and have lunch or dinner in Northampton, visiting one (or more) of the college campuses - Mt Holyoke is the prettiest but Smith is very nice too, Atkins Farm in South Amherst, climb (or drive up) Mt. Sugarloaf in South Deerfield (15 minutes from Hadley, great views).

So if you have four days rather than three you could then go back to the western most area and do whatever you didn't do the first day.

Enjoy your visit.

Hi Isabel,
Sorry, I messed up with the days.. We will arrive to Boston Wednesday evening and fly out of Boston Wednesday afternoon. We will visit our relatives in Hartford, CT Saturday afternoon. So.. We will have around 5.5 days to explore Western Massachusetts.