Driving routes in Conn & Mass
 

My hubby,daughter & I are flying into Hartford October 15th for the weekend. From the research I have done it looks as though Litchfield in Conn & the Berkshires in Mass are the places to visit.

Can anyone tell me of some good scenic routes, from Windsor Locks, to say Mt Tom in Litchfield or to Clarksburg in the Berkshires? They don't have to be backroads the whole time. We will have a 15month old that we wouldn't mind doing some short hikes with.

Also, the routes you suggest, can you give me estimated driving times.

Thanks!

ttt

Don't have a map in fornt of me, but I can think of a few ideas off the top of my head for once you're IN the areas, not getting to it...

Rt 7 through the Litchfield county , CT are is vert scenic from just above New Milford all the all the way up to the southern Mass Berkshires (Sheffield, Great Barrington, etc) Also in CT, there is a triangle of roads (202?? and another one) between Litchfield (upscale town with great restaurants, shopping, beautiful stately colonial homes), Torrington (not so scenic, but an interesting historic house to tour), and Goshen. Also you can look in the area for towns such as Washington(with the very high-end, high-priced Mayflower Inn --lunch is relatively affordable, by the way).

Back to the rout 7 area, look for towns like Salisbury & Lakefield

If going to Litchfield, try route 20 to route 219 to route 44 to route 8 to route 202. Its all pretty scenic - you'll go by Barkhamsted Reservoir where you might find some hiking. Check out a map - I think you are looking at an hour at least to do this drive.

To Clarksburg you can back track from Litchfield and head north all the way on route 8 very scenic good road. If heading to Clarksburg direct from Windsor Locks, you could take route 20 east to I-91N to route 2 west to Clarksburg. Thats the fast route. Route 2 is pretty scenic the farther west you go. Probably take you almost 2 hours.

I second the recommendation of taking I-91 north from whatever point you find yourself to Rte 2. West, also known as Mohawk Trail. It's a gorgeous drive all the way to North Adams (recommend seeing Mass. Museum of Contemporary Art, aka MassMOCA) and Williams College (recommend having a picnic on the grounds of the art museum in town, then seeing the collection). This area is about 45 minutes from I-91, longer if there are a lot of leaf-peepers.

Manchester, VT, is a wonderful town not far from North Adams, MA. Full of B&Bs, tastefully done outlet shopping, and one of the best bookstores in New England--Northshire Books. Manchester is about 45 minutes from North Adams and Williams when traffic is normal.