My husband and I planned a weekend getaway to North Adams with another couple to visit art museums. They haven’t been to this part of MA before, and although we spent a long weekend in the Berkshires in 2011, we have never been to Mass MoCA. I hope my trip report will help other people who are planning on visiting this area.

It was a 2.5 hour drive from our home to North Adams. We arrived at Mass MoCA when it opened at 11AM. I am not a big fan of contemporary art but I am willing to try and see new things. Well, all 4 of us were very impressed with this museum. It is housed in an enormous old mill factory, which used to be Sprague Electric and I think before that a print/paper mill. Sprague Electric moved out in 1985, and Mass MoCA opened in 1999. The facility itself is very interesting, and huge. It’s a great space to showcase contemporary art, especially large installation pieces. At the suggestion of the tour guide, we visited Sol LeWitt’s exhibit first. His exhibit is on 3 floors, and showcases his early work, mid-career work, and most recent. (he died in 2007). His exhibit is here for 25 years. Then we had a guided Highlights tour at 3PM. We started in the Workers Gallery exhibit, then moved on to Nari Ward’s exhibit, then to Sanford Biggers (which I don’t really understand, but that’s ok). I definitely recommend this tour because it gave us a better understanding and appreciation of what we were looking at, and our guide, Rachel, was excellent. www.massmoca.org/

I had made reservations for lunch at 1PM at Gramercy Bistro, which is located in a building just in front of the main entrance to the museum. It’s part of the Mass MoCA campus. We had a delicious lunch. Between the 4 of us, we had a breakfast tart, goat cheese quiche, banana bread French toast, and rabbit pot pie, and we all loved our meals. www.gramercybistro.com

Then we went to Hudson’s, a vintage shop just across the hall from Gramercy. They have unique and interesting stuff at reasonable prices. I bought 4 beautiful wine glasses. http://hudsonsart.com/

Then we returned to Mass MoCA for our 3PM tour. What we really like is that everything was so convenient. You can take a break from the museum if you wish, to eat & shop, & then go back inside.

We stayed overnight at the Blackinton Manor B &B in North Adams, not far from the museum. The inn is beautiful, the innkeepers are very nice, and we had a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausages, & fruit salad in the morning. www.blackinton-manor.com

Saturday night we ate at Coyote Flaco, on Rt 7 in Williamstown. We thought the food (Mexican & Spanish) was very good & reasonable, but the service was like a comedy of errors. (But we would still return.) www.mycoyoteflaco.com/williamstownma.html

Because the majority of the Clark’s impressionist paintings are on tour, we decided to skip the Clark this time, so we drove to Stockbridge to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum. My husband & I have been there before, but our friends have not. We still enjoy this museum, even though we’ve seen it before. There is an interesting exhibit on the author/illustrator and photographer of the Curious George books but I think Sunday was the last day for this exhibit. There is also a special exhibit on pop-up books. www.nrm.org/

After spending about 2 hours at the Rockwell, we drove to Great Barrington to have lunch at the Aegean Breeze. We ate there last year & loved it. The food is delicious and reasonable. One of us had moussaka, two of us had the lamb chops, & the other person had a pasta dish. We also tried several appetizers: octopus, and a dip made with roasted eggplant. Everything was delicious! The outside of the restaurant isn’t very impressive, but the inside is cute & the food well worth it. Then we headed home after a wonderful weekend! www.aegean-breeze.com

Thanks for this report. It's an area fairly close to my home in the Hudson Valley, but I haven't been there in a while, and you've given us some new destinations to try!

Hi taconictraveler,
I'm glad to be of some help. If I remember correctly, you had responded to my post in December/January about our trip to the Hudson Valley. Over MLK weekend, we went to Rhinebeck & Hyde Park. We were supposed to stay for 2 nights & go to West Point, but something came up & we had to shorten our trip to one night. We loved Rhinebeck, had lunch at Calico, then toured FDR's home & Val Kill. We also had a birthday dinner at American Bounty at the CIA. I meant to write a short trip report, but didn't have the time. Anyways, I'd love to return to your area so we could visit West Point at a future date.

If you like art museums, I also highly recommend the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. We were there last year & were very impressed. Unfortunately, right now many of their paintings are on tour & they are also remodeling. They won't be back to normal until 2013 or 2014.

Sounds like a great but much too short trip...I haven't been to any of those museums in a very long time. If it were over the summer, I would have also added a drive up Mt Greylock.

At the top of Greylock is the lovely Bascomb Lodge.

Kwoo, thanks for the report! We still haven't been to MOCA yet, althought we've been to williamstown a few times. I'll put that on our list for summer!

yk, I definitely recommend Mass MoCA, even if you aren't a huge fan of contemporary art. We thought it was great & I would definitely go back. The Sol LeWitt exhibit is there for 25 years, but I know the other exhibits will be changing. If you haven't been to the Clark, I highly recommend that one, too.

Thanks to tchoiniere and jubilada for the tip about Mt. Greylock. I'm sure we will return as it's not a very long drive for us & is a good weekend destination.

Nice report Kwoo! We were in the Berkshires at the same time but chose to hike rather than visit museums as the weather was good (for February!).

Here's a link to a few photos of Wahconah Falls and Bash Bish Falls that I've uploaded to Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7626453...7629245015605/

sassy_cat, I enjoyed looking at your photos. I notice there was some snow. Was it treacherous hiking? Did you stay at the Red Lion Inn? What restaurants did you go to?

Hi Kwoo, Thanks, I was too lazy to write a trip report but thought it might help someone if I tagged onto yours! I do like Mass MOCA and the Gramercy Bistro sounds good!

There was some snow and ice at Wahconah Falls but almost none at Bash Bish.
We didn't have to hike very far to the falls at Wahconah as they are just a few minutes from the parking lot but it was quite slippery and downhill.

We live just less than 2 hours away from the Berkshires so this was a day trip. We left home at 10am and had a very quick lunch at Arizona Pizza in Lee. Food was less than spectacular but filled us up with carbs! We stopped at the Red Lion Inn for drinks/ hot chocolate around sunset before driving home for dinner.

Sassy-cat, next time you make this trip (assuming there is one), stop at the 5 Chairs in Lenox. Much better lunch than Arizona Pizza.

Another great option for hiking is Pittsfield State Forest. Ill never forget mountain biking in there and having a State Trooper stop us as there were 3 bear cubs on the trail. Their mother wasnt too far away... Saw the cubs and went the other way. Great camping sites in there too.

tchoiniere,
I saw a few black bears and cubs when we lived out in Lenox. Couldn't put our trash out the night before because it would attract them and boy what a mess they can make, cute though!

I do know there are many better places to eat but we just wanted hot fast food to fill us up and keep us warm on a chilly hike. We almost stopped at Guido's to pick up stuff to go (love that store!) but my DD was craving pizza.
We walked into Arizona pizza and ordered a large pizza to share plus a salad before being seated and left less than 20minutes later.

Kwoo, enjoyed your trip report -- thanks for sharing.

Re bears, I also saw a large adult bear when I was visiting Lenox last fall. It was (fortunately) across the road from where I was walking -- at the time, I was heading between the Frelinghuysen/Morris House and Lenox Center on foot. I just kept walking without breaking stride. Luckily there were some cars on the road as well, so the bear didn't have a chance to investigate me too closely.

Sassycat, thanks for your pictures. Made me homesick--especially BashBish. Hiked there often and years ago swam at the foot of the falls until the powers that be decided that letting people swim there was a lawsuit waiting to happen and posted rangers there to keep us out.

Thanks for sharing!

Kwoo: Yes, I love the Clark. We first went there in the 60's believe it or not. It was smaller but lovely. I've loved watching it grow, carefully.

Also good is the Williams College Art Museum, and the shopping in downtown Williamstown is pretty interesting, with a few good ethnic restaurants also.

Pease come back to the Hudson Valley also, and you would like diaeacon, another art museum converted from a factory. Or maybe you did go there on your last visit. can't remember

I mean "please."

and I mean "diaeacon" also, lol

for others reading this thread and spending time in Williamstown, it is also worth considering a visit to the Bennington Museum over the line in VT. Its collection includes a gallery of paintings by Grandma Moses
http://www.benningtonmuseum.org/

This thread has made me think that my husband and I should go down to Williamstown for an overnight some weekend.

taconictraveler, no, we didn't have time to visit the dia beacon museum, or West Point, so we will definitely have to return to the Hudson Valley some day!

Vttraveler, thanks for the tip about the Bennington Museum!

If you find your way back to the berkshires, be sure to check out http://www.berkshirefinearts.com - there is always current coverage of area doings especially regarding the arts.