Two Days to Catch-up and Re-charge in Amherst!

Day 12 - June 8, 2014

Albany, NY – Amherst, MA

116 miles/2 hours

It was tough saying goodbye to Rich this morning.  One night is not enough, it’s more of a tease.  We all miss him, but of course he has to work – I get it, but I don’t like it.

The kids and I visited the NY capital, which is pretty cool and there’s a Teddy Roosevelt-on-a-horse statue out front that the kids loved (thanks Night at the Museum).  Then we crossed the border to my home state of Massachusetts.  Our first stop with the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.  I’ve never explored western Mass and it’s gorgeous.  Stockbridge looks like Mayberry – I love it.

The museum was pretty cool, but small and definitely not worth the high admission price.  We were there for barely a half hour.  I’d planned to visit the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, but changed my mind while enroute to our hotel.  Honestly, since Pittsburgh we’ve been full steam ahead and I’m tired.  I need to do laundry, pay bills and catch up on some reading and writing.  Boring stuff, but I think we all wanted the breather.  I couldn’t have picked a more perfect place for our pit-stop – Amherst is proving to be a cool little town with very nice people! 

We had a quiet dinner (at Chili’s) and then ice-cream at Friendly’sJ  As of now, I have no plans for tomorrow.  Can you believe it?  We’ll see where the wind blows us!

Day 13 – June 9, 2013

Amherst, MA

Remember when I said we were tired?  I wasn’t kidding.  We all slept until 9:00 a.m.  I don’t think that’s ever happened on the road.  I snuck down to the gym for a quick cardio work-out (finally – I’ve been a sloth) and then the kids met me in the restaurant for breakfast.  I think this is the last remaining Courtyard with the old-school buffet/omelet station.

After breakfast I did SEVEN loads of laundry, finished my book and wrote or finalized six blog posts (3 trip logs, a book review, a LKM post and something for the Huffington Post).  I still need to pay bills and write thank you notes, but the kids were patient for most of the morning and they deserved some lunch.

We had fast food (I didn’t say they deserved a fancy lunch) and then headed up to Deerfield MA, to visit the Yankee Candle Factory Village, home of the original Yankee Candle Store.  I was pleased to confirm the Yankee Candles are still made Massachusetts! 

We were going to the Eric Carle Museum when it started to pour.  The weather suited our laziness and I abandoned my plans once again.  We stocked up on snacks at Whole Foods and got momma some dinner.  The plan is to order pizza for the kids and watch a movie in the room.  Nice easy day.  We’re recharged and ready to head on down the road tomorrow.