Travels

Yes, at last, I am planning a trip. This one will be to New England. My daughter will come with and we will use her fairly new SUV that has all the safety gadgets on it and is 4-wheel drive in case we encounter snow and ice. Neighbor Pam is joining us for the trip as well. We shall see what this threesome gets into.

The trip is to Pittsfield, Massachusetts in the heart of the Berkshire Hills. I think they call them Mountains these days, but we Californians don’t easily call short mounds mountains after living with the Sierra Nevada Range and a whole lot more, even with the San Gabriel Mountain Range in our backyard. No, hills will suffice for the Berkshires, although they are quite pretty and attractive. Hilly and very few flat areas. That’s one reason Massachusetts is not known for its farming prowess!

At this point we have chosen to travel starting on November 9th. Hope to return home on the 14th, possibly the 15th if time is needed. At this time of year, the fall foliage season will be over and motel and hotel rooms widely available at much lower cost. However, cold, gloom and possible winter weather looms. Most likely it will not pose a real threat, but we must be prepared! And of course, we will watch for fall hurricanes reaching inland from Connecticut and Boston. Never know what might sweep up the eastern seaboard at this time of year.

Pittsfield was a city in my youth. Very formative years and for some reason, I think often of that time period. The end of elementary grades, all of junior high school, and the first three years of high school. My dad took a job transfer in January 1960, so I remained in Pittsfield to complete my junior year. I lived with my brother and his bride of 6 months! I’m sure I was not a welcome guest. Gad, what bad timing for them.

Five months later I moved to Syracuse, New York. However, Pittsfield was home for six years. So many experiences are rooted in memory of that time. Bicycling in the woods and country lanes is one such memory. Armed with a 35mm camera, I became a budding photographer that didn’t stick. Concerts with other families kept me socially active and of course, I remained active in church and the senior choir. Lots of music those days, and greedily consumed.

All of this time, of course, included growing physically and emotionally. Sexual awareness was one such physical/emotional course of study. Not easy then or now. I was attracted to males but did not understand it. That later became clear. The only problem was the ‘later’ took years and years of confusion. Still, the process began in Pittsfield and lasted a lifetime.

My love of the area grew deeper. Very old history, early colonial times, settling the land with native Americans present, the Revolutionary War, and so much more. The Berkshires are still rural. Small towns and villages dot the landscape, buried deep in woodsy areas. Country estates are common as a result of more than a century of summer escapes for wealthy families from Boston and New York City. Those estates were amazing in landscape and architecture. In fact, one of those estates was donated to create Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony.

Estate sales, antiquing, and many Sunday afternoon drives were a passion of our family. And apples. Lots of apples sold from very old barns on country lanes. That always provided an excuse for a country ride.

What we do in Pittsfield on our trip is unknown. Mostly a trip of memories and refreshed places. The thousand mile trek to and fro will provide other travel options. What those will be remains a mystery until they happen. The prospect is titillating and part of travel, right?

Oh, I think this will be a fun journey. I’ll take the lap top and see what I write. I’ll share of course.

October 11, 2023

 

 

 

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