Buckland, Shelburne Falls, Charlemont, Old Friends

It seems that every time we stop to visit with friends, we let our blog go for a while. This past week has been no exception. We’ve been having such an enjoyable time visiting my old friend Ed O’Neil and getting to know his wife, Jean,, that we have not made time to keep our blog current. This afternoon we will be “doing” a mountain coaster and a zip line in the Berkshires. We’re taking time ahead of this excitement to catch up.

Country Aire Campground (10/25/15)

It poured last night. Our site at Country Aire Campground is in a depression. We actually woke up to check for flooding! That’s what watching the Weather Channel will do for you. There’s lots of flooding in Texas and it’s headed to the south. But here in Massachusetts there is none.

It was 44 degrees in the morning, comfortable for this time of year. Our campsite sits in a large meadow with thirty one other RV sites and a scattering of tent sites. One other RV was parked well away from us. There were two tent campers off in the trees by a creek. Facing the south, we had early morning sun that warmed things up quite nicely. There’s a view of a hill and ridge to our south dotted with orange foliage between the pine trees. This is a peaceful location.

We got moving slowly with a variety of options for things to do today. #1 on the list, stopping at 1:00 pm for the JETS PATS football match. We chose to explore the town of Charlemont to our west. There’s a very helpful tourist map, Greater Shelburne Falls and Mohawk Trail Region, that I highly recommend. We found ours at the campsite. It’s a reduced map of the area with points of interest well marked on the map.

We drove “down the hill” or what I thought was a hill. It’s pretty flat getting from the camp to SR 2. We drove into town looking for a market to buy bread to make sandwiches for lunch. Four of Five shops along SR 2 were closed. We found a hardware store; the Coffee Bean; Berkshire Pizzeria; and Cold River Package, Market, and Cafe open. Not needing hardware, coffee, or pizza, we stopped at Cold River. In Massachusetts people buy their booze in liquor stores. These stores have a huge inventory of alcohol. Supermarkets in California have a standardized selection with very little unusual or locally produced products. Not so stores in Massachusetts. It was fun just looking around. We replenished our chocolate and vodka supply. Unfortunately we did not find a liquor to replace our near gone sour cherry. This was a package store in a remote small community and the selection was mind boggling. We’ll find our sour cherry in the next large town for sure.

Charlemont and Poolside

The vodka & chocolate were taken to the Beast while Ellen checked out the restaurant. Typical of The Beast, a couple drove up and said, “That is the perfect size for us! We’re thinking about taking a trip to Arizona next year and this would be perfect for us.” We were off talking about RVs, travel, and Charlemont. Ellen joined us moments later. The couple lives in a classic New England home sitting right beside a pool “just up the road”. The house has been in the wife’s family for generations. She inherited the home a year or two ago. They described how to get there and that we would go through a renovated covered bridge on the way. Ellen asked if it was OK we took photos of their house. “Of course, people stop for photos there all the time. I even have cards printed up about the house. we call it “Poolside” They were headed to the restaurant for lunch. It was clear they wanted us to join them, but we have a football game to watch.

We drove off in search of Poolside, which was quite easy to find. There was a place; to turn around and park on the fork to the right. The house sites in the center of a fork in the road right on a pond with a low head dam and waterfall. It is quite a setting. “I could live here!” Ellen responded with, “It would make a nice spring or fall home, but not in the winter”. That, my friends, is progress!

We took a number of photos of the pond,, their house, and the covered bridge.

There was an abandoned school bus by the side of the road that we wanted to document, but missed it on the way down the hill. How do you miss a school bus?

Back at Country Aire, we plugged in and enjoyed a close football game that the Pats won. Much to Ellen’s chagrin.

Shelbourne Falls

In the afternoon we explored Shelburne Falls. Turning off rt 2, there is a caution sign with 10′ 6″ in bold lettering and nothing else. The Beast stands 11′ 3″. We headed toward the town of Shelburne Falls, knowing that a U-Turn could be coming up. Shelburne Falls sits on side of the Deerfield River and Buckland sits on the other, though I think both are referred to as Shelburne Falls. That 10′ 6″ briidge is the one that connects the two. I took a left just before I would have been committed to going over the bridge, and found parking around back behind Main Street.

A ceramic shop was the first business we found that was open. They were closing, but the shop gal let us browse. We asked what she would recommend for dinner. There were two places she mentioned, one had moved and the other was just across he bridge, West End Pub. We had seen a sign for “the Bridge of Flowers” as we parked. Ellen asked what is the flower bridge. She said, “You haven’t seen the Bridge of Flowers? You have to go.” We left the shop and walked the street. Most of the other shops were closed on this side of the Deerfield River. We walked to the Bridge and crossed the river to the Buckland side.

Here too, most of the shops were closed. We walked to the dam. The dam is one of a number of active hydroelectric plants on the Deerfield River that are now controlled by an authority in Vermont.

The West End Pub, Shelbourne Falls

The West End Pub sits at the end of the Bridge of Flowers with an enclosed patio overlooking the river and the bridge. We had the best meal of our trip thus far at the West End Pub. The menu listed fried scallops. Ellen asked if they could be grilled and yes, Ellen had grilled scallops. I had the burger au Poivre done medium rare, both were superb.

Later in the evening we walked back over the Bridge of Flowers and drove “home” to Country Aire Campground.

The next day, Monday 10/26, we drove on to meet Ed O’Neil and his wife of 37 years, Jean. We planned to meet them for lunch at the Smithsonian Chowder House in Hatfield at noon, but we underestimated the drive time to Hatfield from Charlemonte. We called ahead to say we would be late by thirty minutes. Ed said they were at the chowder house already.

Smithsonian Chowder House, An Old Friend, and Hatfield Ma

We passed an exit for Hatfield as we headed south. Ed told us to take exit 21, which we did. We backtracked to the chowder house. It was empty. We thought maybe there was another Smithsonian Chowder House. The chowder monger said there was another one further north. We walked outside noticing that there was a furniture shop across the street just as Ed had mentioned. We decided to wait, thinking this must be the right place. People came, parked, and went for the next ten of fifteen minutes: no Ed. At this point I was wondering if I would recognize Ed after 46 years.

Sometime later a car pulled up and there was Ed. It was unmistakably Ed, After all these years it’s as if I had never left. It’s great re-kindling our friendship and getting to know Jean. Within minutes the four of us were all chatting about life.

Old Friends

We planned to visit with Ed and Jean for three days. We have many places to explore in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; time is valuable and may become critical as we drive home. Today is Friday, 10/30/2015. We thought we would head east to Boston on Wednesday. Tuesday evening Ellen asked Ed if there was anything he wanted, thinking she could get him a drink or some water. He said, “Yes, another 24 hours.” We stayed through Wednesday AND Thursday when Jean suggested we take a zip line on Friday afternoon. The weather on Thursday hit the low 70’s in Hatfield. Today should be similar if a bit cooler. Temperatures will be cooler In the Berkshires. We’ll just bundle up.

It feels to me like I’ve been living just around the corner from Ed these past 46 years. We picked up where we had left off, going over events in our lives as teenagers; some that we shared or knew about already and others that were a surprise. It can be such a joy re-discovering old friends. Ed and Jean have done quite well for themselves. They are building a custom home in the state. The home is almost finished on the outside while the interior is framed out with the electrical and plumbing in place. The finish work has not begun. It will be a marvelous home. It is very thoughtfully designed with state of the art energy saving features. The steel roof is a discontinued color that looks great. Jean likes the color and does not look forward to covering the southern slope with 27 solar panels.

We will be on our way tomorrow, though we would enjoy staying another week. This is so true of all the friends and family we’ve met on our trip. For me though, playing guitar, talking with Ed, or just sitting around brings back life in Arlington with Ed, Jim, and Frank before we went off to college in “the good old days”. Driving off to our next adventure will leave me with a poignant sense of loss. We will make it a point to return to Ed and Jean in the summer or next fall on our way out to or back from Europe.