Blogs from Charlemont, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Geo: 42.628, -72.8714Today provided probably what Alex and I have agreed was one of the best experiences all trip. We started out the day, ordinarily, cleaning up the condo and getting our bags packed and ready for our Urban hike through NYC tomorrow. I was even able to get some laundry done. Then off we went on our next excursion to try our hand at kayaking a small white water river. This should not be tried by just anyone. Remember, Alex and I consider ourselves white water experts, living in Florida and frequently kayaking the treacherous waters of the inter-coastal or bay areas. We have rafted in a few different countries, so we felt more than qualified to take on this next activity. Away we went, about an hour away, to the Deerfield River. When we ... read more

Dear Friends and Family, We had some problems with our first travel blog. It seems that we signed up for a very low-tech knock-off of the much better version. We have canceled our old blog and you are now all signed up to receive an email notification whenever we add new content. Our apologies for any inconvenience to those who had to struggle to sign up with the old blog. If you received this message you need to do nothing else. When we officially depart in just 18 days (ouch!) you will start to receive more of these links from us. If you want, you can also log on to this site by going to http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Downes-Family/ A summary of our trip is below, which you can also find on the map section of the blog. Love, ... read more

On another fine but colder day, we picked up our hire car from the airport and with some difficulty due to roadworks made our way out of Boston and headed west into the Massachusetts countryside. We were soon into hilly areas covered by trees which were beginning to turn into their Autumn colours. We stopped at a farm shop which was selling pumpkins and squashes of all shapes, size and colour to buy some food and then headed to our first American ski resort, Wachusett Mountain, for a picnic lunch, eaten admiring magnificent views. Our next stop was at Shelburne Falls which is well known for its old trolley bridge which has been planted with many varieties of flowers by the the local Womens’ Club. We are staying for the next two nights at the oldest ... read more