The Berkshires & New York State

Taking the route through Connecticut we headed for Hancock, MA and the heart of the Berkshires. We stayed in a lovely resort, Wyndham at Bentley Brook. A storm had hit Newport the night before and it continued to rain on us for a good part of the journey. We took the scenic route and saw lots of beautiful countryside and small villages all along the way. Large towns are very rare in New England. The next day the sun was back and while the weather was getting cooler it was still warm. While we enjoyed the nice weather it was slowing down the turning of the trees to their autumn colors. The

first day we found a wonderful family farm with a large apple orchard where we could pick our own apples. They had a large variety of apple trees. Lee picked Honey Crisps and I picked Cortlands (a wonderfully tart apple). They also had their own cider for sale along with fresh out of the fryer donuts. Can we say YUMMY!

Sabbath, Sept 26, we met Mike and Caroline Price and their three girls, Brook, Jenna and Taylor at Saratoga Springs for a train ride through the Adirondacks. The scenery was beautiful, our dome car was plush and the girls were a hoot. We had lunch in North Creek and explored the town including a visit to The Chocolate Factory a couple miles out of town. A small shop where they make their own chocolates. Of course we had to take some home.
It was about a two and a half hour ride each way with a three hour layover in North Creek. We enjoyed the little ones who never got cranky even though they must have been getting tired. And baby

Taylor just smiled and cooed, except for that one time at lunch when she pooed her diaper...she didn't cry, she just didn't smell purty.
The picture on the bottom left is of the Chocolate Factory at North Creek.

Our second foray into New York was to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown is in the middle of nowhere and we kept asking ourselves why did they put the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Well it turns out it is believed, at least by some, that the very first baseball game was played at Cooperstown in Doubleday Field in 1839. Be that as it may, it was 3 1/2 hours there and 3 1/2 hours back from our condo. It was mostly on back-roads that wound through the picturesque countryside. The picture on the left is of Ichiro's placard honoring his accomplishment of the most bases stolen. The picture on the right is Lee standing by the display case of the Seattle Mariners. On the next page is Doubleday Field and the

display case for Randy Johnson who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

Below are some pictures of Wyndham's Bentley Brook resort where we stayed. The bottom right is a picture of some of the Ski Runs that were literally in the backyard of the resort.

It was a lovely location out in the country. We found it very quiet and relaxing after the busy week in Newport. It started to cool off a bit this week and we could tell that there was a bit more fall color on the trees than when we arrived. Now we are headed out to see the sights and wonders of Vermont.