April 4th 2015: Hiking Half the Joseph Skinner State Park, Hadley

I started out today in South Hadley,

All Saints Episcopal Church

St. Theresa of Lisieux Church

Titus Pond

Plains School

Buttery Brook Park

Buttery Brook Tributary Reservoir,

End of Hillcrest Park

Old Firehouse Museum

Congregational Church of South Hadley Falls

United Methodist Church

Checking out the Holyoke Dam from Bridge Street,

And exploring the beautiful campus of Mount Holyoke College,

Which had a few waterfalls on campus.

At this point, I was feeling a little hungry, so I crossed the road to the Village Commons, where I decided to check out the Thirsty Mind Coffee and Wine Bar, a quaint place with books to read.

I got a Mini Cinnamon Bun

and a Hot Chocolate,

both of which were pretty good. Not a bad place to take a break or study.

From here, I headed to the Hadley-South Hadley border to start my conquest of the Joseph Skinner State Park, the trailhead located at ~57 Mountain Road in Hadley. The path I took to explore half of the park is shown below in black.

I passed by the power lines, Where I was immediately rewarded with a breathtaking view, although the wind almost blew my socks off.

I was subjected to several more views

as I made my way to the summit of Mount Holyoke, the highlight of the entire hike, where there were all round views from the summit house there.

From here, I made my way to the Lithia Springs Reservoir, gradually getting more and more tired as it seemed to take forever to get to my destination, the often flooded paths and ocassional snow and ice cover making the journey ever more tedious.
The reservoir itself was okay,

but that marked the beginning of my arduous trek back to my car.

I had to rely on the various checkpoint junctions to give me hope that the end was drawing near, and thankfully it did, after 4 and a half hours of Hiking. It was all worth it though.

At this point, I took the opportunity to check out the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum back in South Hadley.

A small but decent collection.

I was famished from my hike, so after leaving the Museum, I headed to Chicopee to get some pizza from Angelo's Family Restaurant. I thought this place was like any Pizza takeout place, ordering takeout of a Hawaiian Pizza (ham, bacon, pineapple)

A Chicken Bacon and Ranch Pizza (Chicken, Bacon, Ranch sauce and mozzarella)

and the Chicken Bergamo Linguini (Spinach, mushroom in a creamy cheese sauce).

but it was more of a small restaurant, and they refused to honor my deal, saying it was only for dine-in, though it was not stated on the coupon, but at least they still took 5 dollars off my bill, and I can still exchange the coupon for another restaurant later anyway. With respect to the food, it was just so-so, with the ranch pizza being a little too salty for my liking.

I spent a little bit more time in Chicopee,

Davitt Bridge, Chicopee River

Crossroads Ministries United Pentecostal Church

Grace Episcopal Church

Holyoke Catholic High School

Chicopee Lodge of Elks

Exploring the small Elms College campus,

Before heading into Springfield for the rest of the day,

Old Jefferson Avenue School,

67 Jefferson Avenue

Memorial Square

St. George Cathedral

Mount Calvary Baptist Church

All Souls Church,

449 Plainfield Street

Brightwood Elementary School

Stearns Square,

Stearns Square and Bridge Street

Memorial Bridge

North End Bridge ,

West Street and Riverside Road

Faith United Church

Going to Blackjack's Steakhouse, a somewhat upscale place in town.

I decided to get the Beef Marsala (tenderloin medallions sautéed tender With crimini and Portabella mushrooms and Sweet Marsala wine sauce) with a side of the house Risotto.

The beef itself was excellent. The risotto had peppers though, which are usually not to my liking.

Overall though, a pretty good meal, with 10 bucks off.

With that, a pretty good ending to a fruitful day of sightseeing.