Today, I had an appointment to go dog sledding in the western Massachusetts town of Cummington.
Before heading there though, I decided to use a Groupon at Sturbridge Coffee House at 453 Main Street in Sturbridge to get some breakfast.
This place is pretty much a typical coffee place, with desserts on display as well. For $12, I decided to get the Chocolate Mint Cupcake, Tiramisu Cupcake, Blueberry Muffintop and Orange Blossom Muffintop.
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| Chocolate Mint Cupcake |
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| Tiramisu Cupcake |
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| Blueberry and Orange Blossom Muffintop |
The mint was too strong for me, while the tiramisu had too much cinnamon. The muffintops were just okay I guess.
Moving on toward Cummington, I passed through several towns along the way. The first town I passed through was Brimfield, with the
First Congregational Church on top of a hill.
Next, the town of Palmer with the Bondsville Grammar Park and Depot Street Bridge at the junction of Depot Street and Main Street which I missed out on before.
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| Bondsville Grammar Park |
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| Depot Street Bridge |
In Belchertown, I passed by the
Belchertown Firefighters Museum.
In Amherst, I passed by a giant foot at the
Amherst Farm Winery and
Amherst College.
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| College Hall, Amherst College |
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| The Octagon |
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| Morgan Hall |
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| Henry Ward Beecher |
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| Johnson Chapel |
In Hadley, I passed through the town center.
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Old Saint John's Catholic Church,
49 Middle Street |
Next, I passed over the
Connecticut River into Northampton on the
Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge.
I first parked at the Elwell Recreation Area on the Northampton side on the corner of Bridge Street and Damon Street, and went onto the old Connecticut River Railroad Bridge, which has been converted to form part of the
Norwottuck Rail Trail. Pictures I took here of the bridge, the Calvin Coolidge Bridge and the Connecticut River follow.
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| Connecticut Railroad Bridge |
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| Calvin Coolidge Bridge |
Connecticut River
Heading back, I went on the Calvin Coolidge Bridge and did the same thing.
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| On the Calvin Coolidge Bridge |
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| Connecticut Railroad Bridge |
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| Connecticut River |
Moving on from here, I headed into the town of Williamsburg.
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Our Lady of the Hills Parish,
173 Main Street |
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Williamsburg Historical Society,
8 Main Street |
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| The Brassworks, 132 Main Street |
Finally, I arrived in Cummington, passing by the East Branch Westfield River Bridge on Berkshire Trail near Thayer Corner Road
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| East Branch Westfield River Bridge |
The Cummington Fairgrounds at 97 Fairgrounds Road was where I was supposed to meet the organizer for the dog sledding lesson. When I arrived, I was a little late, but I could see no dogs around. Worried that I was not in the right place, I drove around for a little, and actually found another car that was here for the dog sledding as well.
As it turned out, the organizer was really late, but I'm just glad she came after all as we had no phone reception in this area. Even so, she still had to leave for a bit to make some preparations for the coming Hurricane Sandy, so while we waited, we played with the excited dogs on the truck.
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| The hills in the distance |
When the organiser finally returned, the first order of business was to take the dogs off the truck. To do this, we had to hold them firmly by the collar, lifting them up to "walk" them.
After chaining them to the fence, it was time to decide which dog we were going to ride with.
I decided to go with Raz Taz, just because. Apparently that was a good choice, as he was a big strong dog.
Next, it was time to put the harness on the dog, which was pretty easy as the dogs were pretty cooperative.
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| The harness |
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| Putting the harness on |
After the harness, the cute little booties were to be put on carefully in order not to hurt the dogs' legs.
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| The booties |
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| Putting on the booties |
With that, the dogs were ready to go.
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| Raz Taz all suited up |
Next, it was learning how to ride the "sled" which was more of a custom made bike.
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| The Sled |
Learning the commands to tell the dog to speed up, slow down, stop, turn left or right was easy enough, if I could remember them.
I was the first to go, so I helped to hook up Raz Taz to the bike, and after standing on it, off we went.
It was pretty easy at first, but then the road became pretty bumpy, and there were points where I would have fallen off if I had not told the dog to slow down. Thankfully, he listened, so I did not end up dogless.
Everyone else went in turn, but we could only go once, which was the only disappointing part about this experience.
After rewarding Raz Taz for his hard work with a hot dog and water, which he lapped up happily, it was time to load the dogs back up and say good bye. It was at this point that the organizer also gave us a coupon for a 10% discount at the
Old Creamery in town.
Leaving the fairgrounds, I decided to head to the cafe for some cheap lunch before continuing on my sightseeing in the town.
This place is more of a grocery store with a deli cafe on the side. After looking at the menu, I decided to get the Thai Peanut Chilli soup, which comes with a side of cornbread, and a When Pigs Fly panini, consisting of homemade foccacia, turkey, vermont bacon, roasted garlic mayo, avocado, arugula and Havarti.
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| Thai Peanut Chilli Soup |
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| When Pigs Fly Panini |
The panini was especially good, while the soup was okay with a tangy and nutty taste.
After lunch, it was time to do some sightseeing in town.
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| View from the Bryant Homestead |
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| Cummington Town Hall, 33 Main Street |
Finally done with Cummington, I headed back toward Amherst, passing through several towns along the way. First was the town center of Goshen.
Next, it was the tractor outside
Cichy's Garage in Williamsburg.
Heading into Northampton, I went into the
Smith College area, and had to stop to walk around because of the multitude of beautiful buildings there.
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Blessed Sacrament Church,
336 Elm Street |
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St Mary of the Assumption Church,
3 Elm Street |
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Old First Baptist Church,
West Street and Elm Street |
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Eva Trager Memorial,
Main Street near Crafts Avenue |
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| City Hall, 210 Main Street |
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| Memorial Hall, 240 Main Street |
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Calvin Coolidge Statue
behind Hampshire Council of Governments
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| Monument outside the First Churches |
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St. Valentine's Polish National Catholic Church,
127 King Street |
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Stegosaurus,
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| Smith College College Hall |
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| John M. Greene Hall |
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| Davis Center |
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Capen Garden
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| Helen Hills Hills Chapel |
Upon seeing that the
Smith College Museum of Art was still open, I decided to go check it out.
Finally, it was time to head back to my car, which thankfully had not been towed. From here, I finally reached Amherst, where I first headed to
Puffer's Pond on State Street near Sand Hill Road.
The trail I took here on the southern part of the pond is shown below in pink.
The views of the pond here were pretty serene.
I happened to notice that there was a waterfall at the end of the pond, so I decided to head west out to Mill Street to check it out, and it was beautiful.
From here, I spent the rest of the daylight hours sightseeing in Amherst.
Finally, with the daylight gone for good, it was time for dinner. I had wanted to go to
Pinocchio's Ristorante in Palmer, but it was so crowded today that I was forced to go to the
Villa Rose in Ludlow instead for my Groupon dinner.
This place is a decent bar restaurant, with separate rooms for the bar and the restaurant area.
As always, I decided to try the interesting stuff, going for the Flaming Chourica appetizer first. I wasn't really expecting much, but as the name suggests, the large sausage literally came on a clay boat of fire.
It was pretty impressive, especially to the other patrons in the room, and pretty good in taste as well, though a little salty as can be expected.
For my main dish, I decided to go with the Carne de Porco Á Alentejana, a traditional Portuguese dish made of marinated cubes of pork sautéed together with fresh clams and served over deep-fried potatoes. It also came with a cup of soup, for which I chose the Chicken Florentine, which was quite good as well.
Somehow, by the time my main dish came, I was already feeling a little full, and I still had to order dessert to make up my Groupon amount.
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| Carne de Porco Á Alentejana |
In the end, I decided to pack my main dish for leftovers, while I got a slice of Turtle Cheesecake, a
fudge filled cheesecake on graham cracker crust, topped with caramel and pecans.
Sinful, but definitely worth keeping my dinner for leftovers for the dessert.
With that, I took the long drive east back home. Tomorrow, I will be heading to the other side of the state, to Boston again to bring my friend to stay over at my place again.
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