January 4th 2014: A Failed Attempt at Dogsledding

Today, I was supposed to have an appointment to go dogsledding in the snow, so I decided to head out west for my sightseeing today before that. I headed first for breakfast at the Earlee Mug in the town of Granby, which is shaped liked a milk jug that I took a picture of the last time I was here.

This place is a regular small town diner, and instead of using my deal to get $20 of food here, I decided to not use it and exchange it later for some other deal, going for a simple cup of Hot Chocolate

and a Kielbasa, Mushrooms and Cheese Omelet

which cost me much less in the end and was pretty good.

After visiting the Bachelor Brook Reservoir on Jackielyn Circle in town,

it was on to the town of Amherst to visit a few museums there. My first destination was the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, which has a $9 admission fee for adults.

I guess you have to have been a child in the States in order to know his work, because most of the artwork looked foreign to me.

The only thing that was familiar to me was the Very Hungry Caterpillar, which I remember reading when I was just a little kid.

By the way, you are actually not allowed to take pictures inside the galleries; I was able to do so only before getting caught.

From here, I decided to visit the Mead Art Museum, located on the campus of Amherst College.

Once again, no pictures were allowed inside this museum. I can say that it has some pretty nice artwork, and admission is free, though it is still a little small.

Thankfully, I could take pictures at the nearby Beneski Museum of Natural History, which was where I went to next, and admission is free here too.

I have always loved learning about animals and dinosaurs, so seeing the tons of specimens here was refreshing for me, especially being able to open the specimen drawers to peer inside. Pictures I took here, including those of mammoths, dinosaur footprints, meteorites, and the evolution of camels, follows.

With that, I decided to head into the town of Goshen, where I was to experience dogsledding today, or so I thought.

Lower Highland Lake, 505 East Street

Hammond Pond, 40 Pond Hill Road

The dogsledding was to take place in town at the D.A.R. State Forest. When I arrived at the parking lot, there were already a few people waiting around. When the time came and our instructor from Hilltown Wilderness Adventures still did not come, I decided to go check out the frozen Pearce Lake,

which had people ice fishing on it.

An hour came and went, then another, without a single sign of our hosts. As it turned out, something unfortunate had happened in the morning when the instructor went out for a ride with her dogs. Her sled had become detached from the rest of the team, and the dogs had continued running leaving her behind. The last we heard, the family was still out looking for her. I hope everything is well with her and the dogs, not only because I will still be able to try out this fun experience some time in the near future.

We left the forest a little dejected, and I proceeded to carry on my sightseeing, heading to the town of Northampton.

Musante Beach

Northampton Bikeway, Main Street and Merrick Lane

Leeds Village Apartments, 260 Main Street

Leeds Elementary School

Leeds Memorial Park,

21 Florence Street

Seventh Day Adventist Church

Lilly Library

Monument,

North Main Street and Meadow Street

Sojourner Truth Memorial

Florence Congregational Church

Paradise Road Quadrangle, Smith College

The Roundhouse, 1 Roundhouse Plaza

Northampton Fire Department

I even had time to visit the Historic Northampton Museum, regarding the history of the town. Admission fees are voluntary here, Pictures I took of the exhibits in this small museum follow.

With that, I called it a day for sightseeing, and headed to Bistro 21, a bar restaurant located within the Cold Spring Country Club, located at the top of a hill in the town of Belchertown. Unfortunately, it was already too dark to take pictures of the view. I will definitely come back here to do that.

Even though it was within a country club, the restaurant itself wasn't that impressive to look at. Nor was the food I got, namely a bowl of Clam Chowder, the Crispy Calamari with Sweet Thai Chilli,

and the Lobster Truffle Mac and Cheese (Shell Pasta tossed in a creamy parmesan cheese sauce with chunks of Maine Lobster and drizzled with white Truffle Oil, Baked with Ritz Cracker Topping),

which came with a Caesar Salad.

The appetizers and soup were alright, but I could at least hope that the Mac and Cheese would be good, especially with truffle oil in it. Unfortunately, the dish was full of lobster shell, so much so that I found something inedible with every bite I took. To be nice, I packed the dish up to bring home, but once I got home, I immediately dumped the whole box. Definitely not coming back here to eat again,

With that, a disappointing day of not being able to do dogsledding actually turned out pretty well, with all the museums I visited.