December 26th 2014: Amherst and Pelham

I started out this morning in Amherst with a visit to the Orchard Arboretum on Spencer Drive,

where the views from the top off the small hill here were pretty nice with the rising sun.

I then headed for a hike at Mount Castor, where the path I took from the end of Valley View Drive is shown below in pink.

There wasn't much to see here,  the only view being a little off trail.

Next, I visited a few places in town

South Towne Commons, 479 West Street

Gull Pond, 270 Old Farm Road

Cushman Scott's Children Center

Jewish Community of Amherst

Nacul Center

Before going on another hike at the Mill River on State Street. The path I took here is shown below in pink.

The walk by the river was pretty nice with its rapids,

But I wandered farther than I should have, ending up having to cross the road using the railroad tracks, which was a little scary because of the holes between the rungs.

Thankfully, I managed to make my way across and back to the road without much issue except for dropping my camera into the grass on the steep way down to the road from the tracks,  which thankfully I discovers before walking back to my car.

From here, I headed to the Robert Frost Trail for a bit to check out the water bodies here on 160 Belchertown Road, but they weren't much to look at.

At this point,  I was feeling a little hungry,  so I headed into the downtown area for breakfast at The Lone Wolf, a pretty interesting looking breakfast place in town.

I decided to go with the Pecos Trail Benedict (Toasted English muffin,  Sliced tomato,  guacamole, chorizo, Poached eggs and hollandaise), a Mexican version of the breakfast Dish.

It was actually pretty good, definitely better than the breakfast I had yesterday.

After breakfast, I headed into Pelham to start my sightseeing there,

United Church of Pelham

Hawley Reservoir, 150 Amherst Road

Pelham Town Hall, 351 Amherst Road

Pelham Historical Society

Going for a hike at the Buffam Falls Conservation Area, entering it via the Metacomet Monadnock Trail on North Valley Road. The path I took to find the waterfall is shown below in brown.

There were several waterfalls here,

but from pictures online, it seems the actual falls is right at the bottom where the two streams start flowing parallel to each other, although I was  only able to take it from above.

Not too bad. From here, I headed back into Amherst to visit the Emily Dickinson Museum,

which was pretty much a paid tour of the famous poet's (who I've never heard of, much less appreciate her type of poetry which doesn't rhyme) home, which I wasn't allowed to take pictures of,  although I did take some pictures of some of the exhibits downstairs before the tour started.

I went next to the Yiddish Book Center, an ever growing collection of Yiddish books from Jews around the world in an effort to preserve them for generations to come.

Pictures I took here follow.

After leaving the Museum,  I headed back into Pelham for one last hike up Mount Orient on the Metacomet Monadnock Trail, the trailhead actually being on the other side of North Valley Road where I was earlier today. The path I took here is shown below in black.

The climb up to the top was steep at times, but my search for a view in this direction was to be in vain,   but thankfully I found it by the ledges on the way back down.

Unfortunately, the blazes for the trail were not well marked, and I ended up following the red blazed Robert Frost Trail,  thinking they both followed the same path,  and by the time I realized my mistake,  I had already gone too far, entering the Amethyst Brook Conservation Area in Amherst,

finally exiting onto West Pelham Road, whereupon I began the long walk back along the road to my car.

Once back, I headed into Wilbraham to try to see if I had left my leather jacket behind at Camile's Bistro and Bar a few days ago. Thankfully, I had, or I would have had wasted all my time driving down there. Just glad I got my jacket back, after all that time worrying about its whereabouts.

I then headed to dinner in Springfield at the Shakago Martini and Piano Bar, an okay looking bar restaurant located in a shoddy part of town.

I was the only one in the place tonight as it was still early. I got the Asian Salmon Salad (Salmon Seared to your liking over romaine lettuce with Tomatoes,  Shredded carrots, cucumbers,  Walnuts,  oranges and cranraisins)

and The Shakago Alfredo (chicken, Sun dried tomatoes,  Broccoli and spinach, tossed in our homemade Alfredo sauce, served on a bed of penne).

The salad wasn't anything special, while the pasta was a little on the bland side too.

Thankfully, the Pineapple Stuffed Sorbet (in pineapple shell) I got for dessert was pretty good.

Overall, not a place to come back to.

After dinner, I went to the Entertainment Cinemas in Springfield to watch a movie. I initially only wanted to watch "Annie", but decided to watch "Unbroken" and "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies" instead, choosing not to wait for my friend who had promised to watch it with me for a long time now.

I think I made a good choice, as both movies were pretty good.