It's Monday morning and all is a bustle at Annie and Mike's. Jack is out the door first on his way to school. He is followed shortly by Ashley and Annie who teaches fourth grade.

Margit and I are about making breakfast. She whips up scrambled eggs and bacon and I am in charge of the oatmeal. The eggs and bacon are perfection. The oatmeal is good for me.

After breakfast, we gathered our belongings, loaded the car, said our goodbyes and headed north. Just before we left New Jersey, we stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and decided to share a turkey sandwich and pumpkin bread. Then, we checked out the wine and spirits store next door and, with the help of the clerk, purchased two bottles of wine. We found stamps at the grocery store, mailed a few cards and were on our way again.

We drove into New York State with the intention of driving along and enjoying the Hudson River. We caught a few glimpses of it, but had been spoiled by the views of the Mississippi earlier in our trip. The trees were more and more bare of leaves as we traveled north. There was still some color and we did see clotheslines, white fences, some animals and, yes finally, a farm!! We stopped at West Point. What a beautiful campus! We checked out the gift shop, the visitor's center, and some of the surrounding area. There were wonderful picture taking opportunities. Back on the road, we crossed the Hudson at Poughkeepsie and went on up the east side of the river. Again, we didn't see much of the river, but the day was beautiful.

We turned at Hudson, NY, and headed east towards Massachusetts. We arrived at Great Barrington, MA late afternoon. Dave greeted us, as did his and Bev's daughter Dori who is nine, the dogs Hurry and Lola, and the cats Zue and Scout. It was quite a nice greeting. Dori offered us something to drink and, as we waited for our glasses of water, we soaked in the incredible view from Dave and Bev's living room. We chatted for a while and were offered wine. Dave asked what we wanted. Earla said red. I said white. Dave offered champagne. We said yes! For dinner, we met Bev, who had been in NYC, at Dori's favorite restaurant, John Andrew's. It was a wonderful, quiet, homey restaurant and bar. We discovered immediately that Dori is a favorite customer as eveyone knows her and she has her favorite spot. Bev joined us and we ordered. Earla and I had pork chops that were very nicely grilled and served with sweet potato and bacon hash. The hash also had onions and kale in it and is something that might be fun to try at home. After a leisurely dinner, we returned to Dave and Bev's for the night.

Of course, we couldn't let the evening slip by without a game of Scrabble. It was a torturous game for me. In fact, Dave stood behind me much of the game and simply shook his head. We were served coffee and lemon bars that were excellent and that helped ease the pain.

We retired and woke at our leisure.

Earla was up early and met Yarrow, Dori's nanny, and had a cup of coffee and more good conversation before I dragged myself out of bed.

Once everyone was stirring, we had waffles and coffee and more conversation over breakfast.

Then, Earla and i decided to do some exploring.

We drove north on highway 7. In Williamstown, we got a little turned around and ended up five miles east in North Adams. Knowing that we didn't want to be in North Adams, we turned around. North Adams is someplace we needed to see that we didn't know ahead of time that we needed to see. What other explanation might there be for finding it?

Back at Williamstown, we turned north and crossed the border into Vermont. Lunch in Vermont was our plan, and that's exactly what we did.

In Bennington, VT, there's a deli named "The Belly Deli" which is downstairs from "The Daiquiri Factory." Now, we knew we had found the right place! I ordered the belly buster --- oh my! I'm surprised there was anything left in the kitchen for Earla's Reuben. It was definitely more than I could eat, but good none the less. Along with our sandwiches, we had hot apple cider. Now, the belly deli usually only serves cold apple cider, but for us, they warmed it up. We liked the service as much as the food. After lunch, we drove back towards NY.

Across the border in Williamstown, we stopped at the Clark Museum. What an wonderful adventure! There are some beautiful paintings, some OK paintings, and just as one is meandering around corners, you turn a corner and there is a room full of Renoir's... amazing. And, yet, at this incredible exhibit, my eyes went directly to the two Monet's at the far end of the room. I was, also, very impressed by an exhibit of photography of Rome from the late 1800's. The pictures were not only very artistically done, but very sharp. I was amazed at the quality of photos from that time period. The gift shop at the museum, and then, a cup of coffee and a cookie at the coffee bar rounded out our day.

We returned to Dave and Bev's, played a game of Scrabble with Yarrow and Dori, and then, were served a wonderful meal. The halibut was grilled to perfection, there was squash mashed with a little maple syrup, and spinach and chick peas. For dessert, we enjoyed peach pie and ice cream and very good coffee.

Comfortable and quite satisfied, we played some more Scrabble and watched NCIS. I'm not sure where we stand as far as wins and losses, but we've both had our moments of great letters and moments of miserableness!

Our morning started much the same as yesterday, except that we were on our own for breakfast. Our gracious hosts created a setting where we were most comfortable fending for ourselves. On our own, we had coffee, apples and toast with peanut butter and jam.

Again, we drove north out of Great Barrington, this time on highway 41. It has been raining and quite blustery all day today. We drove to the Hancock Shaker Village, which is very interesting. Because of the weather, we didn't explore as much as we might have, but we did get in on a lecture about the life and theology of the Shakers. It was interesting. We, also, were allowed to wander the brick house where the lecture took place to see bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, clinic and pharmacy. We dashed through raindrops to the dining hall where we shared a ham sandwich and each had a cup of tomato bisque, a cookie, and very good coffee. The soup was especially good on such a nasty day. After lunch, we stopped by the gift shop and, then, headed home.

Bev greeted us with ginger tea... again something most welcome on a rainy day. The afternoon is winding down, and tomorrow we are on our way further east into Massachusetts.