Yesterday we (ok, Jim – I was just the passenger) drove out to Shelburne Falls for a day trip.  Our original plan was to go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, but then the night before I remembered our failed visit to IKEA on Monday – it stinks when you make a longish drive to get somewhere and then can’t even get parking because it’s school vacation week, so you have to turn around and come home without achieving vacation happiness.  So Shelburne Falls seemed like a much better alternative.

It’s definitely mid-winter – the dead of winter.  The views along the highway were rather desolate…leafless trees, dirty snow, bleak sky.  And Shelburne Falls was very different from when we’ve visited in the summer time.  Not many people around, and those who were in town were obviously locals.  The town had a bit of the feel of Nantucket in February (a trip we often make): cold, a bit sad, empty.  But a couple of excellent used bookstores were open, and we each got a book:  Victorian Fairy Tales edited by Jack Zipes for me, and The Lowell Canal System for Jim.  Then a walk up to view the glacial potholes, an excellent and cheap lunch in a small restaurant, a visit to an art gallery/store where there was some cool art glass (loved the glass octopi – too bad they were $250), and then a bit of wandering around to take some photos and get some air.

All in all, a very nice day.  And now we settle in for the last two days of our vacation, which will include much loving attention to sick Ophy, game night with friends tonight, and then another weekend snowstorm.  It will be hard to go back to work on Monday!