Day 3 - Milford to Great Barrington

I woke up at the back of 4 again this morning cos my body hates me. It did mean that, after a quick hotel breakfast, we were out nice and early.

We drove through the backroads of Connecticut and it looked exactly how you would imagine the backroads of Connecticut to look. There were lots of giant wooden houses, lots of trees and plenty of natural beauty. Unfortunately, it is a wee bit too early down here for proper fall foliage but the leaves are starting to change a bit.

Our first stop was in the charming Washington Depot, we stopped in at Marty's Cafe for a coffee (which was delightful) but it got interesting when we popped into The Hickory Stick bookshop next door. The woman working there was English but was delighted to tell us she was actually born in Paisley, small world. The interesting part was when she asked us if we'd seen The Gilmore Girls (obviously) and then told us the town had been part of the inspiration for Stars Hollow in the series. She then told us it had been the Gilmore Girls fan fest this weekend! As a result they had a display instore called "Rory Reads" featuring some of the books the character read throughout the series and also had a printed list of all the 300 odd books it mentions her reading. They also had a printout of places in local towns that are said to have inspired bits in the set. It was great! I also bought the Tegan and Sara book that came out last week so my holiday reading is sorted.

Leaving Washington Depot behind our next destination was Lake Waramaug which was beautiful - we drove round the whole thing. Lots of very affluent houses with private jettys all round.

After a while we came to West Cornwall Covered Bridge - the first of many covered bridges we expect to see. It was cool driving through it and it was very "picture postcard" cute.

Driving on up route 7 we stopped for an early lunch in the last town in Connecticut,  North Canaan. Another adorable town, little white church, cute diner - the works. We went to Pop's Diner and it was lovely. It wasnt "diner themed" it was just a lovely local cafe. K had a blt and i had a chilli dog washed down with ice cold root beer - perfect! We had a wee stroll about town in the sunshine before hitting the road and into Massachusetts and The Berkshires.

The wee towns we passed through were predictably adorable and the views were grest but we didn't stop again until Taft Farms. Not 5 minutes before I had said to K i wanted to do a corn maze then this one appeared like magic. As well as the corn maze (free!) there were some animals and a farm shop. The maze was magical themed and it had comedic versions of mystical creatures throughout (see photos) - it was a whole lot of fun. We bought some snacks in the farm shop including a delicious apple cider donut.

Soon after we arrived at the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge and it was brilliant. I'm a huge fan of his art and seeing it in person was really great. The way he captured the light in each picture was really wonderful. I really enjoy his social commentary and it was great to see some lesser-known pics.

Post Rockwell we headed back on ourselves a wee bit to check in to the Monument Mountain Motel in Great Barrington. It's a lovely wee independent motel and it is super clean so that is 2 thumbs from us.

We chilled in the motel for a bit but we thought that it was too early for dinner so we headed to the local bowling alley as they also have mini-golf. When we got there there were loads of people hanging about outside as if they were waiting for it to open, even though it was meant to open at noon. We sat for a while then bottled it and just went for dinner instead, planning to come back later.

Dinner was delicious Mexican at Xicohtencatl (angry bumble bee in Aztec appaz). We managed to score a booth even though it was already pretty busy at 6pm. K ordered a coke and I got a margarita, they asked if we wanted guac and K looked excited so I said yes - once the waiter left I let her know it was $15! She was shook but it was quite frankly delicious so I dont regret it at all, it was a big portion that came in a dish that looked like a mortar (of "pestle and" fame).

K ordered the carnitas tacos (3) and I ordered the special enchiladas which consisted of 2 beef ones with red sauce and 2 chicken with green. My food delicious but the red sauce was hot af, i was sweating a bit! All in all including tip we were about $100 so it was lucky it was delicious!

Post-tea we agreed we were too full for mini-golf, the idea of bending down to pick up the ball was not appealing.  Instead we decided to partake in one of our favourite holiday passtimes - exploring a local supermarket chain! Wild eh? The local chain we decided on was Big Y - World Class Market and it did not disappoint! The were selling ornamental scarecrows for god sake! It was a pretty high end store and it was brilliant, they had a lot of convenience items. K got some of her 2 favourite things, freeze dried vegetables and sesame sticks - we are very different people! We also got some stuff for breakfast tomorrow. I also got a wee snack for my sis.

After that crazy time we just headed back to the motel, we passed the bowling alley en route and it was rammed so im glad we decided not to go back. Even though we got back here at about eight I don't regret it as im knackered.

Exciting times planned for tomorrow including Mass MOCA and the bridge of flowers.