Day 4 - Great Barrington to Brattleboro

The morning started at 430am (urgh) and i discovered torrential rain pouring down. Dang. Our first planned stop for today was a drive to the peak of Mount Greylock so heavy rain was the last thing we needed.

We didn't set off quite as early and the rain calmed down so we were hopeful that the drive was still a-go. Before setting off we had to get some petrol for the first time - always a joy working out how it all works. We got some gas station coffees and we were off.

The colours seemed to have popped more over night so even with the rain it all still looked beautiful. As we approached the mountain the rain got heavy again and we realised we could hardly see the top half. We decided to push on and see how we went but when we got to the welcome centre we were already in cloud so we decided that it wasnt worth the trouble. We did have a wee look round the exhibits in the centre to see what we were missing out on.

Last night we bought those wee pots of cereal and some milk and we planned to have them at the top for a breakfast with a view. Instead we had then in the car with no view. Sad times.

Back on the road we headed to towards North Adams, luckily our next planned event was indoors. We went via Williamstown which was quite delightful. In North Adams our stop was at Mass MOCA, a massive contemporary art gallery formed out of an old industrial complex. As we arrived for the indoor portion of the day the weather, of course, decided to perk up. The museum was amazing and we were in there for hours - it covers a lot of ground!

After we had finished browsing the art we were exhausted so a trip to the cafe was on the cards. I had a thai chicken burrito with peanut sauce and K had the biggest caesar salad I've seen since that time at the Cheesecake Factory in Fort Lauderdale.  It was all very delicious and I couldn't even touch the tortilla chips that came with mine cos I was too full.

On leaving the museum we were delighted to find it was now a sunny day, hurrah! We hit the Mohawk Trail and were suddenly high above North Adams with beautiful views for miles. It made up a bit for missing the drive this morning. The Mohawk Trail was genuinely one of the most beautiful drives we've ever done, we even saw a few abandoned motels - my favourite!

We only had one detour from the trail and that was down to the tiny and delightful town of Shelburne Falls which sits on the Deerfield River. The town is famous for a few things,  the bridge of flowers, glacial pot holes and the falls after which it is named. We were lucky and got a parking space just at the bridge of flowers. It was really lovely to stroll along, you can tell a lot of work is put into maintaining it.

We had a wee stroll about and saw the falls and glacial potholes before sitting outside Baked with some iced beverages. You genuinely wouldn't believe it was the same day as this morning.

Back on the road and we soon arrived in Vermont and the town of Brattleboro where we are staying tonight. We checked into our hotel, The Covered Bridge Inn then headed into the super quaint town centre to stretch our legs. Once our legs were sufficiently stretched we found ourselves sitting at the bar at Whetstone Station, a lovely brewery. I had a flight of their beers and K had a blueberry soda as she was driving. The bar is on the edge of the river so a tiny portion of it is actually in New Hampshire so that's state 5 of the holiday ticked off (we'll be back on Friday).

After our drinks we visited the local covered bridge before going for dinner at 99 restaurant. It is a chain and is quite pubby but it was absolutely rammed so they are obviously doing something right. We got settled in a wee both then decided to share some things. We had 2 starters and shared a main - tempura green beans with ranch, freshly baked pretzels and a chicken tender salad. Everything was great but I could eat the fried green beans forever.

Post-dinner we popped to the supermarket (yes again, i like seeing different ones) then headed back to the hotel. Our bed is massive, it could easily fit about 4 people.

Tomorrow,  Vermont.