Our Trip to Massachusetts

We all went up to Massachusetts to see Will graduate from Berklee.  I had grandiose ideas of all the touring and sightseeing we would be doing, but I soon discovered most of it wasn't going to happen.  First of all I had not factored in the fact that while we were close to Will's house, we still had to walk 15 to 20 minutes to get there.  We did a lot of walking in Cambridge.  I did enjoy the walking a lot.  So many charming old houses and blooming trees (that had a heavenly floral scent.  I never thought a city would smell so good!).  We hung out with Will a bit, though he still has stuff to do and places and people to see.  We saw his girlfriend a couple of times very briefly.  We got to walk around MIT a lot.  We ate at a great pizza/gyros place and at another restaurant/bar called. . . .hmm I can't remember but anyway all the food we ate was excellent.  Our hotel was right on the Charles river and it was delightful to watch all the activity.   Cambridge and Boston are busy, busy places.  Everybody is out jogging or biking or scootering or walking.  And then on the river, so many people were rowing and paddle boardings and sailing.   All the natives there kept talking about how long the winter had been.  Everyone was just bursting to get outside.  It was actually chilly in the high 40s and low 50s most of the time we were in Cambridge but everyone was out in summer dresses and shorts!

I also didn't factor in the fact that Grandad and Peggy are getting older.  Grandad has a walker now, his balance is so bad.  Everything took twice as long as it should have and both of them got tired really quickly.  It was just hugely cumbersome and I had to adjust my expectations.  But I did love all the walking and we did get to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum which is just fantastic.  I've never seen a museum like it.  It is enchanting and so full of so many interesting things.  You could come back day after day and discover something new (or actually really, really old!) I am sure.  We didn't do half of what we could have.  I am really happy we got there.

Will's graduation was the longest thing ever!  Oh my goodness.  Those entertainment people love to hear themselves talk, applaud themselves heartily and give each other accolades.  We got up early, breakfasted and got to the Boston University arena by 8:30.  There was already a line.  They opened the doors at 9.  The commencement ceremony started at 10 and finished at 3 something!!!!!  Oh my gosh, I thought I was gonna die.  BUT it was wonderful to see Will (Eli) graduate. He was so happy.    We were exhausted afterwards and just went back to the hotel to snooze and read.  Becky actually had a friend from the playmakers up in Boston.  Her brother goes to Berklee and they were packing him up to take him home for the summer.  So she went over to visit her friend and help pack.  Meanwhile Sean who had been staying over at Will's place instead of the hotel wound up going to a party and meeting Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.  Will is kind of on the outskirts of their circle.  So Sean thought that was pretty cool but we all swore to secrecy that no one would tell Becky because she will shriek with jealousy.

Another complication which lead to more walking and then Rick having to run out at odd times and try to drive around Boston was people arriving at the airport at different times.  Oh and Hannah and Peter were supposed to come but Peter, silly boy, stepped on glass while taking out the trash and cut his feet horribly and wound up spending almost the entire day at urgent care instead of flying in to see the graduation.

On Sunday we said goodbye to Will (who met us for breakfast on Mother's Day at the hotel) and then drove Granddad and Peggy to the airport.  Then we set out for the Berkshires.  Rick didn't want to drive so I got really brave and drove!  I was quite proud of myself.  It was a lovely drive and I sang Sweet Baby James the whole way to myself, while everyone else was plugged in or napping.  We stayed in the quaintest place called The Red Lion Inn.  I loved it so much.  The food was excellent. They made their own hot dogs!  They were the best hot dogs I have ever eaten.  I don't even really like hot dogs but these were the kind that the whole time you eat them, you can't help say, oh my these are really delicious, yum, yum, yum.

Anyway!  I digress.  For Mother's Day we went to Mass at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy which is in Stockbridge.  The church is old and lovely.  Everything was made by local artisans back in the late 1800s.  Gorgeous.  After the Mass, we said the Divine Mercy chaplet there.  We were supposed to meet Father Michael Gaitley there but everyone was so hungry and hot and tired that we didn't wait around but just went to find food.  (see above on hot dogs!)

The next morning, Rick and I got up and took a walk.  We walked up the hill to the shrine again and walked around.  I decided I would pray for a friend who had just discovered she had oral cancer the day before we left. So I had promised to pray for her there.  As I was praying I looked over and there was a relic of St. Peregrine, patron saint of cancer victims!  I about fell over.  I had no idea that was there!  At all!

The shrine was really neat and had many beautiful aspects to it.  After Rick and I walked back and had a late breakfast with everyone, we all set out for the Norman Rockwell museum.  This whole time Sean had been really grumpy.  He does not travel well at all.  And he and Becky had been bickering mightily.  It almost ruined things but then I decided I was going to be happy anyway.  I love to travel with Rick.  He and I are so compatible that way.  I always forget that he really likes art.  We had so much fun at the Norman Rockwell museum and the tour guide was out of this world fantastic.  Sean, though, to our surprise was also really fascinated.  He really loved it all.  We found out that Norman Rockwell had come to Stockbridge because there was a famous sanatorium or psychiatric hospital (it is right on the main street and looks like a movie prop for old sanatoriums, I kid you not).  His wife was suffering from depression, so they left Vermont and settled in Stockbridge for awhile, found they liked it, and stayed on permanently.  Our hotel suites (we had two suites that were really the entire second floor of this grand old house built at the turn of the last century.) were almost directly across the street from the house he and his wife lived in.  The house is owned by someone else and now and is a private residence.  We also found out that James Taylor also went to the hospital and wound up staying as well.  He lives in Washington down the road a few minutes.  The town of Washington has only something like 253 residents, two are famous, James Taylor and Arlo Guthrie.  The rest of the residents must just be their servants and band members.  Ha ha.  The Taylor boys go the the Stockbridge County Day school (I think James is on his 3rd wife) which was just a few minutes from the Inn as well.  

After the Rockwell visit, Rick said he really wanted to see this glass art gallery.  So we went and it was really cool too!  Monday evening we were entertained in the pub by a local singer who did lots of covers.  He sang Sweet Baby James and Rainbow Connection without us even asking.  I did request City of New Orlean.  Anyway, we had so much fun.  If you ever want to go to a great old fashioned Inn in the New England mountains with lots of local color and a groovy artsy bend, go to Stockbridge.  Just charming!  I would love to have stayed another day or two.

Oh and we know what to get Rick for Father's Day.  He wants a jigsaw puzzle of a painting Rockwell did in 1967 of Main St. in Stockbridge.