Getting Around

On both Monday and Tuesday Bird and I went to Northampton, which is the larger of the two closest towns affiliated with colleges, UMass Amherst and Amherst College here, and Smith College there.

Northampton is physically larger and has a fun-filled main street. It has a homegrown mall of sorts, several cafes, dozens of restaurants, a movie theatre, a fabulous old hotel, and an art museum, among other things. We always have fun when we go there. Despite being a simple place indicative of American culture, there is always a new adventure waiting to be had.

Monday was a holiday, Presidents Day, which in New York would hardly raise a blip on the workaday radar, but here in New England, the cradle of American Democracy, they take it for a real holiday. The buses were running less and very slowly so we had a leisurely 90 minute wait before our bus arrived. Luckily the weather has been sunny and bright. We talked to some crows on a nearby tree and remarked about people walking around. Maybe the crows were talking about the same thing.

Arriving in Northampton at 4 pm we ate at Bueno y Sana which is a great place for Burritos. Then we walked around Thorne's Marketplace which has shops including Acme Surplus where Bird found stuff for artmaking and quirky collectibles. Then we went to Raven books where I picked up the recent biography of Joan Mitchell "Lady Painter" and Bird bought me a new canvas bag. We walked around a little more going to Haymarket Cafe then caught the bus back to Amherst where we had dinner at Panda East a great Chinese restaurant with classic style.