We enjoy this part of Massachusetts and have been coming here for years. We begin in the Connecticut River Valley, usually in Northampton. (This is the state of Massachusetts; Northampton is the red arrow in the lower center. The area is a hub of college towns: Smith, Amherst, U Mass, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke are the most well-known. This is the northwest corner of the state and it is close to the borders of New York, to the west and Vermont to the north. We will be heading northwest and end up in North Adams, the upper red arrow.)[photos©author/2009:click to enlarge]

But first some road food. We keep a log of places featured on The Food Network, and we try to find them when we travel. Whenever we are on I-95, if it is time for lunch, the first stop is…drum roll, cymbals…
SUPER DUPER WEENIE. Here you’ll fine the BEST hot dogs around, fabulous fries, ( the potatoes are grown by special order at a farm in MA), fresh, terrific toppings. You see where this journal is going?

Carbo-loading continues:Lunch the next day at a diner on the road that specializes in chicken pot pies the size of a woolly mammoth. Did I really need the mashed potatoes, gravy and the bread?