A Halloween Jaunt to Northampton

 

I was born in Massachusetts, but I have very few memories of it. I went to school in Albany, but my only treks out of MA were New York State days at Jiminy Peak. The lousy weather kept M and I in the Capital Region all vacation long and I needed out. M has a friend out in Northampton and likes the area, so we decided to take a day trip out there, on the way to Six Flags New England (which totally sucks compared to Great Adventure).

We had lunch at the Northampton Brewery, which is I guess in the downtown area. It looked to be next to a park, or maybe a horse trail, cause I definitely got the horse smell where we parked.

Their beer menu was old and most of the beers listed were no longer available. Our waiter suggested the Golden Ale and we each ordered a glass. I thought it was okay, but M thought it wasn't the best. It was slightly hoppy, but too light to be a good beer. There are other kinds of beer that they brew that M likes, but they didn't have any when we were there. M ordered the Blueberry Ale, which was good, but like the Golden Ale, very light. I thought the Blueberry was a tad overpowering.

We ordered pretzels for an appetizer. I thought we would get a couple small soft pretzels, but no... just two big ones. It comes with a beer cheddar dip, but they were out so we settled for honey mustard. Disappointing.

I figured since we were going to ride some roller coasters, I should try to keep my meal light. Initially I was going to order a soup and salad, but none of the soups sounded appealing, so I went with a Cesar salad and french fries. The salad was meh. At least the french fries were crisp, salty and not at all greasy.

M ordered the Basil's Rathbone- a tomato/basil/mozzarella cheese sandwich on ciabata bread with garlic mayo. The sandwich came with fries and a pickle. M offered me a bite, but I refused. Rats. The beer in the picture if the Blueberry Ale. As you can see, very light.

After lunch we walked up to the main drag, and sure enough, full of trick or treaters. Weaving through the crowd we checked out a few shops. It's a nice area, and I'll have to visit again. There was a second hand clothing store that had a rack outside of free clothes which is dove into. I got a dress and a couple of shirts, while M was all about the jackets.

Shopping complete, we headed back to the car. On the way we stopped at Herrell's, an ice cream shop. It's similar to Cold Stone, where they do the ice cream smooshes. I thought it was a stand alone, but I guess it's a chain. I ordered the Orange Strawberry Sorbet and M got a scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip with chocolate jimmies.

 

Happy Halloween!