After being locked down for 4 months in Manhattan I must admit the going was getting tough.  So one day I received an email from Trip Advisor and it highlighted an Inn in Lee Massachusetts which is in the Berkshires.  I sent out the email to some gals that I had traveled with before and asked them if there was any interest.  Two of the three decided that they wanted to go and one of the gals had a car so that took care of the getting there challenge 🙂

So we left about 2 pm on Friday and got to the Black Swan Inn about 5pm.

The highlight 🙂 of the Black Swan Inn is that there is a lake behind it. So here is a view from the porch off my room. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we hurriedly unpacked because we had a 6pm dinner reservation at The Red Lion Inn (ore about The Red Lion Inn under the Food tab. 🙂

So the next day we took an amazing hike on this hike on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail..

The path was paved and basically flat 🙂 and it was just perfect even though it was hot as h–l:)

Then we went to the Catapult Ski Resort to find a place to have lunch.  They were using the facility for Zip lining and it was fun to see all the families that were zip lining together.

Then the gal that was the driver of the carLol-She who has the car rules still wanted to do some more hiking (she is an avid hiker-) found two more trails.  The first was a hike to Biz Bash Falls which you can get to from the Taconic State Park.

Then my friend did another trail and then it was time for dinner.

It wasn’t easy finding dinner reservations on Saturday evening since any restaurant that is nice is only operating at less than 50% capacity. But after driving around for a bit we found Mazzeo, an Italian restaurant and we didn’t get to eat until “so yuck” until about 9 but the food was worth the wait.

Then the next morning we checked out of Black Swan Inn about 11am and then drove to check out Edith Wharton’s home called The Mount.

Wharton, the American, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, was very involved in the planning and design of the estate and it was lovely.  We couldn’t visit the estate but I adored the gardens.

And then we were on our way back to New York but one last lunch at the cutest place called 51 Park Restaurant but more about that meal in the Food tab 🙂

So the Berkshires is sooo beautiful, whether you visit Stockbridge, Great Barrington or Lee it’s one field of green in every shade imaginable and I’m sooooooo happy that I went.