Destination: Northampton

That's right - next stop, Northampton! Not necessarily because it's the first on the list, but because it's been on my mind for so long (which may have been why it was first on the list...chicken or the egg?).

Anyway, after Dan left last night for an evening meeting at church, I curled up in bed with the laptop and started to research. This is always my first step and is what begins to get me excited about the visit. I like to read a history of the city or area on Wikipedia as well as head over to the city website, if they have one (you can usually tell a lot from a city's website - if it has a decent visitor's section, the city probably is focused somewhat on tourism). I'll also Google "moving to northampton, ma" or something to that effect which typically would lead me straight to a forum on city-data.com that talks about moving to Northampton. Last night I tried Googling "northampton, ma blog" to see if there were any well known bloggers out there that lived in Northampton. Bloggers tend to talk about where they live and can give an inside perspective to what it's like to live in a place. Finally, I'll locate it on Google Maps.

Here are the details:

Northampton ("NoHo" for newbies and, apparently, Wikipedia, but "Hamp" for those in the know - see
here for a portion of that debate) is a city in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, about two hours west of Boston. It has also been dubbed "Paradise City". The Connecticut River runs along the eastern edge of the city (here I'm making a note that there may be water related activities in our future). It's a medium sized city - around 29,000 - which claims, from almost every source I noted above, to have culture.

It is home to Smith College, a women's college, and the oldest oral school for the deaf (Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech). There are several parks, conservation areas, and sanctuaries listed on the map for the area. I also read something about a bicycle rail trail.

Transportation to and from the area includes a somewhat-local airport (40 miles away in Windsor Locks, Connecticut), passenger buses and railways (both of which I'm not too familiar with and will require a bit more research if use is required), and the ever-present Interstate.

This is enough to get me started. I have a feel for the city and surrounding area and what it has to offer. Culture will be the number one thing I hope to get a feel for - where can I find it and how best to experience it as a visitor without forcing a cultural experience? I like the culture I experience to be organic, to naturally come upon me as I immerse myself in a location. I'd rather not plan "I will go to Y location and will feel X and that will cover the culture!" (although, when Dan and I go to a play or musical, we tend to joke that we are "getting cultured").

I'm also excited to know what type of outdoor activities are available and what there is to see and do at the schools I listed above. And, most importantly, based a brief re-glance at my original source, the local restaurants!

Tomorrow we'll look at lodging or activities...whatever I'm feeling at the time. Thanks for reading!

Images courtesy of here, here, and here.