Northampton: Day 1

All right, Hamp - here we come! By the way, the nickname is growing on me. I kind of want to have every destination have a nickname. I'm also a big fan of Hotlanta (because that's hilarious).

Ok - so it is likely that Northampton will not be a destination (as in, unless someone I loved lived there or I had unlimited resources - read: money - I wouldn't get on a plane or drive a car to the city unless I already lived within a four hour radius of it in which case this would be a review of how awesome it is and not how awesome it could be), but part of a larger trip. For example, Boston is a short two hours from Northampton (which would make it the perfect mini-trip) and Northampton itself is located within New England (so any New England road trip could easily include the Hamp).

For the sake of this post, I am going to say that we are in Boston and taking a weekend trip to Northampton. That means that we'll leave Boston around 2PM on a Friday in the fall (because I imagine that New England is prettiest in the fall) and road trip it out west on I-90.

It may be a bit transparent of me, but I've decided we'll stay at the Sugar Maple Trailside Inn. The rooms are basic and it doesn't quite seem like a true B&B because the breakfast is continental (what can I say, I love homemade omelettes), but they have cruiser bicycles to use, free Internet, are a healthy walking distance (2.5 miles) to city center, Northampton, and are well priced ($120/night for two people in a queen).

Assuming traffic out of Boston isn't terrible (but let's be serious, it's a Friday afternoon), we'll pull into Hamp around 4:30 and check in to the Inn. It's the end of the work week (or a week of touring Boston), but either way we're tired. First things first, head over to The Dirty Truth and have a beer and appetizer. The reason for this is three-fold: 1) we're tired and we just need a beer, 2) I really want to try that beet appetizer, and 3) we're going to Karma for actual dinner and I want to have a little food back up in case the raw food isn't sitting right.

That's right - we're going straight to crazytown (er...just-a-little-bit-different-town). Now, per Google Maps, Karma used to be about 100 feet from The Dirty Truth, but it appears they have moved across the river. That's ok - we'll use that opportunity to see if there are some scenic outlooks somewhere near the bridge. Once we're done with dinner, we'll go to East Heaven and slip in a hot tub for a half hour or so...happy Friday!

Thanks for reading!