Bascom Lodge, haven for hikers and climbers on top of the mountain..

 

 

I could have cared less…. but the husband wanted to check it out.

 

 

I was hoping for a warm respite from the wind inside.

 

 

But to be honest it was pretty damned cold even in the building. Notice everyone is having coffee with their coats still on.

 

 

There’s a fireplace, people! Light the damned thing.

We could have stayed and ordered a $17 grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, but elected to move on.

That is, I elected to move on…. and jogged halfway to the car through the biting wind only to realize that the husband hadn’t moved an inch and was standing outside the lodge jaw jacking with other tourists with the the car keys in his pocket.

 

 

Grrr.

Not to mention Brrr!

 

 

Jog back to the lodge, grab the husband mid sentence…. and pull.

You know all those people who say women talk too much? They’ve never met my husband.

The man would talk to a tree stump. And probably has.

 

 

Seriously…. conversation in -10 wind chill is over rated.

 

 

Nestled in the warm car, the ride down the mountain was as pretty as up.

 

 

We passed a lake…

 

 

And some nice farm land.

 

 

On our way to the next destination.

 

 

 

 

It’s only day 4 remember?

We were gone a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we reached the top and found the tower.

 

 

It was a tower.

 

 

It was big.

 

 

Thinking it would be warmer,  I ran inside.

 

 

It was impressive, but still freezing cold and the sound of the wind whipping around the structure was eerie as hell.

 

 

There were stairs.

 

 

Lots and lots of stairs….

 

 

Which I climbed halfway, lost my breath, said to hell with it and let the husband reach the top alone.

 

 

The following are a few of the hundred shots he took that actually resembled something other than a giant blur. Photography is not his strong point.

 

 

Bascom Lodge, more on that later.

 

 

Windmills.

 

 

North Adams again.

 

 

Ranger station with bus loads of tourists.

 

 

And before you say “Hey, stop picking on your husband those shots are great!”

 

 

He literally took 106 pictures and those are the result. The other 101 look like this one of me:

 

 

Jazz hands? Who can say…

Not the worst picture of me ever taken, but still.

 

 

Goodbye tower…

 

 

It’s been real.

Windy. It’s been real windy….

 

 

So ends the soldier’s memorial tower post.

 

 

Well, if you insist…..

 

Day 4 dawned cold and windy, temperature 29 degrees. So of course we decided to visit the highest peak in Massachusetts where it’s 10 degrees colder at the top.

 

 

We stopped at the visitors center first, to get the lay of the land.

 

 

And there were some pretty nice views already.

 

 

We found Smokey the bear.

 

 

Slacking as usual.

 

 

And some disturbing nature displays with dive bombing dead owls….

 

 

As well as seriously angry squirrels.

 

 

There was also something near and dear to my heart…

 

 

Shoes!

But this was our destination….

 

 

3,491 feet up to the top of Mount Greylock and the soldiers memorial tower.

 

 

Since it was 29 degrees and windy as hell, we elected to drive not climb.

 

 

Stopping along the way to take pictures like the tourists we were.

 

 

And the vistas were worth fighting the bitter wind.

 

 

But not talking to other tourists as the husband always does.

 

 

This is the part where I ditch him and scramble back to the warm car….

 

 

Farther up the road we encountered a section of rock with water running out it’s side.

 

 

What is it about water? You’d think we’d never seen it before and are required to jump out and gawk at the miracle.

 

 

Which made others do the same.

Without further ado, I give you…. WATER!

Behold the wonder.

 

 

More vistas.

 

 

More water.

And if you think it wasn’t cold up there?

 

 

Trust me, it was.

More photo ops.

 

 

That’s the town of North Adams down below.

 

 

And then finally, in the  so friggin’ cold I thought my lips would fall off  wind, we saw the top.

 

 

To be continued…

But you knew that, right?