The Berkshires

Last fall we took a trip to the Berkshires of Massachusetts to hang out with David's grad school friends Thomas, Alexis and Omair. Alexis and her family very generously volunteered their home in Lenox for our reunion. In total, we spent about four full days bumming around the Berkshires, looking at leaves and doing fall-themed things when we weren't stuffing our faces with booze or food. It was a great chance to catch up and keep the friendships going.

For our first full day we went to breakfast in the morning at a spot a few minute walk from the house called Haven. Afterwards we strolled around town for a while, checking out some small shops. Lenox has a cute little touristy downtown. We headed back to Alexis's family's house to get the car to go grocery shopping. Omair ended up cooking a few different delicious things for us while we were visiting, and Alexis brought enough of her pretzels to feed an army. The rest of the day was spent chatting and day drinking. Dinner that evening included Alexis's mother at a farm to table restaurant called Nudel.

General Berkshires scenery.

Philadelphia on the flight into Boston.

Manhattan! Our flight gave us great views of DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NYC.

Alexis's family's house in Lenox. Beautiful!

Breakfast at Haven.

Paul got some new local-ish beer to try while up in Massachusetts.

We didn't skimp on the harder stuff either!

Cute old town hall in Lenox.

Don't be fooled by the book cover...

On the second day we explored the Berkshires a bit more. We took a short hike through the nearby forest to a small pond. Complaints were minimal. ;) Later that afternoon we went apple picking with some of Alexis's family. There were still tons of apples on the trees, despite most of the leaves on the hills around the farm being bare already this time of year. On the way back to the Faraci house we stopped in Pittsfield, to check out the downtown and window shop. Pittsfield used to be the home to GM and has a nice historic downtown, with lots of cool buildings.

That evening, the Faraci's treated everyone out to dinner at the Old Inn on the Green. A really great restaurant about 40 minutes south of Lenox in an old inn. People still use the building as an hotel, but the downstairs has been converted into a great American restaurant.

David and Alexis looking cute in the woods.

A rare candid smile.

Five went in...and only five came out!

Apple-picking money shot.

Sooo many apples.

It's decorative gourd season, y'all!

Wait one apple-picking moment...while I take your photo!

Pittsfield has lots of nice old buildings.

Case in point.

And a really cute downtown in general with lots of little shops and restaurants.

We were lucky to find ice cream this late in the season, but you know if anyone can find it, we can!

Paul's crusted lamb from the Inn on the Green. Delicious!

We had a large group for a wonderful candlelit dinner at the Inn on the Green.

For our last full day up in the Berkshires, we slept-in and then visited a ski resort for Paul to ride an alpine roller coaster. The ride was short, but fun. Almost everyone in the group went...some rode their brakes more than others. Following the coaster, we visited a local farm where we got to pet some cows and see some gourds. The ski resort was about 30 minutes away from Alexis's family's house, so we swung back through Pittsfield on the way home to check out a local brewery.

Later that evening, we visited a haunted house in the nearby town of Richmond. The entire old mansion was set up with a series of spooky rooms. There was also a walk through a haunted forest to get up to the house. Lots of local high school kids were paid to jump out and scare us and overall, there was a good production value. The evening was rounded out with a long fireside chat with mulled wine. Delightful!

Wheee! Coaster-time!

Alpine coasters are fun. They're never very high and you can go pretty fast.

Group shot!

Moooove over, Paul, I'm trying to eat!

The beer was good, but the space wasn't really heated and it was cold!

Spooky haunted house effects.

Follow the candle-lit path to your dooooooooom.

Hot Toddy & Fireside chat time.

Adorable dog in a hoodie. He's like people!

So ended our brief trip to the Faraci manor in the Berkshires. The Faraci's were tremendous, over-generous hosts. We felt right at home and really enjoyed our relaxing time away from Atlanta, along with the opportunity to catch up with friends. On our way back to the airport, we wondered around Boston and had a nice Italian meal. A fine finish to a long weekend in Massachusetts.

Checking out one more historic house on the way out of Lenox.

Freeway heading back to Boston. Lots of fall colors.

Cute neighborhood streets in Boston.

Quick walk around Boston Common before lunch.

Oakland Weekend and Atlanta United Away Game

Earlier this year we took a trip to visit our friends Jon and Elaine and their family in California. We try to go to one Atlanta United away game a season, so we timed the trip to coincide with the game against the San Jose Earthquakes in mid-September. We flew up on a Wednesday and home on the following Sunday and in between we had a lot of great food, a lot of fun with our friends, and were treated to possibly the most exciting (and nerve wracking) Atlanta United game to date.

When we landed at SFO, we took the train over to Oakland and immediately got tacos at Taqueria Sinaloa.

Elaine knows us pretty well, and this was the first food of the trip.

We got to meet the newest member of the family, Elon!

David hanging with Simon. He's adjusting to a house with two kids.

The Atlanta United game was that evening in San Jose at Avaya Stadium. It was also Mexican heritage night so there were lots of food trucks and dancing inside the stadium. This game was on a Wednesday night but was still pretty well attended. It was a crazy exciting match! At one point Atlanta was down 4-1 on the scoreboard, before a goal was reversed and a PK awarded for Atlanta, which turned the match to 3-2. A 90+5 minute goal saw Atlanta beat San Jose 4-3. There was a small, but dedicated group of Atlanta fans at the game, which made the experience all the better considering the narrow victory after being down most of the game. Everyone went bonkers on the extra time goal, which the team ranked as the best goal combo for our two star players, Miggy and Josef. Paul was even on the TV broadcast!

Patriotic dancing.

Avaya Stadium at sunset, before the game started.

More tacos!

On Thursday, Gwyneth went to school and the rest of us went for a hike in the nearby redwood forest. The low humidity and cool weather was a welcome break from the miserable unending summer in Atlanta this year. After hiking we went for dim sum in Emeryville, at Hong Kong East Ocean Seafood.

Walking through the forest.

We guess redwoods are tall...

View of the bay bridge from the dim sum restaurant.

Elon wants all the seafood.

Yum! Dim sum!

Later that evening, Jon had to go to work and Elaine had a school event for Gwyneth, so we took the opportunity to sneak away to San Francisco for the evening. We walked around the Mission District and Mission Dolores Park, found a good ramen spot in the Lower Haight, and capped off the evening with some beer at Toronado and some frozen custard near Alamo Square Park.

San Francisco has lots of cool street art in the Mission District.

Mission Dolores Park.

Street scene walking to dinner in San Francisco.

Ramen! Paul got tsukemen, which we just recently had in Atlanta for the first time.

Beer at Toronado.

This dog belonged to the bar's bouncer. It just sat on this bench and stared at us the entire time we were there.

Ice cream and custard at FK Frozen Custard.

The painted ladies and downtown San Francisco.

On Friday we went for a breakfast at Acme Bakery up in Berkeley, before strolling around the city and making our way up the campus tower and getting a flight of beer. Berkeley is a really nice city with a compact walkable downtown with tons of restaurants and bars. In the afternoon we spent some time playing with Gwyneth and Elon at home before heading out to a Cambodian restaurant, Nyum Bai, for dinner. After getting the kids home for bed, the four adults headed out to downtown Oakland and hit up a brewery in an old car dealership for some late night snacks and drinks. A fun and relaxing day!

Too cool for school...also too little still. =)

Second stop for some Chai/Coffee in Berkeley.

View of campus from the tower.

Tower selfie!

The tower has a carillon in it that someone played at set times of the day.

Flight at Triple Rock Brewing.

The bakery we visited for breakfast featured this bread ladder. Which was not as tasty as it was interesting to look at.

Gwyneth and David created a game called "sushi" where Gwyneth got wrapped up and thrown around the house.

Cambodian dinner time at Nyum Bai!

Delicious food but...

...weird wallpaper.

Adjacent ice cream in the market near Fruitvale Station.

OMG I want some!

David and Elon waiting on ice cream.

A pint at Drake's in downtown Oakland.

Nice outdoor patio area at Drake's.

Group shot at Drake's!

On our last full day in California we started the morning with some local donuts. Today, Paul was hoping to ride a roller coaster nearby and it was a beautiful day so we pretended we were in an episode of Modern Family and gay dad'ed the crap out of Gwyneth at the Oakland Zoo. Unfortunately for Paul, the roller coaster was closed for repair today, but we still had a great time at the zoo. They were celebrating the Chinese moon festival and there were special lion/tiger dancers and candy for kids. The zoo was super crowded that day because it was a special event and a beautiful Saturday, so we had to skip over some parts to get Gwyneth back home for a nap.

Massive cinnamon roll. #america

Who doesn't love otters?

Just frogging around.

Closest thing to a roller coaster Paul got to ride today, unfortunately.

Adventure landing!

Chinese festival dancing.

We rode the cable car over the savanna exhibits.

Gwyneth liked the skyride views.

Skyride fun times!

After the zoo, we went back to Jon and Elaine's house to get Gwyneth a nap and to seek out some bubble tea with Elaine. We found a great place in downtown Oakland that had really good bubble tea, including lots of random things we've never heard of before like "volcano tea." For dinner we tried a Filipino place about a 20 minute drive away. The food was great and the restaurant was really reasonably priced with friendly folks running it.

Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland.

Random bubble tea wall art.

Paul tried some more beer at Jon & Elaine's house before dinner.

Yum! Filipino food to wrap up the trip.

We had a great long weekend trip to visit our friends and watch Atlanta United play in California. We're back here every year or two and always find new and interesting things to see and do - the bay area is really unique with a lot of areas to explore. We really enjoy spending time with these folks and look forward to doing so again in the not too distant future!