Quick Trip

This weekend Janda and I took a mini roadtrip for a little work and a lot of fun.  On Saturday evening we headed out to Northampton MA so that Janda could meet an athlete and we could do a little motorcycle tour.

When we finally got to Northampton, we had just enough time for a late dinner in downtown before settling in for the night.  I think that we must have been inspired by the film "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," which we recently saw and enjoyed immensely, because we chose the India House for our first ever Indian meal.  It was quite different and quite good.  We had the Delhi papri chaat for an appetizer.  Janda was impressed by the food and the presentation.  Then I had Tandoori chicken and Janda had Balchao chicken and prawn for the main course.  After all the water and half the appetizer, I could only eat about half of my chicken and a few bites of Janda's, which were both delicious.  Luckily for me Janda chose to order the Balchao chicken and prawn medium spicy!  Somehow Janda finished all his and then half of mine!  His famous appetite was working on overdrive.

Delhi Papri Chaat

The next morning Janda met with his athlete at a nearby track, and then we were off on our motorcycle adventure.  We took all sorts of back roads, twisting and turning through the fields and woods until we came to Shelburne Falls.  We stopped there to check out the Bridge of Flowers and have lunch.  The bridge was beautiful- it was kind of like Monet's garden, except the path was really a bridge.  We had sandwiches and snacks at a little shop before heading out to find a swimming hole.

 Giverny?  No, Shelburne Falls

 View of the river from the bridge

 There were even trees growing on the bridge, like this cool twisted one

 A view of the whole span

After lunch, we continued our trip and headed out following the river, hoping to find somewhere to swim.  We did not find anywhere suitable to swim, but that was okay with me since we headed up in elevation and it got pretty chilly.  I'm sure it only seemed chilly because we were on the bikes, but still, I was no longer too interested in swimming.  We took the long way back to Northampton, had dinner with my grandmother and then headed home.  There was still some weekend traffic on the Mass Pike, even though it was after 7:30, but all in all we made pretty good time.

 Janda on his bike

The Berkshires in the background

Taking a break for some snacks