@Kyeh
Yeah it was pretty awesome! Love the fact that they have the newspaper clipping from the actual event posted next to the restaurant door. Though in all honesty the restaurant used to be called “the back room” (not Alice’s Restaurant). Interesting side fact: Norman Rockwell’s art studio used to be upstairs from that space.
I thought it was pretty cool too.
@mikibell
Evidently.
We’re in Canaan, Connecticut tonight & headed to Albany New York to fly out tomorrow. Stayed a week in Hancock, Ma & 3 days here. Had a blast.
@chienfou sooo yup… you were within 20 mins of my city!!! So glad you enjoyed. You picked a good year to peep the leaves. We don’t always get such a vivid red in the leaves.
@mikibell
We stayed in Hancock with day trips to Lanesborough, Stockbridge, Lenox, Pittsfield, Great Barrington, & more. Plus a road trip to Beacon New York to see Adam Ezra in concert one night at the Towne Crier (Cool venue).
I know fall color is heavily dependent on the right rain and cold patterns, and this year was not as spectacular as some, but still much much better than what we have down here in the South locally where virtually everything is evergreens except for a handful of hardwoods scattered around.
At any rate it was a great trip with another couple. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back and explore the area further. Particularly enjoyed visiting the Mount (Edith Wharton’s house) and the Norman Rockwell museum. The Shaker village in Hancock was also pretty cool.
@chienfou The original was three generations (or more) older, as I recall. That one looks like a mid-80s air-cooled, which was the best of a sorry lot when it came to drivetrains. (I’ve pretty sure it isn’t a Diesel Vanagon, which was a very short-lived and disastrous model that most people never encountered - for which they should be glad. They were absolutely terrible.)
@chienfou@werehatrack I had a 1991 Vanagon Westfalia camper. It had the water-cooled engine which had enough power for the highway and for not-so-steep grades. Chienfou, you might be right about the air-cooled engine being the best of a sorry lot. The water-cooled engine, as expected, had more power, but was nothing but trouble and I was constantly afraid of a breakdown. The cross-country trip I wanted to do in it wasn’t going to happen. If anyone is interested, I can post the whole story. I miss that car more than any other one I’ve owned. I often wish I had one now, because now I could afford to (probably have someone!) do the Subaru boxer engine replacement project.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion Heh. I was the parts manager of a VW dealer here in Houston when the Waterboxer Vanagon came out, and after one look at the new parts microfiche, I dubbed that engine “the popcorn motor” because VW had taken the absolute worst misfeature of the air-cooled 1.7/1.8/2.0L engines and carried it into the Waterboxer. That misfeature was the “head gasket”, which was about as robust as Kleenex. It had precisely zero lateral support, and could not withstand even a single mile of operation with any combustion detonation going on. And the problems didn’t stop there.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@werehatrack They say Arlo drives it around occasionally – or, at least used to; i think he lives in Florida now, but I’m sure he still comes up to visit. That church is the Guthrie Center, a music venue & community meeting place where Alice & her husband lived & the setting for the Thanksgiving dinner & impromptu trash hauling from the song. They got divorced shortly after the song came out & she sold it after the movie was released, due to the publicity. It changed hands several times over the years, until Arlo finally bought it & turned it into the center. Really cool history in that little spot on the map!
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@Kyeh@werehatrack No, i haven’t been so lucky. I’m not much of a concert-goer, but I’ve seen videos of him in concert & i like the story! He seems like a cool guy…plus he’s Woody’s kid!
@chienfou@ircon96@ItalianScallion@werehatrack Yes, for sure. I got to see him play at Red Rocks years ago! In the middle of the concert a hang glider swooped over the stage from the back of the amphitheater - that was pretty neat. (Not an official part of the show!) Arlo was fun, one guy hollered out the name of some song, and he said “This ain’t the request hour!” Hahaha
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@Kyeh@werehatrack Now, that would be one venue I’d make an exception for – so gorgeous! And, spontaneous hang gliders? Nice touch! Yes, he has a nice, dry wit, just like i like it! Lol
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@Kyeh@werehatrack Well, that’s mighty kind of you! Although, I’d probably go no matter who was playing, just to see the place! I could bring earbuds & a playlist, just in case.
@ircon96@ItalianScallion@kyeh
Thanks. I was familiar with most of the backstory. I had been down that rabbit hole (again) when Alice died last year. Arlo has been pretty “off the radar” since the stroke in 2019… which occured, oddly enough, on Thanksgiving.
I can still picture that album cover. One of my favorites. Love his work, and the flip side of that album is wonderful.
As soon as I heard we were going to be in ‘Stockbridge, Massachusetts’ it lit up in my mind, and it became a “must-do” stop for me!
@chienfou@kittykat9180@Kyeh I’m indeed fortunate to live about a two-hour drive to the heart of Vermont and New Hampshire. Here is Massachusetts, it’s not too bad either. It’s just that we lack vast swaths of forest. If you live in an area that doesn’t have such beautiful fall foliage, it might be worth a trip to visit, rent a car, and drive and drive and drive!
But here’s the kicker for me: I’m red-green colorblind, so our vivid colors of fall don’t seem so special to me! Yellows are distinctive to me, but red, green, and sometimes orange foliage all kind of blend together and don’t look remarkably different than when everything is green.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@kittykat9180 That IS sad! I love color SO MUCH - I just hope the yellows and greens look beautiful to you! Wait, you said no green either … well, yellows and browns?!?
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@kittykat9180@Kyeh several years ago I flew into Boston for a business trip during Halloween week. I took the opportunity to take the drive from BOS airport to Salem for the evening. It was a stunning drive. Im so sorry you cannot see the full majesty of the foliage, but I hope what you do see is stunning none the less
@chienfou@kittykat9180@Kyeh I can see yellows, greens, and browns. It’s just that maybe my brain can’t always figure out green from brown and blue from purple, in particular, because the inputs it’s getting from my eyes’ rods and cones don’t contain all the necessary info to accurately distinguish differences between certain shades of each color in those pairs. The shades of greens and browns typical in foliage blend together, that’s all. Of note, though, is that I have no problem with green and red in traffic lights; that’s because the shades were chosen so most people who are red-green colorblind wouldn’t have a problem.
@tinamarie1974 I wouldn’t call it stunning. I appreciate it, but from the point of view that it looks stunning to others even though it’s just ok to me. Oh well. At least the northern lights are stunning to me… on the rare occasion I get to see them this far south.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion@kittykat9180@Kyeh I live in a forested area of NW Oregon. We are surrounded by trees but unfortunately they are mostly firs and cedars (living up to their Evergreen name) and big-leaf maples and alders (whose leaves go from green to yellow to brown). So not so much breathtaking color come fall like some other areas.
We just came back from visiting our daughter in central Oregon, which entailed crossing Mt. Hood (twice). So at least we got to see some beautiful fall foliage there.
@Kyeh, I see lots and lots of bright yellow. I wasn’t sure what the darker color was until I enlarged the image. Now I’m pretty sure it’s green. Am I right?
@chienfou@kittykat9180 That’s one of my favorites! Probably because of the massive length & the sign at the entrance that says, “Walk your horses or pay $2 fine.” So folksy!
Guess you can’t italicize topic titles… And I dropped a quotation mark. Sigh…
@chienfou That’s so cool!
@Kyeh
Yeah it was pretty awesome! Love the fact that they have the newspaper clipping from the actual event posted next to the restaurant door. Though in all honesty the restaurant used to be called “the back room” (not Alice’s Restaurant). Interesting side fact: Norman Rockwell’s art studio used to be upstairs from that space.
I thought it was pretty cool too.
POPSOCKETS! SPA KITS! POLLY POCKETS! AWESOME!
@chienfou That’s so neat. I don’t suppose you were able to see inside the building?
@Kyeh
nah… But we did the pumpkin fest at the botanical gardens.
@chienfou Fun! Those are great!
@Kyeh
Yes. A lot of them are “fun-kins” which are some sort of foam pumpkin apparently. This allows for great detailing.
@chienfou Oh, I see; yeah, the Luke Skywalker face would be really hard to do with a real pumpkin, I bet.
You drove by and didn’t say hi???
@mikibell
Evidently.
We’re in Canaan, Connecticut tonight & headed to Albany New York to fly out tomorrow. Stayed a week in Hancock, Ma & 3 days here. Had a blast.
@chienfou sooo yup… you were within 20 mins of my city!!! So glad you enjoyed. You picked a good year to peep the leaves. We don’t always get such a vivid red in the leaves.
@mikibell
We stayed in Hancock with day trips to Lanesborough, Stockbridge, Lenox, Pittsfield, Great Barrington, & more. Plus a road trip to Beacon New York to see Adam Ezra in concert one night at the Towne Crier (Cool venue).
I know fall color is heavily dependent on the right rain and cold patterns, and this year was not as spectacular as some, but still much much better than what we have down here in the South locally where virtually everything is evergreens except for a handful of hardwoods scattered around.
At any rate it was a great trip with another couple. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back and explore the area further. Particularly enjoyed visiting the Mount (Edith Wharton’s house) and the Norman Rockwell museum. The Shaker village in Hancock was also pretty cool.
Happy traveling!
/youtube on the road again live
@chienfou Is the Vanagon yours?
@werehatrack
No… That’s the “red VW micro bus”. The original is lost to time.
@chienfou The original was three generations (or more) older, as I recall. That one looks like a mid-80s air-cooled, which was the best of a sorry lot when it came to drivetrains. (I’ve pretty sure it isn’t a Diesel Vanagon, which was a very short-lived and disastrous model that most people never encountered - for which they should be glad. They were absolutely terrible.)
@werehatrack
I’m pretty certain Arlo doesn’t REALLY give a shit. It’s just meant to evoke the lyrics.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@chienfou @werehatrack I had a 1991 Vanagon Westfalia camper. It had the water-cooled engine which had enough power for the highway and for not-so-steep grades. Chienfou, you might be right about the air-cooled engine being the best of a sorry lot. The water-cooled engine, as expected, had more power, but was nothing but trouble and I was constantly afraid of a breakdown. The cross-country trip I wanted to do in it wasn’t going to happen. If anyone is interested, I can post the whole story. I miss that car more than any other one I’ve owned. I often wish I had one now, because now I could afford to (probably have someone!) do the Subaru boxer engine replacement project.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion Heh. I was the parts manager of a VW dealer here in Houston when the Waterboxer Vanagon came out, and after one look at the new parts microfiche, I dubbed that engine “the popcorn motor” because VW had taken the absolute worst misfeature of the air-cooled 1.7/1.8/2.0L engines and carried it into the Waterboxer. That misfeature was the “head gasket”, which was about as robust as Kleenex. It had precisely zero lateral support, and could not withstand even a single mile of operation with any combustion detonation going on. And the problems didn’t stop there.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @werehatrack They say Arlo drives it around occasionally – or, at least used to; i think he lives in Florida now, but I’m sure he still comes up to visit. That church is the Guthrie Center, a music venue & community meeting place where Alice & her husband lived & the setting for the Thanksgiving dinner & impromptu trash hauling from the song. They got divorced shortly after the song came out & she sold it after the movie was released, due to the publicity. It changed hands several times over the years, until Arlo finally bought it & turned it into the center. Really cool history in that little spot on the map!
@chienfou @ircon96 @ItalianScallion @werehatrack Nice to know more about this. Have you met Arlo? Or at least seen him?
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Kyeh @werehatrack No, i haven’t been so lucky. I’m not much of a concert-goer, but I’ve seen videos of him in concert & i like the story! He seems like a cool guy…plus he’s Woody’s kid!
@chienfou @ircon96 @ItalianScallion @werehatrack Yes, for sure. I got to see him play at Red Rocks years ago! In the middle of the concert a hang glider swooped over the stage from the back of the amphitheater - that was pretty neat. (Not an official part of the show!) Arlo was fun, one guy hollered out the name of some song, and he said “This ain’t the request hour!” Hahaha
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Kyeh @werehatrack Now, that would be one venue I’d make an exception for – so gorgeous! And, spontaneous hang gliders? Nice touch!
Yes, he has a nice, dry wit, just like i like it! Lol
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @werehatrack
@ircon96 Well, if you ever make it out here, I’ll see if they’re going to have someone you like play there!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @Kyeh @werehatrack Well, that’s mighty kind of you!
Although, I’d probably go no matter who was playing, just to see the place! I could bring earbuds & a playlist, just in case. 
@ircon96 @ItalianScallion @kyeh
Thanks. I was familiar with most of the backstory. I had been down that rabbit hole (again) when Alice died last year. Arlo has been pretty “off the radar” since the stroke in 2019… which occured, oddly enough, on Thanksgiving.
I can still picture that album cover. One of my favorites. Love his work, and the flip side of that album is wonderful.
As soon as I heard we were going to be in ‘Stockbridge, Massachusetts’ it lit up in my mind, and it became a “must-do” stop for me!
I was in New England a smidge too early for leaf peeping but still had a good time.
@kittykat9180
They have had a really dry year and the first frost was just last Friday. Still some pretty spots but not like some years.
@chienfou @kittykat9180 Those photos are gorgeous - calendar worthy!
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @Kyeh I’m indeed fortunate to live about a two-hour drive to the heart of Vermont and New Hampshire. Here is Massachusetts, it’s not too bad either. It’s just that we lack vast swaths of forest. If you live in an area that doesn’t have such beautiful fall foliage, it might be worth a trip to visit, rent a car, and drive and drive and drive!
But here’s the kicker for me: I’m red-green colorblind, so our vivid colors of fall don’t seem so special to me!
Yellows are distinctive to me, but red, green, and sometimes orange foliage all kind of blend together and don’t look remarkably different than when everything is green.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 That IS sad!
I love color SO MUCH - I just hope the yellows and greens look beautiful to you! 
Wait, you said no green either … well, yellows and browns?!?
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @Kyeh several years ago I flew into Boston for a business trip during Halloween week. I took the opportunity to take the drive from BOS airport to Salem for the evening. It was a stunning drive. Im so sorry you cannot see the full majesty of the foliage, but I hope what you do see is stunning none the less
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @Kyeh I can see yellows, greens, and browns. It’s just that maybe my brain can’t always figure out green from brown and blue from purple, in particular, because the inputs it’s getting from my eyes’ rods and cones don’t contain all the necessary info to accurately distinguish differences between certain shades of each color in those pairs. The shades of greens and browns typical in foliage blend together, that’s all. Of note, though, is that I have no problem with green and red in traffic lights; that’s because the shades were chosen so most people who are red-green colorblind wouldn’t have a problem.
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @Kyeh
@tinamarie1974 I wouldn’t call it stunning.
I appreciate it, but from the point of view that it looks stunning to others even though it’s just ok to me. Oh well. At least the northern lights are stunning to me… on the rare occasion I get to see them this far south.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @Kyeh I live in a forested area of NW Oregon. We are surrounded by trees but unfortunately they are mostly firs and cedars (living up to their Evergreen name) and big-leaf maples and alders (whose leaves go from green to yellow to brown). So not so much breathtaking color come fall like some other areas.
We just came back from visiting our daughter in central Oregon, which entailed crossing Mt. Hood (twice). So at least we got to see some beautiful fall foliage there.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 @kittykat9180 @macromeh
@ItalianScallion–This is the tree across the street from the back of my house. I assume it should be visible to you exactly the same as to us, because it’s bright yellow against blue - right?
@ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @Kyeh @macromeh @tinamarie1974
Nice pic!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @macromeh @tinamarie1974 Thank you!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @Kyeh @macromeh pretty!!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @macromeh @tinamarie1974 Thanks!
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @macromeh @tinamarie1974
@Kyeh, I see lots and lots of bright yellow. I wasn’t sure what the darker color was until I enlarged the image. Now I’m pretty sure it’s green. Am I right?
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @macromeh @tinamarie1974 Yes. But it’s mostly yellow … does blue come through clearly for you?
@chienfou @kittykat9180 @Kyeh @macromeh @tinamarie1974 Oh yeah, the blue sky is quite lovely!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @kittykat9180 @macromeh @tinamarie1974 Oh, good!
I have a photo of the Cornish-Windsor bridge but it won’t let me upload it.
@kittykat9180
Bummer. Would love to see it.
@chienfou @kittykat9180 That’s one of my favorites! Probably because of the massive length & the sign at the entrance that says, “Walk your horses or pay $2 fine.” So folksy!
@chienfou @ircon96
Two dollarS fine.
I laughed at the sign too.
@ircon96 @kittykat9180
Pretty cool. We didn’t make it to that one. We did see four others though.
@ircon96 @kittykat9180
Whoops… Didn’t hit the reply link but posted in a new comment instead. Sorry.
@chienfou @ircon96 ah, I see the photos.
The insides are pretty cool too!