Of drug stores and donuts

Our first day in Massachusetts consisted mostly of driving. We left our hotel around 10am and asked the girl at the desk how to get to Northampton. She chirped cheerfully, “Oh, that’s easy! Just turn right at the end of our driveway and stay on that road.” Easy enough. We turned on our Garmin just in case and Lee (our Australian Male Voice) kept trying to get us to turn right to get to the main highway. But we wanted to take the smaller road so we could drive slower and see more. We kept hearing:

“In .2 miles, turn right”
“Recalculating”
“In .4 miles, turn right”
“Recalculating”
“In .3 miles, make a u-turn”
“Recalculating”

And so on. We laughed – silly Lee wants us to take the big highway. Ed asked me if we were heading East and I said, Why yes, we are. “That’s all I need to know!” he said. And we drove. Put Lee on mute so we wouldn’t have to listen to his demands. I tried to find our location on the map but couldn’t. Oh, well. We stopped at a CVS Pharmacy for a few items. Then a couple of miles later Ed remembered he needed new shoelaces so we found another CVS and stopped again.

Still heading East. EAST?!?!? Suddenly it dawned on us that Northampton was to the WEST of us and the little chickie at the desk told us to turn right when she should have said left. So we turned around and headed back. 20 minutes later we were back where we started, but at least now we were going in the right direction. Poor Lee, he was just trying to help us and we shut him down.

There are a lot of Dunkin Donut shops out here. Sort of like Walgreens in the Chicago area – one on every corner. So naturally we had a craving for a donut. The next two we saw weren’t easily accessible but finally Ed found one and pulled in. Turned out to be a Dunkin Donut portion of a small convenience store. Selection was pretty bad, but we managed to find a couple of donuts and asked for milk. The girl said they only had coffee, no milk. But we could get some at the store they were attached to. So I went over to the cold case and found only half gallons. I asked the clerk if they had small containers of milk and he pointed to the half and half! Um, no thanks. Can’t drink a pint of half and half.

Found another donut shop which DID have milk and much better-looking donuts - so we bought two more. I mean, I probably have a donut twice a year and I didn’t want a stale, poorly-frosted one.

Mind you, all these stops and turn-arounds occurred within 5 miles of the hotel! We had been on the road for almost an hour and had gone practically nowhere. But, what the heck, we’re on vacation.

Then I remembered that I left my book in the hotel room so now we had to hunt for a bookstore. But at least that was up the road a few miles so we did get to see some countryside on the way.

Made it to Northampton and stopped for lunch. We were at a little café and a young girl sitting right in front of Ed started nursing her baby. No covering up – she just went for it. So Ed moved his chair a bit and averted his eyes. Then another young woman sitting in his new vision path pulled up her shirt and started nursing her baby! So Ed just stared at the table as he finished his lunch.

The colors are just starting to change – every now and then we see an orange or red tree. But Fall is definitely in the air. All the nurseries and produce stands are well-stocked with pumpkins and corn stalks. Fall in New England – I love it!