A Lass & Beau Adventure! The National at Mass MOCA and other musings

Hello! please excuse our mixed in cell phone photos as we share some of our latest adventure with you!

We are not planners.  We like to follow the wind and enjoy where we end up.  When we got tickets to see The National at Mass MOCA we were thrilled and terrified as it was the first time leaving our kids and taking off on our own farther than an hours drive.  What we loved about it was that it was a chance to focus on each other completely.  The drive down was fun, we had some time to have conversations and just genuinely enjoy each others company.  We also had time to roll down the windows and let the music carry us forward!

Getting into the Vermont/ Massachusetts area I think I spent most of the time gasping at the landscape and the layers of mountains lost in the clouds on this lovely overcast day.  It was one of the loveliest places I've traveled and the whole time we were there we never numbed to the awe of it.  

After checking into the little home we found on airbnb (which was lovely and smelled of curry being cooked) we headed to meet up with our friends at Mass MOCA.  I honestly was not prepared for the size and beauty of the building itself.  On our way into the museum we heard Matt Berninger's voice booming from the field and we ran to get closer to it.  We got to hear an hour and a half of a very thorough soundcheck as we stood in the front of the line waiting for the show.  We decided that we could enjoy the museum the next day, but this was our chance to make it to the front of the stage and we knew that would be worth the 5 hour wait.  The bonus of waiting in line is meeting new friends who share the same insane passion for music as you do and we really enjoyed hearing stories from a couple of brothers who have been to concerts since the band first started jamming in bars.  

The great news is that we did it!  we got right at the very front, on the gate, in front of 7000 other people!  This is big news for a short girl because for once I got to really see a concert instead of enjoying the sounds while looking at other peoples backs. Having such great friends there made it that much better.  I can't say enough about the show.  It was beautiful, and energetic, and perfect.  just perfect.  

After the show we got some food at a hidden away local spot and then crashed hard.  The next day we decided to head back to Mass MOCA and spend some time enjoying the art.  It was beautiful.  The museum was so full of such diverse pieces and we loved mazing our way through such great installments.  I not only loved the artwork but it helped cement in how much I LOVE architecture and this vast historic industrial building was such a treasure to navigate through.  There was construction going on because the museum is spreading out into more of the vacant building and by May of 2017 it will DOUBLE in size.  

Williamstown is such a beautiful little town with amazing buildings rich with history.  we enjoyed a bit of the town and grabbed some Indian food before heading home.  As we hit the cross point of NY, VT and MA we passed a little parking space at the base of a mountain and decided to get out and enjoy the beautiful scenery.   This pit stop quickly became a spontaneous mountain climb.  Yes, I did climb a mountain in jelly crocs, because sometimes thats what not planning things means.  It added lots of time to our drive home, but it added even more time together and it was such a lovely and romantic part of our adventure. On our drive home we also pulled into a state park that caught our eye and enjoyed the beach all to ourselves.

The sign "SLOTS on exit 33" happened to catch my eye and I laughed about it with Brock and the next thing I know, we are sitting in front of a slot machine surrounded by hundreds of other people (mostly senior citizens smoking cigarettes). Who knew so many people would be in a casino at 10pm on a Sunday?  All in all we only lost $20 and 2 hours of our time.

We loved taking this time to focus on each other and follow our free spirits where ever they wanted to take us but coming home may have been the best part.  Walking in the door and snuggling beside your sleepy children is the best feeling in the world.