I was delighted to discover in today's newspaper an article in the Travel section about a not-on-the-tip-of-everyone's-tongue roadway known as the Mohawk Trail. The trail is actually a portion of Route 2 which runs east - west through western Massachusetts. You can read the article here:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/travel/driving-the-mohawk-trail-in-massachusetts.html?pagewanted=all
The memories came flooding back to when I was living in Massachusetts in the early stages of high school and this was the route our family would take to visit my grandparents in Schenectady, NY. Once, several years after I had my driver's license, my girlfriend and I drove over to take my grandmother back to Schenectady. Memorable because on the way home we were gabbing so much we missed our exit and nearly ended up in Vermont. It was awhile before I told my parents the real reason we were late getting back...and if my dad with his meticulous habit of calculating gas mileage ever noticed the extra miles we put on the car, he never questioned me.
How many times did I traverse the Mohawk Trail, with its gorgeous scenery of the Berkshire Mountains, and the lower view of the Cold River with its lovely bubbling waterfalls and some wonderful smooth rocks...(my source of material when I was in a painting rock stage of craftiness).
Some highlights of the trail include the Hairpin Turn and the Summit with its gift shop filled with Indian-themed souvenirs, and of course the Indian statue. I loved it when we took a potty break at the summit and wandered the giftshop with its tchotchkes: cedar trinket boxes of all sizes stamped with the words "Souvenir of the Mohawk Trail", miniature blown glass animals, Indian stuff that would today probably be considered politically incorrect like toy tomahawks, feathered headdress, bows and arrows. Even before we moved to MA and visited my grandparents in the summer from Ohio, we sometimes visited the Mohawk Trail before it became our NY-MA destination route. (But only in good weather, we rarely took the Trail in the winter time).
....Lots of happy childhood memories, when the words Mohawk Trail meant spending time with my grandparents-- either going to their house to visit or bringing them back to our house in Mass. My grandmother especially enjoyed the scenic drive and a stop in Shelburne Falls to visit the Bridge of Flowers. I was always amused by the sign Welcome to Florida--according to the article Florida, MA is reputed to be the coldest town in MA. (Such humor. I never knew that). The Mohawk Trail by name alone conjures up the history of the area pre-dating automobiles when the Mohawk Indians ruled the valleys between upstate NY, MA and CT. The Trail opened in October 1914, almost 100 years ago...back in the day when people got in their automobiles just to tour scenic roadways. A perfect route for a road trip back in memories.
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