Southhampton and Stockbridge

This morning we took all the boys to Dunkin' Donuts before Joshua and Jacob went to school. We left for Stockbridge and the Norman Rockwell Museum about mid-morning. It seems the GPS system got confused partway through the trip, and dropped us off at a farm stand in Southhampton (about 45 minutes from our actual destination.) This turned out to be a pleasant mishap as we loved the farm stand. They had a little bakery on site and were making fresh apple cider donuts. (We think donuts are the state food. There is a donut shop on every corner.) The red barn in back was where they make their cider.

At long last, we arrived in Stockbridge. This is a holiday town in the Berkshire Mountains and Norman Rockwell's last home. The museum was quite full of "leaf peepers," a name the local's have for October tourists. The museum had quite a nice collection of originals, plus descriptions of the process Norman Rockwell used to create his pieces. One of the docents working in the gallery was a model for Norman Rockwell as a young boy.

The boys did quite well. Steve and I can spend a long time in art museums, and it took a while for them to adjust to the pace. Spencer and Matthew did great, as did Tanner after a bribe was extended.

Today brought our first rain of the trip. Late in the day the sun was coming out a few seconds at a time, and we were able to snap these pictures. The barn we are standing in front of was Rockwell's studio. It was so interesting to see where he worked.
This is the museum office. It is one of the earliest examples of the "Berkshire cottage."
This is the view from the studio.

Spencer took this picture.

One of the interesting things we have noticed is that everything closes at 5:00, promptly. Coming from a 24 hour town like Las Vegas, it almost seems like stepping back in time. We left the museum right at 5:00 and arrived home at 7:00. Tomorrow we will be going to the New England Pirate Museum in Salem.