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SB & I went to the Amherst/S. Hadley/Northampton area of Mass for the long weekend. We almost didn't go because I couldn't find a cheap hotel room. But thanks to hotwire we stayed at the Howard Johnson's for 57 clams a night.

It wasn't even worth 57 buttons! Ugh! The shower had two heads in it for some reason. You had to have a degree in engineering to turn the fucking thing on. The staircase reminded me of an M.C. Escher painting, yes indeed, there was a staircase to nowhere. The continental breakfast was terrible too! And I'm not one to complain about free food. There were bagels but no bagel cutter. Thank God SB always keeps his Leatherman on him. And when they run of coffee, they run out of coffee. Stick w/ the Lucky Charms.

On to the good stuff! We had an excellent dinner on Saturday when we arrived, at a place that I cannot remember the name of. Sorry! It was the first time I had mulligatawny, I'm staying away from fried apps.

On Sunday, we headed into Northampton to take in the sights. Did a bit of shopping at the used CD store Turn it Up, the thrift store, the book store. And we ended up sitting in the town square enjoying a Starbucks ( I had a chocolate Vivanno) & reading. Check out some of the great pics I snapped.

Sorry for the weird layout, blogger is being a whiny bitch!

My middle brother was supposed to meet up w/ us on Sunday but it was logistically impossible. So, in honour of my birthday, (Oct. 21st in case yr keeping track) he sent me a gift certificate to Northampton Brew Pub. SB got the sampler of beers and a full pint of the Pumpkin Spice. I had a really great tart hard cider. For nibbles, SB had some fancy nachos and I had a chorizo jalapeno thin crust pizza. The layout there is awesome, we sat outside on the 2 tier deck. Just gorgeous! I highly recommend the place.

After a full day of mogging around, we had a late dinner in Amherst at Pasta e Basta. It was a cute restaurant but the food was meh. My meat sauce had little flavour. Still, plenty of places left in Amherst that we have not eaten at yet.

Because of the awful breakfast a the hotel, we ate at the Route 9 Diner. Oh my Goddess! It was truly spectacular diner. SB had challah bread French toast & I had potato latkes. They were crisp, flavourful & not greasy at all. They were so crunchy I am thinking the latkes were rolled in corn flakes before they were cooked.

And of course we had our pilgrimage to Trader Joe's!!!! We got some cider, soybeans, taquitos, amongst other various delicious things. We got the Cha Siu Bao for the first time. They were so awesome!!! SB was drooling and murmuring, "MMMHHHMMM *GRUNT GRUNT* PULLED PORK!"

Can't wait for next trip there!