Have just returned to Toronto following one of the best vacations of my life. Drove through Quebec, N.B. and N.S. to visit my family. On the way back we decided to take a spin through the States for a change of scenery. After three days of driving, nearing the end of the Mass Pike we decided to pull over and find a campsite. Saw a sign for Lee - 9 miles. Aboslutely freaked when I found out I was right beside Stockbridge. Ended up at a campground in North Egremont and headed out on a quest the next morning to find some the church, restaurant etc. Finally found Theresa's Cafe and had some breakfast... headed for Housatonic to see the church. It was closed... whoever heard of a church closed on Saturday??? Then I saw the sign for who was performing that night and nearly had a heart attack. Garnet Rogers - a fellow Canadian!!! Even more appropriate - brother of the late Stan Rogers who's most popular song "Barrett's Privateers" features the best drinking singalong line in the history of summer... "How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!" -- MY HOME TOWN!!!!!! After throwing a near tantrum I finally convinced my fiance' to call in sick for work sunday and stay for the show. IT WAS GREAT! I guess I discovered what many people already knew - Garnet needs not live in the shadow of his brother. What a phenominal show!!! He even did Make and Break Harbour... so even I knew one of the songs and could sing along. Played a mesmerizing hymm on his guitar and then pulled out this ginourmous harp/guitar... sounded pretty horrible but it hadn't been played since about 1920. A great treat for my fiance' since she's a harpist! Could not have asked for a more magical experience to make the pilgrimage to Stockbridge. Next to seeing Arlo live a couple years ago - definately one of the highlights of my life musicwise!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been traveling to Tanglewood near Stockbridge since 1982. It took me years to make the connection between Arlo and Stockbridge as it had been years since I had heard Alice's Restaurant massacre. Anyway, Arlo performed at Tanglewood and said, "we're just up the road. If you have time give us a visit." So, I drove down those rural roads in my pickup, and found the church. At the time there were pictures of Ma, and it was a very quiet place. Now, they have folk shows, but I was elated to find the Historic Grabage Trail tee-shirts, and I spotted the old railroad station one-half mile from the restaurant. Only the station was now (or then...) a Macrobiotic Japanese restaurant where I tasted my first sushi. Later, I found the restaurant, and I was amazed that it was located behing the General Store. Only now, it's not called Alice's Restaurant. Now it has a new name with the parenthetical caption (formerly Alice's Restaurant.) Down the street, I think in the Red Lion Inne, I found a picture of Officer Obie. It's just another great reason to visit Stockbridge, not to mention the Norman Rockwell museum. The End.