A cultural weekend punctuated by a blown tire!

This was a "cultural weekend" in the Berkshires with my friend Anne, not a hiking weekend. Shakespeare & Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was enchanting , with Kevin Rich 's Puck the standout of the evening. The play within the play was amusingly farcical, just as Shakespeare intended. The 200 girls from Belvoir Terrace certainly enjoyed it. My only criticism is that the production was a bit too long.

The Travelodge in Great Barrington was disappointing. Expensive for a motel feeling, with an odd showerstall in the bathroom.

Bartholomew's Cobble in Sheffield delighted with its massive limestone, marble and quartzite boulders, the lazy Housatonic River and dozens of species of ferns. We didn't climb the hill, though, which I've done in the past and can highly recommend.

The highlight of the weekend was the horrifying experience of driving at 80 mph on the Mass Pike and suddenly losing control of the car when the right front tire blew out! Yes, this was a highlight, not a lowlight. I still shudder to think of what might have happened, and how lucky we truly were. So many things worked in our favor, sparing us from an accident or serious injury. I was able to move over two lanes to the breakdown lane. No car was in the way when I had to move over. And there was an adequate breakdown lane (many parts of the Pike don't have a breakdown lane at all ... what a nightmare it would have been to stop in the middle of a lane!) No one rear-ended us as we screeched to a stop. I'm amazed that I had the presence of mind to turn on the hazards as I was struggling to control the car. All in all, we were very fortunate. What could have been a terrible accident turned out to be merely an inconvenience: in about one hour, with the help of AAA and the State Police, we were on our way again. This is why I consider this incident a highlight of the weekend.

I'll get a new spare tire this week. It's back to the Berkshires again next weekend! But this time it's to hike Mt. Greylock with the Mohawk Hudson chapter of the AMC.