Berkshires, Bizen and BashBish....PART 1

With the threat of Hurricane Irene approaching New York I decided to get out while I could and  drive up to Great Barrington, one of my favorite places to visit in the Berkshires.

Heading into The Berkshires

As I drove I thought about the hurricane and the people who were preparing for it. I began to WONDER,  What should I do? Do I  purchase candles, batteries and a radio? How was I to know? I am a Canadian from the  Prairies and have never experienced anything like this. Could it really be as bad as everybody is predicting? My first thought was  FOOD (of course) and  since I was in the area I decided to make a pit stop in Housatonic, Massachusetts  at Berkshire Mountain Bakery to  pick up  some of the BEST  bread I have ever tasted...YUM! and it would be non perishable....perfect hurricane food.
Next stop BIZEN,  a Japanese  restaurant in Great Barrington. I ordered  the usual a Silence of the Yams roll which has tempura squash, sweet potato, coconut and a spicy sauce. I also tried  a cold soba noodle salad prepared with fresh  veggies and a light soy dressing, it was delicious.  On one of my recent visits to Bizen the sushi chef mentioned that he was teaching a  vegetarian sushi class at Kripalu, a yoga centre in Lenox, Massachusetts.    Seriously,  what would  be better than a weekend of yoga and sushi in the middle of the mountains?
There are so many great things to see  as you travel through the Berkshires. On any given day you will see beautiful farms, grazing animals, lakes and ponds but  today I found BashBish Falls...kind of.

When I say kind of  that means that I didn't make it all the way to the falls.  It seems that I have not gotten over my fear of bears or anything else that might consider me a tasty snack.  I can not go hiking by myself...I have tried.  Today I  made it 1/4 of a mile down a 3/4 mile trail until I realized there was nobody around,  I got scared and walked QUICKLY back to my car.  There are a  few good pictures but  would love to see  a waterfall and get some great pictures in part 2. Stay tuned!