Diana's First Visit to Western Mass: Part 1

One of my best photography buddies (and one of my best buddies in general), Diana, is from the Mississippi coast. When I found out that Adam was going to be moving to Pittsburgh, she decided to come visit and keep me company for a weekend. She was so excited to visit during the fall, because she doesn't really get to see any foliage down there along the coast. She was arriving a bit after peak season, but I was determined to show her how pretty fall is around here.

The day she arrived, I picked her up from the airport and on our way back to my place, we stopped at our friend's cupcake shop, Kayce Cupcakes. Diana has heard all about this place from me and the owners (Larry and Kayce), a father daughter duo who we're mutual friends with, so she was excited to be able to finally try it.

We got a cotton candy and a s'mores cupcake to try. The s'mores is my favorite, it's the closest that I've had to the ones at Kara's Cupcakes (huge props to Larry and Kayce for making something so delicious!). I thought it was funny that my nails matched the color of the cotton candy icing. I asked Larry if they needed a hand model.

We also got a sneak peek of one of their new flavors for the month of November, sweet potato casserole. Yum.

On our way to dinner, I decided to take the long way around to Northampton, through Amherst and Hadley, so I could show Diana some of the sights. A few weeks ago, I noticed these house installation pieces went up on the Hampshire College lawn and I was intrigued. Luckily, Diana was also curious, so we stopped to get some photos. I think it was Hampshire Halloween that night and they block the entrances off for a big party which is invite only (not the case when I was in college!), so we hurried to take some pictures before anyone could shoo us off.

In Hadley, on one of the back roads, I've always noticed people walking on what looks like a path, but never knew what it really was. It isn't the bike path - which is just down the street. Diana was game to check it out, so we parked in the little lot and headed up towards where the path was only to find out that it had an AMAZING view of the Connecticut river. It was also an amazing sunset that night. I got to try out my new iPhone toy here. I bought the Photojojo phone lens set and used the wide angle lens to get the shot of Diana and I. Such a great little piece of glass, I totally recommend them (I'll show more shots with the macro lens in my next post)!

We had food from Zen for dinner and Herrell's ice cream for dessert. I stuck with one of my fall favorites, pumpkin, while Diana had an interesting flavor, Sweet Dreams, which was chamomile, honey, lemon and vanilla flavored. She said she really liked it. I guess I'll have to try it if I head back there! We both had a little ice cream with our sprinkles. :)

Stay tuned for Part 2, our trip up to Bernardston and Greenfield, MA!