The Benefits of Zipping Outside of the City

City life can be exciting to the point of exhaustion; sometimes it’s nice to venture beyond the concrete jungle for some r&r, even if it costs to do so. It’s not like there are too many cheap options for city fun anyway, so consider springing a little for a road trip.

Compared to commuter rail and buses, Zipcars are a reasonably priced way to travel outside of the city, especially with a bigger group to split expenses. Over the 4^th of July weekend, I traveled to Western Mass with a friend in the hopes of visiting the Eric Carle Museum. Roundtrip bus tickets to Amherst would’ve set us back just over $50 each—basically the cost of the car for the day.

Now you see the benefit of recruiting as many friends as possible to venture out with you; with a big enough group, you can afford to keep the car out for as long as you like!

We actually didn’t end up visiting the museum, since we got lost on the way. But, taking advantage of having the car for a few more hours, we decided to check out some other places we stumbled upon while cruising. After getting lunch at a hokey but fun 1950s diner (pictured above; not sure if that misspelling was intentional or what), we got some fresh air in a beautiful stretch of trees we nicknamed “the forest,” bought wine at a hole-in-the-wall liquor store, and visited a farm to buy cheap fruit (cherries at $1.99/lb, I kid you not).

Hopefully we’ll make it to the Carle museum later this summer—and while we’re out there it only makes sense to check out other interesting spots in the area. Here’s a taste of what Western Mass has to offer city slickers who want out for a day:

1. Get Food. In addition to fabulously fragrant candles, The Yankee Candle Flagship Store features Chandler’s, an award-winning restaurant known for having one of the best wine cellars in New England and hosting a range of events for all ages.
2. Get Cultured. Western Mass boasts of several museums. Besides the aforementioned Carle, you can visit the Historic Deerfield Museum, the Emily Dickinson Home and Museum, or Old Sturbridge Village (which features all kinds of reenactments of New England life circa 1790-1840).
3. Get Lost. If you prefer a less-structured day, consider hiking in the Mount Holyoke Range State Park or shopping in Downtown Northampton (or “NoHo,” for those in the know).

Now that you know how financially feasible and fun a road trip can be, it’s just a matter of finding the right day (or maybe whole weekend) to get out there.