July 26 - Lee, Lenox and Tanglewood

The towns here in the Berkshires are really bustling with tourists. First thing in the morning we joined the throng of visitors heading to Tanglewood. Most were attending the morning rehearsal, but we had to collect our tickets for the evening performance of the Boston POPS. We were going to attend - “Evening at the movies”. I discovered that kids 12 and under are free, and they were gracious enough to give me a refund on three of our tickets. I was really excited and looking forward to an evening picnic on the grass followed by a live performance. We returned to Lenox to do some desperately needed laundry. Finding parking was quite the challenge. While the clothes were drying Mike and I strolled through the arts and crafts market hosted by a local church. I was amazed to see such intricate and original art. It would be easy to spend a fortune buying wonderful gifts. We did meet an author of teen adventure books. Mike chatted to him for a while and purchased an autographed copy of one. We raided the local grocery store in Lee for all sorts of treats for our evening picnic and finished up at the library before heading back to the camper. I had a quick afternoon nap after prepping our picnic. We headed back to Tanglewood so that we could be there when the gates opened at 5:30. We found a spot on the lawn and settled down for a long wait. We read and played card games in the sun. All too quickly the rain clouds moved in and we had to hide under our tarp while the heavens opened up. Our dinner was great and the treats that followed kept us in good spirits while we waited for the show to start. As more people arrived the seating on the lawn became quite cozy. The boys talked to many of our neighbors. At 8:30 John William’s walked onto the stage to conduct the orchestra. We were enthralled with the sounds of his and other composer’s music scores. The boys recognized quite a few pieces that were played. After the intermission things really became exciting. Stephen Spielberg walked onto the stage and spent the next hour narrating and introducing pieces of music from his Indiana Jones movies. It was wonderful to watch movie clips on large screen and know that we were hearing the music live, and in the presence of these two talented people. What an evening! (pic)

We got back to the camper at midnight and crawled into bed after warm showers.