The bridge/flower idea is unique and supposedly the only one like it in the world.
This guy was playing his violin at one end of the bridge. I couldn't name any of the songs he played, but I did recognize the 'Harlem Globetrotters' theme song.
Lots of beautiful flowers...
Lots of weird flowers...
And some vines thrown in here and there...
These are Wisteria Vines, and they were left in place when all the other plants were removed for renovations to the bridge back in the 80's.
Hey, check out that glass
A very short walk from the bridge across the shop lined center of town and you come apon this glass works gallery.
Lots of nice glass vases, bowls, jelwery, ect. Anything they could think of that could be made of glass. Here's a bowl and butterfly:
Attached to the gallery is the actual glass-blowing shop where they make their wares.
Normally these doors would be open and you'd have to stand on your toes to look over the crowd of spectators to watch three or four glassmiths spinning their glowing orbs of blown melted glass into works of art, the heat from the 2000 degree furnaces pouring out into the street.
Unfortunately, the doors were closed today, and signs on the windows said the shop was closed for renovations until late September.
Riverdance
Further down the street is the other famed Shelburne Falls Attraction, the Glacial Potholes.
There are about fifty of them at the Falls, from 6 inches wide to the world record 39 feet across. They were created by small stones swirling around under melting glaciers back in the day.
Now its basically a water park for whoever can sneak onto the rocks, as the town officially recognizes the area as closed to the public except for viewing. Liability reasons I'm sure.
Someone forgot to tell these people, apparently.
Onward and Upward
After checking out some shops on the main street, we headed out. We drove a little further up the Mohawk Trail to this picknick spot by the Deerfield River and had some lunch.
Since we had to go by Greenfield on the way back, and since I'm a sucker for vistas, we made a quick stop at the Poet's Seat Tower, a sandstone lookout tower on built in 1912, with great views of Greenfield and the surrounding hills. Some say it's haunted. Muuuahahahahaaaaaa.
From there, it was homeward bound...
