MassMOCA, Mountains and Mike's Clam Shack

Not Terrell, an outdoor installation

Friday, September 14, 2017   We left Craryville quite early in the day for a very full day of activities.  Our first stop was the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams (MassMOCA).  It's an old Sprague Electrical Plant that has been turned into a huge modern art museum, without its own collection, that provides a site for huge installations.   We went specifically to see the light exhibit of James Terrell.  He's an artist whose installations we had seen at a Seattle art museum years ago and we wanted another glimpse of his abilities to affect the perception of space and light.   

The main installation we saw, Perfectly Clear, we had seen in an earlier version.  This one is bigger and better.  A huge room that appears without end as the lights change and the brain perceives each change differently.  With a strobe light show involved, it is quite a moving experience.  

The museum also gave Ben a chance to explore the perceptions of the barista at Tunnel Coffee on the museum grounds.  A successful coffee. He clearly got his art.   

From North Adams we headed north into Vermont to see more of the Fall colors.   We found them, though are not yet at their peak.  The reds have developed in the five days we have been in New England and the golds and oranges are beginning.  The Green Mountains of Vermont have changed with the season.   We drove across Vermont, into New Hampshire and then to the Maine Seacoast where we spent last night at the Mariner's resort about five miles north of Ogunquit.

Vermont

 

There is the Atlantic in the fog

 A pleasant motel, lots of kids and Quebecois.  We found a huge eatery on the recommendation of the motel desk called Mike's Clam Shack---a multi-room eating extravaganza, where we managed to finish to 2 lb (1 kg +/-) lobster each.   We rolled out, but it was worth all the work to enjoy the claws, tails and bodies of the beasts.