MA - October Mountain State Forest

I gathered up three of my girlfriends and left the boys behind for Memorial Day weekend (don't worry, they were busy with scout stuff, and some "don't tell mom" stuff.)  We had a great time in the Birkshires!  We went up for the Memorial Day Races at Tanglewood.  With a full array of races (5k, 10k, half and full marathon, 15k trail race, and 50 mile trail ride) there was something for everyone!

We stayed at nearby October Mountain State Forest and were in site 6.  This one is a pull-through if you don't have neighbors in site 5.  Not that backing is a big deal, but since we were driving the Winnie to the races each day, I think I'd pick one of the true pull-through sites next time for ultimate convenience.

So, we pull into Tanglewood on Saturday and they have us park right up front - literally steps away from the finish line!  Talk about feeling sweet parking spot!

Some scenes from the Saturday trail run portion of the events:

Despite the ominous looking clouds, it didn't rain on us - perfect running weather, actually!

We took a couple of nice hikes at October Mountain:

And via the all-knowing Google, we learned about these little orange guys: the Eastern Newt in the red eft juvenile stage, pretty cute!

Sunday was the larger portion of the races, along with a music festival afterward.  So, we pulled up and figured we'd need to park somewhere else...nope!  The volunteers greeted us with "are you guys the ones from yesterday?  Perfect, then you know where to park."  SWEET!  So we ate breakfast and watched the marathon and half marathon start right out the window.

Ready to run the 5k and 10k:

Then after the race we showered off, had lunch, and hung out at the Winnie within comfortable earshot of the concert :)

Then we took a nice nice walk around the grounds of both Tabglewood and Kripalu.  Just beautiful!