Great Barrington, MA

If you live in Connecticut for longer than, oh, five minutes - or probably even if you just visit - you will hear the phrase "Between New York and Boston." And then you'll hear it again, and again, and again, as if Connecticut had nothing more to recommend it than geography.

Now, I love New York. I was born there, went to college there, lived there for longer than I've lived in any other single place, and consider it the one city in America where I really feel at home. And I don't deny that Boston, as New England's official Big City, is a very important player in the region. But aaarrgh, does that phrase get boring after a while.

Wouldn't it be more interesting, and more fun, to say Connecticut is between, say, Philadelphia and Providence? Or between Southampton and Great Barrington? I mean, shake it up a bit for once.

Great Barrington, by the way, is just a few minutes into Massachusetts on Route 7. And a very nice place for a little stroll.