Massachusetts - Day 6 Springfield

Partridge Hollow Campground, Monson
Thursday, 6 September 2018

today's route

I decided I couldn't stomach the Mass Pike and those stupid tolls so took a country road over to Springfield.  And I'm glad I did because it was lovely and peaceful and allowed me to listen to the Kavanaugh hearings with some amount of calm.  I didn't actually want to listen to them but found that regular stations were insipid compared to the committee goings-on.

I drove into Westfield and learned that it's known as the Whip City.  Sounds a little weird but apparently, in the late 1880s, at least 40 whip-making companies were established there, and one is still in operation.

And Westfield reminded me that I am now in the land of grinders.  I found this explanation for the distinction out of Houston.  https://www.houstonpress.com/.

I saw a road sign directing me to turn left for "pignataries."  I have no idea what that is, and as far as I can tell, neither does the internet.  Guess I should have turned left.

I saw a Sonic Drive-In around here.  Couldn't believe it.  I thought they were mostly southern.

In Springfield I visited the Dr. Seuss Statuary Garden, and you can too:

The Grinch and Max

Is this Maisie?

Thing 1 and Thing 2, right?

Isn't this Horton?

Oh the places you'll go!

from the front

from the back

I think this is a better angle but couldn't decide, so you get both.

I left smiling.

I decided against the Basketball Hall of Fame, not knowing enough minutiae about the sport to appreciate it.  But I do love basketball, so I tracked down a basketball monument that doesn't seem to be well known and wasn't very easy to find.

There were 4 of these etched panels, each with a different piece of information about basketball.  This one describes how James Naismith came to invent it.

The monument is in front of a branch of the Springfield Library.  Something else that's in front of it is this piece of art.  When I first looked at it, I thought I'd be taking a photo of a large tennis shoe, appropriate for being near the monument.  Then I got a closer look and realized it's a library tennis shoe.  I hope you can read at least some of it - the paint has grown faint in some places.