Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Mass., is a classic place to curl up

It's been a mild winter in the Northeast so far and I, for one, don't like it. I miss those exciting blizzards that hit the region almost nonstop from Christmas to Presidents Day. I moved from Rome to New England in 2011, and everything was fine until early November when a man in a pickup stopped by my house to ask whether I wanted him to plow the drive. I must have looked blank, because his eyes narrowed and he said that it was going to be a long, hard winter.

By Susan Spano, Special to the Los Angeles Times

February 19, 2012