We had a good drive over to New Hampshire on Monday, with lots of sun. Because the weather was nice, we took a scenic route up close to the Adirondacks and through the middle of Vermont and the Green Mountains. I have to confess a little bit of disappointment at the size of the mountains we could see - I was expecting something more craggy, more...well, more like the Cascades or Rockies. A bit unreasonable, really, since the mountains on this side of the country are a lot older than those in the west. And we weren't really going through the wildest parts either. Still, despite that minor disappointment, it was nice to be back in hills and mountains. Brockport isn't bad, but it is certainly not hilly. On Tuesday we had a nice tour of the campus - it is small enough that we looped it twice in about 35 minutes - and I got to wander town and see what there was to see.
Anyway, it was good that we had that sun and that we got to see some of the area, because the drive back on Wednesday was the complete opposite. It was snowing as we left the town; that turned into steady rain combined with patches of dense fog. The fog disappeared as we descended out of the mountains, but the rain was with us until Rochester. We missed several scenic viewpoints because of the fog, and gave up any ideas of sightseeing in Bennington or elsewhere because of the general miserableness.
Here are a few pictures from the trip. The top one is the president of the college's house. See the giant snowbanks? Apparently, those don't go away until late May or early June. The second picture is, I assume, a syruping bucket. All the maples that lined the front entrance to the college had them. Cool. I don't know what the college does with the syrup - use it in the dining halls? Send it to incoming freshmen the way Whitman sends onions? The final picture is the view from Main Street, right in front of the college, looking out across the valley to the nearest ski area. There are 4 or 5 within an hour's drive, and plenty more reachable in only a few hours. Students get a free ski pass included with tuition - one student we met said that was the reason she chose to go there. Faculty don't get free passes, but do get a generous discount.I am not sure how I feel about New Hampshire yet - the fact that spring was at least another month away is daunting, but the chance for skiing and lots of summer hiking is pretty nice. Well, it isn't up to me yet, and may not ever be. Now we are just playing the waiting game.
1 comment:
We drove that same route through the Green Mountains once (I think), on our way to a conference at Dartmouth. In fact, I saw my first real, live moose along that road! We enjoyed the scenery, however non-mountainous it was, but I distinctly remember that we had the worst time finding any place to stop for a cup of coffee. Just like Vermont to make visitors feel like they're *supposed* to fall asleep and drive off the road and die.
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