Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Hi!

I will possibly be rambling to the blog a lot this week. I have a lot to say after more than a week away from writing. I was away on a trip until 2 days ago.
I took some time with my son and ‘boyfriend like’ man person to visit friends in Vermont. Many of you know that I went to “college” there. I am an alumna of the illustrious Middlebury College in Middlebury Vermont. That is alumna, but not graduate … or for those whose Latin is a little rusty I attended the school but I did not graduate, I chose the what I call the 'leave college early combo number #3' of Fail out, get invited back, and choose ultimately not to return.

I discovered Middlebury on a bike trip to Vermont in the summer of 1984. 12 or so other kids and I rode 200+ miles through the mountains and little towns of that amazing state over 2 weeks. Every day we sat in a grassy patch somewhere to have lunch (mostly PB and J’s, Sliced Turkey, apples and sometimes a pint of Ben and Jerry’s when it was still made by Ben and Jerry) We cycled through Ludlow, and Bristol and Vergennes and many other places climbing massive hills including the frightening Middlebury gap(5 miles up, 9 miles down) On one day we rode into the little town of Middlebury (on the way into town we got to pee in the very old, but very chi chi lobby bathroom of the Middlebury Inn) Little did we know we would be back in town more than once, and that on the tour of the state we were often only within 20 miles of Middlebury.
On one of those lunch breaks we found a nice shady spot on the Middlebury College Campus across from the Admissions office. After talking to the other kids on the trip about US schools I learned more about the place. I grabbed a flyer from the Admissions building mail box display and miraculously that pamphlet made it home. There is more to the story, but ultimately in the fall of 1985 I matriculated into the class of 1989.
Through my 18 months at “Club Midd” (so named for the insane amount of luxurious sports facilities and such at the very wealthy college) and my bike trip and my many trips back to visit friends I fell head over heels in love with the state of Vermont and along with France and perhaps Scotland it is one my favourite places on earth.

We had amazing warm and sunny weather and many things to do and people to visit so we did not sit still much. Now, of course I am paying for it with post vacation tiredness. I truly believe I needed 2 days upon arrival to recover from the planning and traveling exhaustion part of the trip- not to mention the exhaustion of the 10 months of freakin’ cancer!! I think a 5 day trip would have been perfect AFTER those two days and then I need another 2 days to get home, and unpack and rest in order to get back to the routine of daily grown up life.
So, next trip I need to book 9 days?? I wish!!
One day.

2 comments:

j said...

A belated "welcome home!" Ah, Middlebury. I have a couple memories of it as well, including laying on the hood of a car watching a meteor shower.

bachwords said...

Vermont often reminds me of France...even the way you describe it sounds like cycling through the vineyards of Provence...ahhh, I remember it well but will have to take another trip to Vermont soon as France is out of the question for awhile!! I'm glad you had a great visit...cheers!

T xo