So Many Good Memories

Me on the Obs deck during a sunset from an earlier week

I'm home! It's been an adventure of a trip, with so many wonderful, unexpected twists. My final week was absolutely the best I could have asked for - I watched sunsets every night and had some crazy little jaunts around the summit. I also finished up a pretty final draft of my research document and managed a decent presentation of my project to some visitors and the staff. I never, ever imagined this trip was going to be as perfect and fun as it was, but as I said last week - it was completely thanks to my family, and also my coworkers and friends at the Obs. There's no way that I could have made it up and back in one piece without my family. As for the Obs folk, they're a great bunch of people and I'm so grateful for their generosity and friendship. A special shout-out, I think, is needed for Brian, Mike, Cara, and Wayne, who took care of me while I was on and off the mountain. They were there for me 24-7 with rides, talk, smiles, food, pints, places to hang out, and adventures to go on. Thanks, guys. You're some of the best friends I've had, and I plan on staying in touch with you for a really long time.


A warm season view to the east on the summit


The Cog train coming up the mountain with the Northern Presidentials and Great Gulf in the background

So on to the details of my last week, and my last off-week:

It was a quite gorgeous week, as I mentioned --only one night in the fog. Since I had a lot of work to do on my research project, I spent most of the first few days indoors, watching the convective clouds form and the boundary layer vary from day to day. Cindy, our volunteer, had her parents up to the summit for the first night. Her mom made something fantastic called slippery pot pie for dinner, which reminded me quite a bit of my favorite meal ever, chicken and dumplings, which my grandmother used to make for me (and my aunt does now). The summit was strangely warm, and visitors had started coming up the auto road. I learned how to work the register in the Obs gift shop downstairs and help Sharon, our museum attendant, restock the shelves. It was a very different atmosphere with so many people around, and from 9ish to 5ish we now were most concerned with scheduling tours and making sure visitor goings on were going on. I know that it would have gotten old for me after a while, but being there for just a week made the influx of people into the home I'd known to be just for us kind of fun. I've never minded organizing and other store-related jobs, so working in the gift shop broke up some of the monotony of sitting at a computer most of the day. We met several dogs that had hiked up with owners, met the folks themselves as they toured or took a break in the rotunda, and spoke with some very interesting and accomplished people in the shop.

Friday evening, I gave a presentation overview of my research to a group of Harvard students and professors who'd come up for a sort of edutrip with Ken. I was really nervous about it and had spent a good amount of time prepping, but it turned out great. It went for about an hour, but they followed along really well and even started me thinking on new paths for some of the questions I'd left unanswered. They were humble and friendly, and I was surprisingly glad to have had them around. I'm hoping that at least one of them decides to come back up to the summit soon, as they seemed interested...

Saturday evening was spent with Chris over in State Park, where we played guitar and harp at the 231 lounge and Chris played his old favorite, Amy Whinehouse, and introduced us to Tom Waits. Crude, but hilarious. I'm going to miss hanging out with Chris and the rest of the State Park gang --thanks to Mike, though, I was able to snag some of Chris's maple syrup from his beautiful sugar shack.

Mike and I took a hike toward Lakes of the Clouds with Marty, then down to look into the Great Gulf the following morning, and went down toward Nelson Crag later that day with Brian and Marty. Both times he went, the pads on our kitty's feet must have been quite sore, or he must have not been acclimated to the warm temperatures.


The cairns on a sunny, blue day looking up from the Great Gulf


The view on our hike down to the Great Gulf - looking at Spalding Lake and the Great Gulf Wilderness. We sat on a rock and watched the Cog train and clouds go by for a while before returning to the hussle and bussle of the Observatory.


The ski runs in late May, from our spot on a rock overlooking the Great Gulf

On Sunday night, Mike discovered that despite the fog and drizzle at the summit, Lakes of the Clouds just 1000 feet below and to the southwest of us was in the clear. We packed some warm clothes and towels, hot chocolate and delicious cookie bars, and set off. I'd had my reservations about doing a silly thing like swimming in a lake that's still got ice in it and then hiking through cold fog in the dark, but Mike had certainly proven to me that he knew what he was doing on a mountaintop. Lucky for me, it was an amazing experience! The sun set right before us as we took several very quick dips in the lake, ate our treats, and made our way back up the maze of sedge and rocks. As we left, however, we heard a loud crash --we looked at each other, not looking forward to spending a cold night outside. The crashes continued, though, and we realized that they were from a Memorial Day fireworks display at Bretton Woods ski area. As if the evening hadn't been a complete success already, this was absolutely the whipped cream, strawberry, and sprinkles on top. When the fireworks stopped, we walked back into the clouds.


The cap cloud over the summit, looking into the valley to the northwest as we were just getting below it.


Mt. Monroe as we came down the Crawford Trail to Lakes


Mike on the trail, overlooking the Lakes hut, the valley, and the lake that we're about to take a dip in!


The sunset from our swimming hole at Lakes. It was very pastel until the very last few seconds, when a bright orange bit shone out of a hole in the clouds.

Monday evening, we ventured the other direction - northward - and slept out under the stars. It was a balmy 20 degrees, and no sign of clouds. In the morning, we watched the final sunrise I'd see on the summit, and meandered back up the mountain for Mike's morning observations.


My second-to-last summit sunset with the Obs deck fence. There weren't too many clouds to color up this time, but it was pretty interesting with that long cloud to the left of the sun.


My second-to-last sunset on the summit, with the tower in the foreground

Tuesday went by very quickly --the week had seemingly accelerated from quick to the speed of sound. We enjoyed some time over in State Park and, I think, watched the Holy Grail. Our tradition of watching Scrubs and all curling up beneath the fuzzy, grey blanket will be one that I miss. I'm definitely going to be getting some Scrubs in the near future to keep my mind occupied as I go through mountain withdrawl. Saying goodbye to the summit was incredibly difficult. It rained and was foggy on Wednesday. I love the rain, being an Oregonian, so I'm almost glad that it did. As Brian drove down the auto road, I fought back tears so that I could see the road for one last trip down.


Jim of State Park watched the sunset with us on my last night on the summit, and was nice enough to take this picture for us. There were several cameras, and this one seemed the best shot. From left to right: Mike, me, Sharon who's in charge of the summit gift shop and museum on this shift, Cindy our volunteer (she's not actually that short!), Brian, and Ryan.

Cara (a good friend from the WDC) planned two goodbye parties for me--one with the Obs folk at May Kelly's (the fantastic Irish pub in town that we often went to after shift change) on Wednesday night, and another out back of her apartment, complete with fire pit and grill. Between the two and a fun night of candlestick bowling with the boys, I pretty much got to see everyone that I had met in the past five months for one last farewell. In between the two, my dad came up from Connecticut, where his family is, to say hello and collect my stuff. Yes, he flew all the way from Oregon and then drove from Connecticut to pick it up! Of course it meant that he was able to see where I'd been living, but it was unfortunately a bit grey and drizzly on Thursday so that the auto road was closed. He took Cara, Brian, Mike, and I out to lunch and drinks at the Moat (another excellent North Conway establishment/brewery), drove Mike and I around a bit to see the area, and then headed south.


Cara's BBQ that she threw for me --she's messing with the grill, and the firepit's to the right. From left to right in this one: Cara, her pup Pontcha, our friend Dan, Ryan, Brian, and two neighbors (I'm sorry - I can't remember names!)


My last sunset on the summit. This was one of the best I've seen, I think, although a bit tearful.

Saturday, Brian and I helped THE Jim Salge move some cars around for an outing club trip (yay! Driving stick!!), then drove to Boston. I'd been ragging on him to take me someplace exciting while I was out there, so we opted for Boston since he'd never really been. We parked outside the city and took the commuter rail to meet my cousin Pat, who's studying pharmacy at Northeastern. He was nice enough to let us crash in his room, eat in his caf, and show us around the city for a couple days. We ate various ethnic foods at Fanieul Hall, watched the sunset on the riverfront, enjoyed some edible art at a very fancy dessert restaurant, and finished the evening with some drinks (I'm still waiting for Pat to turn 21.... his birthday is this summer!). Sunday we saw the Harvard and MIT campuses, the former of which I was impressed with and the latter of which must have been must better on the inside, followed by a walk over the Charles and the Freedom Trail a bit. The Commons was buzzing with people, and we stopped to take in the city greenery. The day went from beautiful blue and hot to a little of a convective storm in the afternoon --we heard a little thunder between the Old North and Old South Churches. By that time, we'd met up with Brian's friend, Luna, who's currently a grad student in meteorology at Penn State. We had a couple drinks at the oldest tavern in America (I think it was the Bell Handle), then some fried foods a few doors down. It was great to meet someone from Brian's school, since I think he's quite a different person now. I would have liked to see his home like I did Mike's... maybe for another trip! It was really sweet of Brian to offer to take me to Boston, and also the extra several hours to Connecticut. Thanks, Bri. ( :


A building of MIT... definitely the most impressive one we saw. Most were more steel and windows, while Harvard had the more classic brick look. Some of the building on the central part of the Harvard campus had plaques saying that they had been used as barracks in the Revolutionary War, then as dormitories for the students. Pretty impressive, but I'm sure that MIT has set its priorities straight and spends its funds on instrumentation and research.


Looking over the Charles River toward the center of Boston from right out front of MIT. There were tons of sailboats out on Sunday, and it was perfect weather!


The Boston Commons, hopping with couples, people with their dogs, and parents with kids. Off in the distance on the right, you can see the bridge going over the pond with the Swan boats. I suppose this is the Harvard/MIT/Northeastern/Boston College/Uni/etc. version of the boats at Cambridge.


This is the Old South Meeting House, where the Boston Tea Party was started. It's on the Freedom Trail, not too far from the Commons.


Along the freedom trail, here's the Old State House. It's got a beautiful gold unicorn and lion on the top of the building, and is just next to the site of the Boston Massacre.


Brian and Luna before we had to duck under cover as a storm passed over. This is out front of the Old North Church where Paul Revere awaited the "one if by land, two if by sea" signal.


In reference to a totally inappropriate but hilarious Youtube video... Brian with an empty Muscle Milk container discovered outside of Pat's dorm room.

Brian dropped me off in Connecticut on Monday and I spent a few days with my family. I got to celebrate my great uncle Wasil's 85th birthday and even see the house that my grandfather built and my dad grew up in. From there, I stopped in Illinois for the Knox Graduation (congrats, everyone --Smalls, Carrie Frye, Pat included!) and to spend some time with Kim in Chicago.


The graduation ceremony outside of Old Main at Knox


Kim at the Fragrance Gardens in the Morton Arboretum in Chicago where she works. She let me crash at her place for a night and drove me to Knox for the graduation. She's currently merrily ripping out invasive species in the Arboretum. She was planning on going to the Tuesday Cubs-Sox game - she's a huge Cubs fan. Hopefully she'll be going on Thursday instead...


Having coffee after a delicious grilled meal at my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bill's in Winsted, CT. Sandy and Bill picked me up from the airport in Connecticut, let me stay with them, found me a guitar and a long list of other necessary items, drove me to New Hampshire, let me stay with them several nights at both ends of the trip, and dropped me off at the airport. There is absolutely no way I would have made this trip without them. Not pictured (they're still working!) are Tomm and Diane (Diane is my dad's other sister, and also Pat's mom), who also took me in, got me necessities, and came taught me to ski when they came to make sure I was still sane up in New Hampshire. They were also absolutely essential in making this happen. Clockwise in this picture, starting from the foreground on the left: my dad (Peter), Bill, Sandy, my Grandma (Olga), and her brother, Wasil. Yes, that's a Yuengling hat.

I'm not sure that I can think of too many things which would have made this trip any better, given the time constraints. I was expecting a long, hard five months of intense situations intermingled with a whole lot of time for reading. While I regret to say that I didn't finish any of the novels I'd wanted to or study hardly at all, I never anticipated such a wonderful experience. Between the challenges of my research tasks, picking up important bits of info on meteorology and mountain living, and spending time with some amazing people, I learned a huge amount and enjoyed almost every second of it. One more time --thank you to everyone out there. I miss you all (and the mountain) already!


The last sunset

Week Nine: Almost Time to Say Goodbye

Jim of State Park, Althea (a volunteer), Ryan Buckley (former intern), and Mike watching the sunset on Tuesday evening. An excellent sunset to finish off a gorgeous week.

This week was certainly a nice one --the weather has become summery, with convective clouds building on most days and even some thunderstorms in the early evenings. Since I've had such a good time the rest of my weeks up, though, I'm really buckling down these last couple weeks to get what I want done on my research project. I've been making all kinds of stat calculations on the boundary layer figures I've gotten from models, been reading up on what other people at other particulate sites have found, and have been comparing weather parameters and other data to some specific pollution events in our area. I still feel like there's an overwhelming amount of work to be done, and I hope that other interns are interested in continuing with these analyses in the future. I found out that the Alpine Project, which is being continued by the Appalachian Mountain Club (Georgia, my research mentor, works for them), the observatory, and several academic institutions, will be working on questions similar to those I've been asking. I'm hoping that the data I've put together will give a starting point to some of the work they'll be doing.


We had almost no snow on the summit at the beginning of the week... we got the snow and rime back, however, over the weekend!

Besides all that, I did get to spend some quality time playing guitar with Mike and out hiking with our volunteers, Althea and Paul. We got to go on a couple of good jaunts, and ended up walking down the auto road on Wednesday because there were lots of meetings that the three of us didn't need to be involved in. Some of the flowers and shrubs are starting to come up on the mountain, especially below treeline. Toward the summit, bright red bushes are intensifying in color and make for a really nice contrast with the lime green lichen on grey rocks. Farther down the mountain, we saw patches of crimson trilliums –the ones out west are primarily white. The auto road has opened to the public to halfway, and it was strange to see cars coming up. This weekend will be really full at the summit, as the cars will be allowed to come up all the way. Brian says there are maybe a thousand or two people who come through on a given summer weekend, and Memorial Day weekend (this weekend) is usually even more packed. It’ll be a big change having visitors around, gift shops and the museum open, and tours going on. I have to admit that I’m not all that excited about giving tours, but I’m really glad that I’ve had so much time to get to know the building and the area beforehand. An extra cup of coffee to get me going in the morning should make it easier.


Making our way down the road on (I think) Friday night toward Nelson Crag (the farthest point out to the right). We took the rocky way down and the road back up.


Brush (much brighter red in actuality) on the rocks out on Nelson Crag


Sedge on the rocks toward Nelson Crag. It's tough to avoid walking on this stuff, but the alpine plants are rare and very old.


A rainbow in the clouds over Carter Notch

I saw my first thunderstorm up close this week, which was pretty spectacular. The bolts were up close and extremely brilliant --bright pink and very broad. The lightning sounded different in that it was almost tinny (trash can lids being slammed together is the way Ryan put it), and it was often very dampened by the wind and moisture. The guys weren’t all that into the storm since they’d seen several before, but they did have to keep tally of the last bolt so that they could report the end of the storm. We were actually inside the thundercloud, so there wasn’t much to see between flashes, but it was still amazing to see. The night before, Mike and I had taken a stroll down the auto road, which ended at Nelson Crag with a spectacular view of a passing ominous cumulonimbus. We saw one flash from it, and watched the sun go down beyond it. There were too many phenomena to watch at once, ending with a glowing, and almost full moonrise to the east. Hopefully we’ll see more nights like that this coming week...


The convective clouds were really beautiful this week --this is, I think, the night that the thunderstorm hit the mountain.


Looking west toward Bretton Woods and green hills after our snow cover returned for a few days.


The obs deck covered in snow and rime once more, with a nice undercast to go with it.


Looking over the rimey rocks of the southwest end of the summit toward Bretton Woods


Looking toward Monroe and the South Presi's after our brief snow cover and clearing.


Paul and Althea, the week's volunteers


One last snowy self photo.


The snow cover brought back the wintry feel to the mountain for another couple days, but the convective clouds and blue skies above persisted. The cog (you can see the tracks here in the foreground) starting running this week, bringing people to the summit twice a day. The smoke from the cog looks pretty nasty, but apparently they've got a biodiesel engine and Mike made the point that the cars pollute the air a whole lot more. Althea, Paul, and I had a bit of a discussion on the walk down on Wednesday about what could be done to alleviate some of that. I'm not sure how I feel about keeping cars or some cars off of the summit, but I do think that the health of such a beautiful place should be considered before its value to us...


The ice climbing runs in Huntington Ravine, mostly discontinuous. You can see some of the East snowfields at the top, though, which some of the crew got a couple runs out of this week.


The view from Nelson Crag as we watched a thunderstorm roll by to the right and the sunset to the left.


East snowfields and the rocks on the crag, looking up to the summit at dusk.

This off-week, we hiked up Mount Chocorua (about 3500 ft) and I got to explore this area in its non-snowy season. The river out front of my house is flowing beautifully and the trees and brilliant shades of green all over the hills and valley. The North Conway area has a surprising number of vistas and parks to see in fair weather, including gorgeous, smooth waterfalls and rocky ledges overlooking the valley. Ed O’Malley, our volunteer from a few weeks ago, drove me around for a few days, finding new places to take pictures and take in the view. We even made it to the Maine coast one day –it was so nice to finally see the ocean! It’s going to be really nice to get back to my rocky west coast shorelines, but I’m definitely going to miss this place.


And now for the sappy part…


I’m hoping to go on a few more adventures next off-week before I head down to Connecticut, so I don’t know when I’ll be posting again. This has been one of the most exciting and changing experiences I’ve had so far, and I really hope that I can continue enjoying life the way that I’ve learned to out here. It’s going to be tremendously difficult to say goodbye to the people who have invited me into their homes and gone out of their ways to make my internship so wonderful. I don’t really think that I could ever tell them how much this has meant to me, or really express how thankful I am to have been given this time here. Mike, Brian and Ryan have become like brothers to me. Mike has taken me on many more hikes than I can remember, and taught me an incredible amount about being in the mountains. Despite my reservations about rock climbing, I know that I wouldn’t have been able to do that a few months ago –I’m certain that his free spirit and willingness to take on whatever adventure whenever it comes at him have rubbed off on me a bit. Brian has been a great mentor, answering all my questions and giving me a few physically challenging tasks, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. His work ethic and organization has kept me motivated to do my research and summit duties, but he’s also been extremely generous in giving me rides and inviting me to do things on off-weeks. While all three of the guys know a lot about weather, Ryan has been my go-to man for meteorology questions. He’s not only an expert on seemingly all phenomena that crossed our radar screen, but he’s also great at explaining them. From the basics of frontal movement to derechos and cloud coding, he’s the man to ask. I wish that I could have gone on more hikes with him (he was great to have there on the summit hike, but missed out on Chocorua), but I’m glad to have been on his shift and to have had someone to share my west coast heritage with. Cara, Chris, Jordan, Pontcha, Marty, Wayne and buddies, summit volunteers, state park employees, and everyone at the WDC and here in Glen have been so much fun to be around. I hope that I make it back here sooner rather than later because I’m going to miss you all so much. I’m certain that I’d go a little more nuts than all of you are living in this area, but I’ve felt very at home these past few months thanks to you all. May future interns get a similar, fantastic experience, and may the summit remain the lovely, lively place it has been for so many generations of weather and mountain dorks.

Sunset toward the end of the week --this was really good one, although Ryan only rated it a two. There's no way this was only a two. I've gotta wonder what kind of crazy sunsets he's seen on this mountain...

Virga to the southwest at sunset, dissipating as the sun goes down (another tidbit from Ryan).

Sunset at the end of the week overlooking two of the many lakes we can see from the summit.

An Off-Week to Remember: Montreal and Burlington, Vermont

Jordan, Mike, Chris and I at our front-and-center table at Upstairs Jazz in Montreal on Friday night

As I mentioned to Mike this week as we were driving back from a very eventful and fun off-week, I originally thought that this trip was going to be spent in a tiny town and roughing it at the top of a cold, snowy mountain. I wasn't sure what kind of people I would meet, and I wasn't sure that I would have anything to do but sit and read through my college class notes. While I certainly need to start studying for my entrance exams, I've been fortunate enough to meet a whole bunch of fantastic, entertaining people out here who have made my time in New Hampshire much better than I could have imagined.

Straight after getting off the mountain last shift change, Mike, Mike's mom and I drove toward Irasburg, Vermont where Mike grew up. It was the start of a full week of travelling, meeting new people, and experiencing New England. We made a detour to Littleton, NH on our way west to see the inn that my neighbor in Newport, Rudy Hoodaling, managed way back when. We took a couple pictures and enjoyed some stories from Robin about the town, then continued to Irasburg.

The Littleton Inn (now Thayer's Inn) in Littleton, NH

Particularly compared to the state lines of the west coast states, the cross over into VT is dramatic: the color palette of the land becomes a variety of bright greens rather than mostly browns and greys, and the hills become rolling hills rather than rocky ridges. Irasburg was spread out with fences marking extensive plots of land. We met some family friends, Rick and Amy, along with their kids Josh and Katie at the Finnegans' house. Chris, Mike's girlfriend, also drove up from Burlington to go to dinner. We decided on one of two restaurants in the area (although Katy begged for Chinese): Parker Pie, home of the infamous Scott Sauce and some very delicious pizzas. I got to have pizza with Scott Sauce and buffalo chicken on it, and met a few of Mike's good friends from home. The restaurant has quite a story, and was absolutely packed despite its seemingly being in the middle of nowhere. We headed back down to Chris and Mike's house that night in Burlington -I drove with Chris and got a nice little tour of the towns on the way.

Chris and Mike live in Richmond, which is just outside of Burlington. They share a nice-size house in a secluded caldesac complete with firepit and forest, with another couple. Tim and Martha will be getting married this August (we got to try out some of the celebratory fireworks), and are very cool people. After a quick hello and a bite to eat, Chris, Mike and I picked up Jordan (the other intern from the MWO who just finished up) and headed for Montreal. Again, the country border was a drastic change: Canada was a transition to flat fields headlined by quaint little farmhouses and French signs. Once in Montreal and checked into our extended stay (nice job, Chris) hotel in the middle of town, we wandered through Chinatown and into Old Montreal. We passed a few significant markers - churches and statues of various famous Montrealans, including some of Jeanne de Mance who started and single-handedly ran the area hospital for something like eleven years. That night, we took the underground system to the newer part of town for a very nice dinner at Au Pied de Cochon (Under the Pig's Foot). The restaurant had been recommended to Chris, so we all splurged on fancy French food: Soupe à l'Oignon Gratinée, Foie Gras Poutine, Duck in a Can, Blue Cheese, Apple & Endive Salad, Jarret d'agneau confit, Chocolate Molten Cake, Maple Syrup Pie for 2, and a variety of tasty drinks. The atmosphere was fancy but entertaining and boisterous, to be followed by a city walk home in the rain.

Getting ready for stepping out into Montreal: Jordan, Chris, Mike

View from the hotel room, looking toward the St. Laurence River. The newer and businessy parts of town are to the right.

A little bit of information about Rue St. Laurent and Montreal's rich ethnic history in general

This statue was outside of the big church we passed by on our first outing. I didn't notice other names of the figures, but I did see Jeanne de Mance.

Looking back from Old Montreal toward the more businessy portion of it

A very nice-looking building with a cloth facade painted onto the scaffolding on the left part of it. On the left, there's the cart where we got some delicious smoothies to tide us over for the amazing dinner ahead...

A big boat sporting a Canadian homeplace

Day two began with a nice few hours in the Biodome --a indoor zoo with several segregated ecosystems, including the Saint Laurance forest, jungle, and antarctic. I was particularly excited to see the various South American and African fish including cichlids, and the number of bird species throughout the building was also pretty spectacular. We met Josh and Amy (from Irasburg) at the penguins, on their way through for a field trip. The insectarium and botanical gardens were part of the package, so we continued on for another hour or two to see some really beautiful butterflies, creepy spiders, and lovely outdoor gardens. The flowers weren't quite in bloom yet with the exception of the magnolias, but the weather turned out to be much nicer than predicted, so we spent some time lying in the grass.

A large, flat-billed pink bird and me

Macaws in the jungle section of the Biodome --another check on the bird bingo sheet

Cichlid varieties in a tank at the biodome - we studied cichlids a bit in aquatic ecology, so it was really neat to see these guys in person.

Penguins! This particular group of Kings at the biodome seemed to be very interested in the wall. Jordan's theory is that they were guarding some sort of door over there.

Taking some time off our feet to lay in the shady grass at the botanical gardens

Mama and baby turtles

Jordan, Chris, and Mike on our way out of the botanical gardens

That night, we went back to the newer part of town for a tribute to Mingus by the Normand Guilbeault Ensemble at Upstairs Jazz, which was absolutely fabulous. We ate dinner and watched the first part of the show just outside of the window so that we could see the backs of the players and the music. I gave the drummer a thumbs up after a few great, tight but raucus charts, and we promptly moved inside as people filtered out and the rain began to fall. We sat directly in front of the stage, enjoying three sets of Mingus songs, none of which I had heard before. The group consisted of a very expressive bassist (of course), pianist, trumpet with a bit of an older style, drummer who was spot-on, crazy good and quick-fingered clarinet/bass clarinetist, and a bari/alto/floutist. The clarinetist talked with us a little after the show, telling us that they'd already done several albums of Mingus's music and they'd moved on to some more obscure pieces for this one (they were recording that night.... going to have to find that one online!). One of my favorite charts was called "All the Things You Could Be by Now if Sigmond Frued's Wife Was Your Mother" and Mike happened to catch a good bit of it on video, including a screaming solo by the clarinetist. I also really liked "Prayer for Passive Resistance". The next morning, we made our way up to Mont Royal, which overlooks the city. We spent a few minutes pointing out places we'd been and passing around a frisbee, then headed for home.

Dinner on Friday - I tried the steak et frites, which was very good.

Taken from our window seat, looking in at the drums, trumpet, sax, and clarinet

The piano and beautiful bari sax in front of our table

Back in Burlington, I went for a nice run around their neighborhood - the first one I'd been able to do in quite a while! The three of us (minus Jordan) enjoyed breakfast out at the acclaimed Sneakers, then walked around downtown to see the pedestrians only Church Street, see the Outdoor Gear Exchange (OGE) where Mike used to work, explore the shores of Lake Champlain, and taste some creamy ice cream and Vermont Brewery beer. Later, we cooked up some fish and fiddleheads that we'd picked on the side of the Winooski River.

Monday, we joined Tim (who climbs for the army) at rock climbing at Bolton - my first time ever. It was scary, especially the first two times (In the Pines, Harvest Moon). My third go (Wavy Goodbye) was a bit easier, and the spot had a bit less grade to it. The area was beautiful, with a nice view of the mountains across the valley. It was really cool to see the guys make it up so quickly, and I think a few more times up a rock with a bit of weight-lifting before will make climbing a lot of fun. When we finished up, we drove up a bit farther to Waterbury Wings for a beer and wings (which is now The Riviera; it changed over at five just in time for us to be the last order off the old menu, and Jordan and Sara to be the first on the new menu). A quick shower at the house and back up over to Burlington, where were had a few beers with Jordan at Three Needs followed by a sunrise sandwich at Kountry Kart Deli (KKD).

Mike, Tim, and Addison (Addy, Tim's dog) getting ready for climbing in their living room


Tim repelling down our first climb, Into the Pines

Me heading up Harvest Moon (more of a flat climb)

Mike belaying Chris up Wavy Goodbye

The view from the top of the climb

Our last day in Burlington was spent touring the free(ish) foods of the area: a tour and ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry's, cheese tastes at Cabot, chocolates at Champlain Chocolate, and cider and donuts at Cold Hollow. Mike and I ran some errands while Chris was at work, had a tasty lunch at Al's French Frys, and went to a cinco de mayo party at a house on the hill above Lake Champlain (gorgeous!). I got to meet several people from the OGE and enjoy a very festive party, crazy hippy wearing sombrero included. All in all a really fun and full week! It was great to see all the places Mike had mentioned to me, and meet all the people he'd talked about the last several weeks. It's still not the northwest, but I do really like Vermont. I've got to make sure that Mike makes it to the jazz festivals in Burlington and Montreal this year, as they'll be great and I'm sorry to have to miss them. It's going to be tough to leave this coast, but I'm certainly missing everyone and everyplace at home, too. I'll just keep wishing for a teleport technology in the near future.

Entrance to the Ben & Jerry's factory and visitor center

A cheesy photo opp at the end of our tour... a bit blurry, but worth the touristy humiliation

Mike and I as the brilliant med-school rejects themselves

Mike at the flavor cemetery, overlooking the factory and Vermont mountains