Life from the Rockpile: 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.