Blogs from Vermont, United States, North America - page 26

I slept great thanks to the fact that I was so tired after all the walking yesterday. There was no sign of Locker Room Lady as I checked out. I wondered if I would dare catch the subway or catch a cab downtown. I had been in NYC and hadn’t yet caught an iconic yellow cab, so now was the time. Instead, a black luxury Chrysler pulls up and the driver rolls down the window. He says something in Spanish, which I don’t understand. “Que? Me no habla Espanol!” “You don’ speek English? Oh sorry man, where you going, I’ll take you” Instead, I got a hire car, which has the same function as a cab, but it’s a flat fee wherever you go. I couldn’t tell if he was legit or not but he ... read more

Although today marks a sad day in our time, my day marks the departure of my longest, most in-depth adventure yet. Tonight, I leave for San Fransico. I will spend the next year participating in the LEAPYear program(www.leapnow.org) and traveling around C. America and Africa. For the first two weeks, I will spend my days in Sonoma County, CA at the programs retreat center preparing for the next year. Then, its off to Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras! After spending the day visiting my Great Aunt Sophie and playing badmitton with Alexis, I have found some time to sit with my kitty and jot down my thoughts. I am excited, but calm. Its been a year since I left home and moved to NYC. After a semester, I knew I needed something other then what SVA ... read more

On the night of the 22nd I finally arrived in Burlington! It seemed like I had been travelling forever to get there, but my first glimpses of it (what I saw from the plane) were really beautiful. The green here is insane, even in summer it is this really deep green that is absolutely everywhere. Lots of trees too. My buddy Rachel picked me up at the airport, and took me to my room at trinity campus. After I actually got my stuff up the stairs and got it into my room, I went back to Rachel's house and we made some dinner. When I got back to my room it felt really weird, becuase it was kind of empty and made me think of how I missed everyone at home, and then I got homesick ... read more

I went for my hike in the March-Billings National Historic Park. It rained most of the night, so I had to wait for it to dry out a bit before I could get started. I took advantage of this to do my service stuff - laundry and a haircut. The Rockerfellers put a lot of money into this area and influenced the layout of the town in their later years as well as setting aside this estate as an ecologicaly controlled area. It certainly was worth preserving. My climb up the Precipice Trail provided nice views of Woodstock, even though it was hazy. Of course, the sun came out later on, but I was back down in the town by then. I'm sure the picture of the town with the sun out would have been better. ... read more

¨WELCOME TO VERMONT On Monday we drove through pouring rain to get to Vermont. Take a look at my last entry for the route. We stopped for lunch at an A&W in Lake George. We had to drive through a flooded part of the road to get there. The rain was so hard I had to put on my flashers and drive about 40mph on the highway. Jorge and I drove straight into Burlington so he could get a labret. My brother is a professional piercer and works at Body Art on Church Street. He pierced it for him free of charge - but perhaps he enjoyed doing bodily harm to my boyfriend, ha ha! For those of you who don't know, a labret is a piercing between the lower lip and chin. He looks good, ... read more