NECC Conference and Accommodations

I was sort of excited when Paula said she had gotten the four of us rooms in the Georgia Tech dorms that supposedly were part of the Olympic Village– sounded great – four bedrooms and 2 baths hooked onto 1 gathering room & kitchen and no one would hear my snoring! And it was only $70 bucks apiece per night. Way INexpensive for Atlanta prices…….

Most of us had read some of the small print – but some of the small print was missing or had left out a lot of necessary information for this group who are way past the 'roughing it" stage. I didn’t know that we would have to carry our bags more than a block to the “check in desk” I didn’t know that when they said they would provide linens that they would be threadbare and in a shrink wrapped “ do-it-yourself” bag. I didn’t know that the room lacked even a reading lamp. I didn’t know that when they said that there would be Internet access for each of us, that only one of the four logins would work. I didn’t know that their nicely provided kitchen would not have even ONE utensil and finally when they said they had furniture I didn’t know it would be as hard as the furniture I had in my Chinese apartment. In addition – no TV, radio, pool, ice trays, but there was a mouse.

The thermostat was preset on Artic temperatures but ironically there were little signs above EACH light switch that said “When Not in Use – Save the Juice – Conserve Energy”. The only paper products & toiletries provided were toilet paper & tiny bar soap. Way TOO expensive for their amenities.

Side Note: the NECC conference was good as usual and I got a bunch of new techie ideas to use in the classroom.

Nicole & Her Dad Nick

Vermont Small Town Entertainment - Sunday Garden Party

Sunday was a garden party at Nicole’s Dad house. Above it a picture of their house in the late winter along with a picture of all the greenery now present. Andrew has the green thumb of the family and has made their yard beautiful (along with setting up Nicole’s and Zac’s garden). We had lots of good food, drinks and enjoyed trying to beat Andrew at Badminton - which might be impossible.

Vermont Small Town Entertainment -Stawberry festivals & Friday Night Horseshoes

What do you do in Vermont when you are nowhere near a movie theater or a big town? Netflix can only fill up so many nights plus it would take more than an hour to get the “construction-scrap filled” living room clean enough to actually use it along with getting the couch released from under its boxes & drop cloth. We practiced horseshoes a couple of nights and going to bed early worked for a couple of other nights especially after mowing for 2 or 3 hours. On the weekends it gets a little more exciting…..

On Friday night in Wells and Pauley the people (mostly guys) get together at a local’s house that has big backyard and a place to steam clams, grill hotdogs, drink a little beer and play horseshoes. There was a little competition between the town of Wells VS the town of Pawlet with the Wells side doing pretty! And they are serious about their horseshoes! The event ended when daylight ended, so everyone went home not too drunk or broke. I was surprised that I had a really good time even though I didn’t throw any shoes. (I still can’t consistently get the horseshoe all the way to the opposite pit even after a couple of nights practice in Zac’s back yard).

Where Zac Buys His Clothes

Above is a picture of a local Vermont hardware store. This is where Zac buys his spring and winter wardrobe. Unless Nicole dresses him you will see him outfitted in Carhartts, Dickies, or jeans. You would think his mother would have raised him better ……

Americade 2007

Now it wasn’t all construction and no play we did other things too. We used the excuse of picking up more building supplies in Glen Falls to take a detour to Lake George to see part of Americade 2007. Imagine Maudi Gras or Ft Lauderdale spring break with lots of tattoos, leather and motorcycles. There were thousands of bikers even more than Daytona’s Bike Week. I picked up a couple of moose themed/motorcycle T-shirts as souvenirs. Most of the bikers spent the week cruising the main drag in Lake George, driving in packs on the back curvy roads of Vermont and New York or crowding the local restaurants.

Under Construction in Wells, Vermont

ix more hours of driving thru some really pretty Pennsylvania and New York hilly countryside, I finally arrived in Wells, Vermont. Nicole and Zac are doing major work to their 1865 house. It was originally built for a summer cabin so you can image the lack of insulation. In the 1980’s the previous owners had decided to get that injected insulation. When Nicole and Zac took down the plaster board they found out that many of the spaces between the studs were missing that messy fluffy, stuff. No wonder they spent so much on heating oil last winter… Besides redoing insulation, they replaced their very old heater and electricity (which some of it was still direct current).

Since I couldn’t help with the construction that Zac, Ben, and Nick were doing I ended up being the ‘go-fer” They gave me hardware lists and lunch lists. I did laundry at the local laundromat (haven’t had to use one of those in about 25 years), bought their lunch, and mowed the acre plus yard (with a push mower- ugh) – you know-- things that someone with no construction skills could do.

Road Trip - Day 3 cont - Williamsport PA

Four more hours of driving followed and we arrived in Williamsport around dinner. Jonathan and Jessica live in an old craftsman style home on one of the few remaining brick streets in the area. That’s Madison holding her daddy’s election sign (he is running for city council). We had a great Italian dinner at the local restaurant Franco's. Service was very slow but the kids (1 & 6) behaved beautifully. Their bread alone was worth the wait.

Road Trip - Day 3 Charcoal Pit & Museum

Road Trip - Day 3 Charcoal Pit & Museum

We left Monday morning and followed Peter thru Baltimore’s rush hour traffic to I-95. Since we were going to be a little early for our lunch meeting with Robert, one of my ’66 classmates from Mt Pleasant High School, we stopped off at the University of Delaware Bookstore so I could purchase some “Fightin’ Blue Hen” Alumni stuff.

When I was in high school Robert dated my best friend Patty and I dated his best friend John so the four of us spent a lot of time ‘cruisin’ in his tiny VW bug. Last year’s MPH’s 40th reunion (which neither of us went to – I was in China) we were able to reconnected us thru the magic of email. We met Robert at the old high school hangout “The Charcoal Pit”. It looked exactly (sort of a Jetson look) the same BUT somehow the booths shrunk. I know they weren’t that small when I was in high school, but the milkshakes and Philly Cheese steaks tasted the same.

Zac’s grandmother lives in the area so we decided to meet Maryanna and Bart at the near-by Brandywine River Museum that features the works of the Wyeth family. It was one of the days that Andrew Wyeth’s granddaughter, Victoria, did the tour. She was very vivacious with lots of great “behind the scene” stories about her family. It was a real treat.

Road Trip - Day 1 Cindy & Peter

Road Trip - Day 1

Since Gail’s daughter & family live in Williamsport Pennsylvania which is SORT-OF on the way to Zac and Nicole's home in Wells, Vermont, we decided to break-in my car and take a “Road Trip” up north. Tropical storm “Barry” was just hitting Georgia and heading up the coast as we left but we were lucky and stayed in front of the storm. We stopped for the night at my friends', Cindy and Peter ,who live in Maryland. We stayed in their very old farmhouse which they share with their big rottweiler, Greta, and 2 ghosts. The ‘good’ ghosts could be detected by the smell of tobacco and jasmine but alas, we didn’t get any aroma sightings during our 2 night stay. We got a tour of the Chesapeake Bay area and got to see their sailboat and had a great meal at the Annapolis Boat Yard where we had the biggest drinks ever and shared Ice Cream Nachos for dessert, yummy!