As predicted, my bloggery has dropped off rather drastically now that school has started. Needless to say, they keep you hopping as a new professor. Things are going pretty well, although it's all I can do to stay caught up and still have some semblance of a life outside of work. It hasn't really been that bad, although I had my first grading dream this weekend.
We've done a couple photogenic things the last few weekends, so I thought I'd write a quick blog to share some of the pictures. You can find more at
my Flickr site.
Two weekends ago, we went to Black Mountain. It's only about 30 minutes from here, and is in one of the easternmost ranges of the Adirondacks. The leaves were just starting to turn, so we got a little color. We also got some pretty incredible views from the summit. We could clearly see Lake George and, far off to the northwest, the high peaks of the Adirondacks.
Anne's mom was here for a week that spanned last weekend. She had a good visit, and it was fun to show her around our new home. I was able to slip away from work last Saturday, and we drove up to Burlington. It was only the second time I'd been there, and the first since we moved here. We had a really good time, and I was impressed by how much Burlington has going on for being the size of city that it is (~150,000 in the greater metro area, which accounts for one in four Vermonters). We went to the waterfront, the farmers' market, Church Street, and the UVM campus. Church Street is closed to cars and is four or five blocks of restaurants and shops. What I liked about it is that in many cities, a neighborhood like that would be over-the-top touristy. But most of the places catered to locals and college students, and we had a fun time shopping and eating our way up and down the street. As we were heading home, there was even a small crew of b-boys dancing for tips. (Ok, that was a little touristy, but they were probably the only breakdancers in all of Vermont.)
Yesterday we met up with my friend Brian and hiked up to Killington Peak. I went to grad school with Brian, and the vagaries of the wildlife job market have landed us about an hour and a half apart in Vermont. Anne and I met him halfway on Sherburne Pass and we hiked up to the summit of Killington Peak, which, at 4235', is the (don't laugh) second highest point in the state. The mountains may be small here, but they're steep, and we got a good workout and some good views from the summit. It was a little too cloudy to see the Adirondacks to the west or the White Mountains to the east, but we could see the valleys on either side of us quite clearly, as well as the Taconic Mountains, which separate the valley where Rutland lies from our home in Poultney. We got some good leaf color on the hike as well. Locals claim another week and a half before we hit the peak, but things are definitely starting to go. I'm not sure I'm ready for winter to be here!
Hope you enjoy the pictures, and I'll try to post again soon!
