Northfield, Burlington, and St. Alban's

Nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Northfield is the home of Norwich University, the first private military school in the nation and the first to teach engineering. It has an interesting history; for those interested, please check http://www.norwich.edu/about/history.html. Norwich is high on my son’s list of universities, so I was looking forward to the performance.

The concert was an en route concert, with a fairly long drive from New York up into the Green Mountains. Even though the Vermont Fall Foliage Forecast website said we would be seeing “mid-peak” color, there was an odd mix of color, bare trees, and large patches of trees not yet turned. The overcast skies kept the fall color from being spectacular, but I was happy to see leaves skittering through the air.

The Field House at Norwich is familiar territory, and we all remembered the trek up six or so flights of stairs to the changing facilities. “On Stage!” had to occur a few minutes early to accommodate the route step to the stage. The stage was a little shaky, with music stands and the harp swaying ominously as the trumpets lined up behind the podium during Semper Fi.

I was able to see a little of the town of Northfield as we drove to Burlington. It seemed the quintessential Vermont village, and I was surprised at how close it was to Montpelier. The mountain views were breathtaking even though the cloud cover was dense and dark. Occasionally a patch of sunlight would kiss the top of a mountain, lighting the trees as though they had burst into flame and then disappear as quickly as it had appeared.

Burlington was a great choice for a Sunday night; it is a university town with an excellent selection of restaurants and unique shops. Dave had made reservations for our group at Leunig’s, a restaurant boasting French and Vermont cuisine. After unloading and changing out of concert attire, we headed up the hill to downtown Burlington. We were seated immediately, thanks to the reservations, while potential patrons were told the wait was upwards of 45 minutes.

I feasted on pan-seared Butternut and Sage Ravioli with baby arugula, candied walnut and whipped maple butter sauce, followed by the Crispy Eggplant Napoleon with diced zucchini and tomato ragout, portabellas, fresh mozzarella, sautéed spinach, red pepper coulis, and eggplant fries. For dessert I had to try the Banana Cream with Oreo crust and caramel sauce. Some of the other dishes on our table were Duck Frites, Pumpkin Chowder, Pork Wellington, Free Range Chicken Statler, Kumquat and Green Apple glazed Scallops, and the special, Veal Scallopini.

Monday was a travel free day, with a run out in the evening to St. Alban’s. Lisa, Karen, and I walked along Lake Champlain, getting in our four miles on a quiet bike trail with beautiful views of the Adirondack Mountains on the other side of Lake Champlain. Before turning at the two mile point, we walked to the water’s edge to test the temperature.

Most of the band could be seen wandering in and out of shops on Church Street, the pedestrian mall, others sitting in numerous coffee shops with their laptops. Leslye finally found some sneakers, and I finally found a tour quest of my own, a skirt (or two) to add some variety to my concert attire. I am still looking for a pillow to replace the ancient and worn one I accidentally left behind in a previous hotel. It needed replacement even before its loss, so I decided it was not worth the price of having it shipped to a future location. One can not have too many Tour Quests. Later, new purchases could be seen at the concert site.

We were back on the bus for a forty-five minute drive to St. Alban’s. Another Field House was in store for us; we are in the middle of a week long run of gyms and field houses (with maybe one high school auditorium in there somewhere). It was easily as large as the Norwich field house (which had seating for 3,000) and was packed for this concert, with additional people standing around the edges of the room and perched on the instrument trunks along the wall.

The bus ride back to Burlington found the Toe Tag section (I include myself in this) playing “Old People TV Trivia”, Roger’s idea of a way to fill the time. I was able to correctly identify Andy Griffith’s girlfriend as Helen Crump (sad, but true), but we were all stumped by the name of Barney Fife’s girlfriend (Thelma Lou, and yes, I looked it up when I got back to the room). I’m still waiting for them to answer my question; what was the name of Yogi Bear’s girlfriend?