We had a fairly early start and checked out of our Econolodge around 8:00
after the usual minimal continental breakfast in a teeny tiny lobby area.
We drove all morning, with a lunch break at a Wendy’s at a Utica, NY, exit.
We had beautiful sunny driving weather, but didn’t see much except the
occasional glimpse of the Erie Canal. Then we turned north toward Saratoga
Springs and went on to Rutland, VT. We have friends there, Rich and Monica
Lloyd–a former Hastings College professor and his wife, who moved there
three years ago when he signed on as president of a teeny college called the
College of St. Joseph. When we realized that Rutland wouldn’t be much out
of our way, we texted them to see whether they were home. They took the
whole afternoon off for us and even had us stay overnight, so it was a great
visit. Rich took us on a tour of the college (his offices and pretty much
all administration is in this enormous Victorian home that is also open for
functions and business meetings–very impressive. The campus is big and
lush and green for a teeny tiny college with only about 250 full-time
students–but as Rich pointed out, small is a positive in Vermont, and the
college is actually growing. They have big new scary plans for expansion by
adding a physician’s assistant masters program, and he showed us the
building in the next town over that they plan to renovate for that
purpose–it is the former headquarters of a huge marble quarry operation
that was given to them by a company that is leaving town, and it is made
entirely out of marble–as are some of the town’s public buildings and even
sidewalks. Wow. After the tour of the two “campuses,” we sat on Rich and
Monica’s back porch and had local white cheddar cheese, crackers, and apples for dinner. We talked a lot of shop, of course, but Mark also showed Monica travel pictures. And Mark and I explored their back yard–which was actually several acres of lush, green forest to ramble around in. We even
saw remnants of an old stone wall–looked like a border demarcation, but
Rich and Monica weren’t quite sure what that was for. That was great, as
was the whole visit. It had been our first day with some actual sun and
with the humidity quite high, it was quite warm–as warm as it ever gets in
Vermont, they said. We got to bed at about 10 pm–great day!