Collecting Trip, October 2003
Catching up on recent events…
Why do we always leave so early?
There is something inherently wrong in getting up at 6:30am to leave on a vacation. Particularly when the first thing you do is go to class. Erica and I had decided to take another trip up the East Coast over UNC’s Fall Break. The goal was to find a few samples for Erica and see some friends (and fall colors) along the way.
In order to get as many days of travel into the break as possible, we were leaving right after my Information Retrieval class on Wednesday. As it happens this class is at 8:00am in the freaking morning. Needless to say we were on the road bright and early following US 501 up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Blue Orange Ridge Parkway
The colors along the parkway were just passed their peak, but that didn’t mean they had lost much of their color. The road was lined with bright reds, yellows, and oranges as we made our way north. After a quick lunch at the James River Visitor Center we made a quick stop at the Lower Otter Creek we followed the parkway up to I-64. We headed north on I-81 with a brief stop for dinner near Shenandoah National Park.
We spent the night at the worst hotel in Pennsylvania just off I-81. All things being equal the strange smell, poor sound proofing and general dereliction of the place should will makes us reconsider always going to the cheapest hotel we can find.
On to Connecticut
Day two took us through rural Pennsylvania as we continued our way north. We found several populations for Erica near a National Guard training facility along with a decent size pile of trash strewn about the roadside. We stopped a few more times before heading up to the Delaware River where we realized that tromping through the brush during hunting season wasn’t such a bright idea. Bright orange vests have been added to the packing list for our next trip.
After the Delaware River we crossed New York into Connecticut and met up with a friend of Erica’s from high school. We spent the night quite enjoyably in downtown New Haven (mostly at Koffee Too?) talking about life and grad school.
I have to say that New Haven didn’t impress me that much in the short time we were there. Yale and downtown were nice, but the rest of the city felt much different. From what we were told, a lot of Yale money goes into keeping those areas around campus looking good, but surrounding areas become much grittier very quickly as you move outwards from downtown.
The icy hand of Medford
We quickly found more samples for Erica even before we had really left New Haven, finding some more plants in Shelton, CT. The rest of the day proved less fruitful as we explored the areas in and around I-84. We hit a lot of traffic as we got into Hartford and again as we got into Boston, making us pretty late to meet friends in Medford, MA. It didn’t help that the driver side window (mine) got stuck when we stopped to pay a toll in Boston and we had to drive the last few miles with a nice icy breeze to keep us company.
I think it goes without saying that we were pretty cranky by the time we actually got to Medford. Fortunately we were staying with a friend from college who is now at MIT and his fiance. We had nice dinner of Brazilian takeout and had a great time playing Clue.
Ver-mountain man
We took off from Medford early on Saturday and finally reached the apex of our trip in Norwich, VT. We met up with a friend of Erica’s from CU who took us up to the Appalachian Trail to look for some more plants.
As we drove into town Erica told me that her friend looked “like a mountain man” and that we were to meet at Dan & Whit’s Grocery Store. Sure enough, I saw him right as we pulled into the parking lot. He was a fantastic guide as we tromped through the forest near town. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Norwich Inn before we had to get back in the car to head back to Boston.
We spent the last night of our trip at Olin College hanging out with Erica’s sister and her roommate. We finally got to see some more of Wellesley and Needham, MA. This included a very tasty Thai restaurant in downtown Wellesley.
I still feel pangs of jealousy when I go and visit Olin. The classes seem more interesting than the ones I took, the projects look more impressive, and the dorms are definitely bigger. I don’t know if I could have handled a school with 150 people (as of this year) though.
Back home
Imagine driving from Boston to Durham in one day. Not something I recommend. So why have I done it twice now?