Dear Friends,
Yesterday I was telling you about our weekend getaway to Vermont and I wanted to continue it today. Before I do, though, I am needing to rant a bit about how utterly disappointing it is that our government has no balls. Sure, I knew it already, but seriously? The politicos are going to walk for trying to overthrow our system of government. We are doomed.
As a teacher, I fear the rest of my career will be marred by kids who realize there is nothing I can do to curb their behavior if they don’t want to comply. Why should they behave? Why should anyone behave? Oh yes, the law does apply to and will step on poor people and those who have had their voices stripped from them. The law will continue to make it harder for people who do not fit the mold of good, Christian, white folks.
I call bullshit.
I’m done with my rant, for now, but I am not done ranting in general.
*****
So, there we were on Sunday afternoon in Montpelier, Vermont. It’s a really neat little place. We only saw a bit of it, but it is nestled in between some mountains and it is very green and welcoming. The street we went down had a few shops, as I mentioned, and my new acquaintance, Mike, told us about a record shop right around the corner. Buch Spieler Records is a cool shop, and they had a great selection of records. As I was perusing the wares, I could have easily spent $100 but I decided to hold off since it was already becoming a pricey side trip. I will definitely spend some coin there next time, though.
As we were walking out, I saw a poster for the Circle Jerks show and spoke with one of the guys who owns the shop. I wish I would have gotten his name, but he said his partner would be at the show that night and to look for him. This is one of the reasons I am growing fonder and fonder of small towns. People are friendly, especially when they see you are somewhat likeminded. I am full of regret, again, for not helping to support them but something tells me they are doing all right.
After leaving Buch Spieler, we headed back to the liquor store and got some beer. I have grown very fond of a Green State, which is a lager from a Vermont brewery called Zero Gravity. It’s a nice, easy drinker and a good summertime beer. The alcohol content is on the lower side so you can drink them and remain communicative and dexterous. Unfortunately, I am guessing I will never find them in Arizona, but that’s okay. It can be an east coast thing.
We got a couple of twelve packs of Zero Gravity stuff and another four pack of some weird Vermont salt and lime pilsner that was not as good as we hoped. We also got a six pack of dark Bavarian lager from the Von Trapp Family brewery. I am not lying. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope it is good. Rhondi also found her favorite cheap whisky, Paddy’s, so we got her one of those, too. Looking back, should have skipped the salty lime shit and bought a record.
We were off to Burlington after that and headed straight to our hotel. Eric hooked us up with a room since we got the tickets to the show and drove which was rad. It was a comfy Holiday Inn and we could see Lake Champlain from our window. Not a great view, but still nice. We took a little rest and got showered. It was humid as fuck in Vermont and the shower felt good.
After collecting ourselves, we headed towards downtown Burlington and found a cool area with lots of restaurants. I really liked it there and hope to get to hang out there again. There seems to be a lot to do and I expect it is pretty hoppin’ on a Friday or Saturday, especially when University of Vermont is in session. For a Sunday night there was a lot of people in town and doing stuff.
We chose a restaurant called The Farmhouse and had a slow, leisurely dinner. The food was fine but, again, it was slow. Slow enough to cost us from seeing Negative Approach. For more on that, see my review.
After the show, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed pretty quickly. We did try and watch a bit of Severance. Rhondi and I have gotten hooked on that show. The bed seemed comfy, though, and out I was.
Monday morning, I woke up and had the worst back pain I’ve had in a long time. It was panic attack inducing bad. I thought maybe I was dying for about five minutes and even said to myself, once I got in the bathroom, “This is it.”
I don’t know what I did. I cannot think of a single thing I did at the show except bang my head a bit here and there. Maybe it was the bed or the pillows or something, but I felt like hell. Once I calmed down and breathed through the pain, there were no more spasms and I managed to take a shower. The hot water helped, but we had a four-hour drive in front of us and I knew it was going to suck buttermilk. Luckily, Eric and Jamie had some aspirin, and I got a bit of relief.
After grabbing some bagels at the Burlington Bagel Factory, we were on the road. Rhondi drove and I got a little nap in here and there. It was not fun, but the drive is really pretty when you’re a passenger and I noticed things I didn’t notice the day before. Ashton and Teresa want to move to Vermont even though I don’t think either of them have ever been there. After seeing more of it, I can’t blame them and kind of hope they do.
Got back to Rangeley in time to login to work and hit a training and that was that.
See you tomorrow.
I didn't mention that we did indeed get to meet Nate at the show. Nice guy!
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