Yeah.
So I said that I’d try to write something every day while I was on vacation. I lied.
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| Ruins of the British soldiers barracks at Crown Point, NY |
It is now Friday evening, and Cy, “T”, Dad, Diane and I have just returned to the Cornwall house from dinner in Middlebury – Dad’s treat! Most in the group got some variant of Thai food. I opted for a sushi plate, which was quite good. We’re all back at the house now (it’s about 9:00). Cy and “T” are busying themselves with last-minute packing details (the three of us are leaving for Magnetawan in the morning), Diane and I are both playing on our computers and Dad is doing his best to take pictures of the incredible sky using an old point-and-shoot camera – I haven’t the heart to tell him that it’s never going to work.
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| The new Champlain Bridge |
The GBB’s concert last night went fairly well. The crowd seemed to be larger than last year’s was, and it was extremely receptive of the band, which sounded pretty good – and I should know, because I was late getting back to the stage and watched the first selection of the concert’s second half (West Side Story) from the picnic grounds. All of the folks in the band who I talked to had a great trip and – judging by several of their posts on Facebook – we wouldn’t be averse to making a third trip to Middlebury. This won’t happen next year, of course (we’re booked for the international trombone federation in Columbus), but maybe in 2014.
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| Champlain Lighthouse |
I spent most of yesterday tooling around Shoreham in the morning – driving on a bunch of dirt roads near Lake Champlain, eating a late breakfast at the Halfway House, visiting Mom’s tree by the historical society….just reacquainting myself with the old hometown. Around noon, I went to Middlebury and walked around the cemetery – took a number of pictures, but nothing really caught my eye. At one o’clock, I hooked up with Cy and the two of us moved percussion equipment from the fine arts building to the stage (a trip of about 200 yards). The rest of the day was sort of hectic – sound check at 4:00, back to Cornwall for a quick shower, back to the stage for the performance. After the gig, Cy and I and one of the percussionists moved all the percussion equipment back to the fine arts center and then he and I went to the Two Brothers Tavern in town for a bit of supper. I ended up getting back to the house at around midnight last night and crashed. Totally exhausted.
On Wednesday, the day after I arrived in Cornwall, I slept until nearly 9:00, went for a quick 2-mile walk on Clark Road, and then drove to Crown Point, NY. Spent several hours there walking around the ruins of the two forts on the site (one British, one French). I never knew that there was an actual historic site there, so it was fun. Both of the forts were pre-revolution. The French one – Fort St. Frederic – was built in the 1730s and was never taken (the French destroyed in in 1759 when faced with an overwhelming British force during the French & Indian (aka 7 Years) War. Almost immediately, the British began construction of a much larger fortification – which was never finished and was taken by American forces in 1775. Both sets of ruins have been declared National Historic Sites and have not been reconstructed.
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| Seagull as seen from the top of the Champlain Bridge |
Also at the site is the newly-completed (2011) Champlain Bridge, which is really what I drove over there to see.
Wednesday evening I was back at Cy’s place where we hosted a small gathering of GBB members who were in town along with many of their hosts. I’d been expecting only 5 or 6 people, so it was great to have closer to 10 (maybe 18-20, hosts included). We hung around, eating chips, drinking good local beer and socializing until perhaps 9:30, when a good number of the band – myself included – went to the Two Brothers Tavern (they must love us there), ostensibly to play trivia. As it turned out, we were far too late for the trivia contest, so I ended up playing darts with Matt (the previously-mentioned percussionist) for about two hours before coming back to Cornwall.
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| House on the Vermont side of the Champlain Bridge |
As I stated earlier, tomorrow is a travel day and I probably won’t have much to say. If I get to Ahmic early enough, however, there may be some pictures.
More pictures from the last three days, by the way, are here. I’ll continue to add to that album as the vacation continues.
TWD