It is now Saturday the 16th as I look out the window at the lake and the beautiful hills in the front of the Tillman house. After an eventual day of travel with the New River Academy, we have accepted the hospitality of Emery Tillman (NRA 9th grade) and her family at their lake house near Middlebury, VT. In making our way from Canada to West Virginia, we are spending two school days here in Vermont. We will also be spending a week in MA in order to take a swift water rescue course through Zoar Outdoors.
After our 11:00 pm arrival at Emery’s, everyone had a good nights sleep on the floor (long day on the road). On Thursday morning we also got the chance to sleep in and many of us got started by going for a swim in the lake. I was the last one to come down and I just so happened to bring a shampoo bottle with me before long everyone was standing on the dock covered in suds and jumping in one by one. We spent the rest of the warm sunny day in the town of Burlington. To begin with, we all got to walk around, shop, and eat lunch on Church Street. Church Street is a well known shopping area where all kinds of people come to enjoy coffee shops, candy, good food, ice cream, etc. ‘ It was a good historical atmosphere and I would like to return,” said Zach Kathrein (NRA 11th grade). After this we visited the Burton snowboard factory. Rene, an executive global team manager for the company, had a good discussion with us about what it takes to become a sponsored athlete. The professional, yet laid-back atmosphere of Burton impressed me and I am glad that we went there. Our final experience in Burlington was a tour of the University of Vermont. This was a fairly big University (9000 people), but the campus was spread out and the class sizes were reasonably small. Everybody enjoyed the college atmosphere, which involved Frisbee, long boarding, studying, exercising, etc. In the evening we came back to a delicious meal of jambalaya. Thanks to Mrs. Tillman.
Early the next morning for a workout David Spiegel (NRA coach) had us treading water out in the lake. It was definitely a little cold for all of us, but it was a great way to get the day started. After a day of school at the Tillman’s, we visited Middlebury College and got a feel for what a smaller, Private University was like. Both the University and the town of Middlebury had a classy vibe and everyone seemed to enjoy our time spent there. “ This is such a cool college,” said Jason Craig (NRA) 10th grade) as we walked back to the van after the tour. We were also able to get another day of school knocked out on Saturday. In the afternoon we got some much appreciated free time in which most had a paddle/ swim session at the lake. Cheers goes to David Spiegel, the unofficial winner of the game King of the floating dock. Our time spent in Vermont was very much enjoyed. The spirits our group remained high amidst the town visits, swimming, and of course, schoolwork, all thanks goes to the Tillman family for sharing their home with us. As of now we will be on our way back south to our final destinations for this quarter, Massachusetts and West Virginia.
-Happy Paddling
David Gorski
