andy reagan only the interesting stuff

Vermont Adventure

I'm looking to go to UVM in the Spring for graduate school, and being only 5.5 hours away in Syracuse while home for Thanksgiving break, took the opportunity to travel with Sam Spisiak there and meet Chris Danforth, Lewis Mitchell, Nick Allgaier, and Cathy Bliss. The trip was a lot of fun, and I love the school. I'm very excited about the prospect of going there this spring, and if not this spring, then the fall.

With GPS letting me down on my last two trips, I'm tempted to go back to using maps. This time, I realized it was leading us to a closed ferry on the way there, and it cost us an hour of backtracking down 79. Regardless, we made it, with a cool (and intentional) detour through the ghost-town of Whitehall, NY. That town is a flash back in time, with a creepy huge stone house lit up on the hill above town.

Camping on Mt. Philoh

Pretty certain that the park may have been closed, I didn't let that deter Sam and I from camping out (as opposed to staying in a hotel, lame) and enjoying the gorgeous view of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack high peaks in the morning. We hiked in, and pitched a tent in one of the available lean-to's. (the "pine" lean-to, actually).

It got down into the low 20's that night, but we managed to stay warm for the most part, I think. The view in the morning made it worth the cold night for sure, and I didn't actually think to take a picture while I was soaking it in, so here is some else's: (credit Fred Murphy)

Burlington/UVM Campus

Vermont, the home of Magic Hat and Ben & Jerry's, is a really cool state. Not to mention my favorite flavor, maple. Having read great things about Burlington, the town didn't disappoint. It is indeed bike/ped friendly, with a shopping ped mall, yet adequate parking downtown as well. I didn't explore the town much beyond driving through, and Sam got a chance to hang out at a coffee shop down there which she said was cool.

Campus at UVM felt really tiny compared to VA Tech, which was somewhat surprising since there are 1/3 as many students. I thought it would be bigger. But nonetheless, it's really pretty and seems like a nice place to go. A lot of the academic departments, including the math department, are in re-purposed victorian style homes around campus, which is neat. Much of campus is new though, too. They do have a public greenhouse, which was pretty cool.

Meeting with Chris and students

Dr Danforth's office, as well as his students', is located on the 2nd floor of Farrell Hall as part of the Vermont Advanced Computing Center (VACC), right above the Vermont Transportation Research Institute (VTRI) and it's a nice space. Apparently there's an attic that not many people know about, that I could #occupy until I find an apartment that is less than $600 a month. That's the single downside that I've found about this whole deal, that housing is expensive. Of all concerns though, not bad. Probably expensive because it's an awesome place to live.

It was a pleasure to meet Chris, and his grad student has nothing but awesome things to say about him. Being around someone who has the energy to be involved in lots of research projects, teach two classes, have a family, be a great advisor, and be relaxed about it all, is quite invigorating. The prospect of coming to UVM at the start of the new year on a GRA is awesome, and if not then, with a GTA in the fall.

I could definitely see myself fitting in really well (everyone is super into outdoor stuff, they all put studded tires on their bikes to commute in the winter, and they do research with twitter), and so I'm ready to see where it all goes.

Drive Home: Magic Hat

Leaving campus at 2:15, it would have been a rush to make it to the top of the local hike up Camel's Hump by the time it got dark. So we would've definitely have descended in the dark, Sam wouldn't get back to Bport until 3am or would miss another day of class, and there was a chance we wouldn't even make the summit before dark. With all these factors in mind, Sam and I decided to hit the road back.

Since we were getting a somewhat early start back, and I had noticed that we passed the Magic Hat Brewery on the way in, it was a prefect opportunity to stop! A really fun brewery to visit, they gave four free samples and I went from darkest to lightest. Got to try the Vanilla Bean Porter (of which I got a growler for the night), their Wheat IPA, Black Lager, and Hex Octoberfest. The porter was quite good, with strong roastedness you'd expect and the slight balance from the vanilla. The wheat IPA was kinda weird to be honest but more than okay, the black lager lacked body after having tried the porter beforehand, and i'm really just not a big octoberfest beer fan because they're too malty without enough hop balance but their octoberfest was to style for sure.

the wheat IPA sample, looks full size w/o a reference frame ha

the bar at Magic Hat. interesting set up there. the bar is right past the doors as you walk in, with no chairs.

where the "magic" happens (pun intended)

The drive home, with a calculated avoidance of ferries (although it would've been open and the GPS wanted to lead us that way, the wait could have been up to an hour if we just missed it), was pretty seamless. The one thing we missed was to hit a Ben & Jerry's, but I remain optimistic that there will be another chance. The trip was not without maple syrup though, just let me say. We got back to my house at a reasonable time, and although the car was a mess, Sam was able get on her way to Bport so she wasn't driving all night. I was kind enough to drive the last 1.5 to my house so she could catch a break.

Altogether, a great trip. Only regret: didn't get any pictures with the SLR (took wrong lens on the hike). It flew by, as did today sitting at home, but I have a lot of energy to keep working hard and apply myself to my classes as they finish up this semester. I was certainly starting to get a little burnt from working constantly (I quite literally only take breaks to work out during the week usually), but this break was nice.

Future: exciting. Currently: happy.

And some randoms off my phone: