from snow on the green mountains to cherry blossoms on the Hill.

I stayed the night a sir Roderick Swains, he isn't a sir but I still feel the need to call him that for whatever reason. Rod was a team leader the year before and one again this passed year and a big Ohio fan, one of two I know of ( Julian being the other). I again did not get to spend much time exploring the city for all of it's treasures but I did get to hang out for a bit and catchup with Rod, whom I hadn't seen or talked to much since November. Seeing him reminded me again of how good it is to see people in a more natural environment, not with a green tucked in shirt running around in hysteria, most of the time. In the morning Rod had to work and I had an 11 hour drive to tackle. So as I headed out my spaz button was temporarily stuck. It was the first long drive (over a couple hours) I was making by myself in over a month and a half. I passed some of the time with a book on cd, some on the phone and some straight up spaced out. I made it to Bethel, where I'd be picking up a road partner, Chappy! Yet another green team favorite. We headed north for Vermont and made pretty decent time. The reason I had been so rushed through the hospitable midwest wasn't because I was aching to be home, but I had an open house date for SIT, my university of choice for Grad school. I thought Chappy, having a similar background and interest in international development would get a kick out of coming to the open house, plus really who wants to be by themselves at those tings if you really don't have to. It was a great day altogether, I got all my questions answered and straightened some other things out, productivity! Something I in fact did miss. We had fellow green team members hanging out about an hour away in New Hampshire at Camp Wilmont. Lucky for us they had work for us to do. Our first order of business was to make a fire, easy enough for the two of us. The next day the group staying at the camp was planning on playing broom ball, hockey with.. yes brooms. A street kids hockey. So we got to help out again by clearing a section of ice on the lake for a court, we took it one more step and made a snowman. It was great to actually help, feel useful. While our very our camp co-directors were assisting in refereeing the games we scrambled back inside to made cake! Upon the request of Katrina who was in the mood for something delicious, who can blame her. As it turned out, we made cupcakes, chocolate and banana. The banana sounds genius but it was actually a Yahoo answer to the question, I don't have eggs, what else can I use to make a cake? It was a delicious suggestion (although the eggs are still important for its binding qualities) that I'm definitely going to use again. Chappy had to be home that night so first to Bethel, then to my aunt Jody and uncle Mike's in New Milford. I've always loved visiting CT, especially their house. Driving through county roads from town center to town gazebo, I just can't think of a more charming and rustic place to lay my head for a while. While in CT, I saw Chappy off as he headed to Denver to make a go at a new start, I got to visit my successor, Tony in Springfield as he lead his very own team of ruffians, who were actually pretty calm and collected, unlike my B3.I had the chance to eat some good food, and drink some Irish beer to celebrate St. Patty's Day but unfortunately not actually on the 17^{th. .} No matter, its an omnipresent holiday for at least a week before and after the actual day. After I had some things taken care of, including filing my taxes, acquiring a new wardrobe from Aunt Jody (shoes included ;)) and helping Uncle Mike replant some rose bushes, I headed south, for the last leg of my journey.