On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Captain C
Back in April, my partner and I went on our first vacation together (other than a few trips out to her parents on Long Island) since the pandemic started. We rented a car, and drove nearly exactly 1,000 miles (IIRC the total was 1,001) from NYC up to Montpelier, VT and then over to Cooperstown, NY, making some stops along the way and of course spending a lot of time in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (as it was the main reason for going there). We of course took many pictures.
As we didn’t do much hiking into the wilderness, and as I did all the driving (I don’t mind this one bit) as Dame N (short for Dame Not Appearing In These Pictures*, h/t Monty Python) there aren’t too many shots from out in the woods or mountains. However, between Montpelier, Cooperstown, and some of the places in-between, I got some good photographs.
We start with trips to our respective alma maters, both conveniently on the way up to Montpelier. We spent our first night in Poughkeepsie, home of Dame N’s alma mater Vassar (where I also got into but didn’t go and I had a few ‘what if’ moments while there), and stopped for lunch the next day in Williamstown, MA, home of Williams College, where yours truly acquired his Captain C nickname.
*Except for her hands a couple times.
We spent some time wandering around Vassar’s campus. This is the Vassar College Observatory, which I believe is the oldest building on campus.
Vassar has some lovely gardens and foliage.
This and the next photo are from Vassar’s library. Naturally, Dame N and I, both librarians, visited as many libraries as we could on this trip. I believe the total was 6: Vassar, the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, the Kellogg-Hubbard Library of Montpelier, the Saratoga Springs Public Library, the Village Library of Cooperstown, and the Library and Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame (which we could only poke our heads in as it was overrun by a bunch of sabermetricians who were at a conference).
Having not been to my alma mater in roughly 28 years (I have mixed feelings about it), we decided to stop for lunch in Williamstown and take an hour or two to walk around. It made for a nice stopping point on what would have been a fairly long drive if we did it all at once. Of course, we had to eat at Pappa Charlie’s, which not only was there when I was a student, but had the same sandwich board (with largely the same selections). This and the next photo are what your options there are. Most of the sandwiches are named for actors in honor of the Williamstown Theatre Festival which takes place every summer.
If memory serves, I had a Justin Long. As he spent time at Vassar before going on to his career, Dame N found this hilarious.
This is my freshman year dorm (Williams Hall), and the top window on the left was my tiny single. The building is also notable for being the one that former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent fell from.
Also, from that window, I managed to nail the football team’s starting quarterback with a blindly-thrown snowball during a snowstorm/campuswide running snowball fight. He was not amused, but presumably drunk enough that he probably forgot about it by the next morning.
rikyrah
Gorgeous pictures🤗
JeanneT
AND good stories.
MazeDancer
Great photos. Looks like an excellent trio.
Trivia Man
A good library is a powerful place.
Betty
Fun trip. They don’t build libraries like that beautiful one at Vassar anymore. A shame.
AM in NC
I was at Williams for a conference one time. First time I’d been in the Berkshires, and man was the area beautiful. Also visited a Shaker stone round barn somewhere nearby that was amazing. And the Norman Rockwell Museum, which I was not prepared to be so awed by.
But it did feel pretty isolated, so if you didn’t like the place or people right around you, I can see it being really tough.
Love that you visit libraries. Because THEY ARE AWESOME.
Tenar Arha
I remember that window! I don’t remember much about my college tour with my parents. But I remember the libraries.
👍👍
Bokonon
Go Ephs!
Hi Captain C … I am a Williams grad too, somewhat around the time you attended. It was a pleasant surprise to wake up, log on the computer, and get to see the Papa Charlie’s sandwich board.
ellie
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing these!
pluky
Given your love for libraries, if you ever make it to the Finger Lakes, don’t miss Uris Library on the Cornell Campus. The stacks are seriously old school.
Lyrebird
Strange but great to start the day seeing so many photos of places I have been.
I am probably enough years older* than your partner not to have overlapped, but I can report that most of the together people I knew in college live in the same area in Brooklyn.
“Next time” list should include the library at Union College, as well.
ROCK ON, pair of librarians!
*I am almost the same age as John Cole
Yutsano
I’ve always liked the idea of visiting college campuses and looking around especially ones I haven’t seen yet. It’s a little bit more difficult in the Northwest (although there are like 5 colleges in the Seattle are alone not counting community colleges) but it would be a fun tour. Plus BOOKS!!!
The Castle
@AM in NC: That was probably the great stone barn at Hancock Shaker Village. A wonderful place.
Love these pics. Looks so peaceful.
BigJimSlade
That’s a fantastic sandwich board! Zonker Harris, even!
When I lived in the Boston area, that part of MA I always thought of as MA for New Yorkers. Like the Boston Symphony playing at Tanglewood each summer was basically them playing for New Yorkers – probably a smart move for their reputation and connections. But how often did someone from Boston make the 3 hour drive to see their “local” symphony play at their summer home? I did… once in 17 years. Lovely area, though.
Victor Matheson
Taught at Williams back in the early 2000s. Fantastic college and beautiful location. (And such smart and good-looking professors! Especially in the early 2000s.)
Captain C
@rikyrah:
@JeanneT:
@MazeDancer:
Thanks!!!
Captain C
@Trivia Man:
@Betty:
Thanks!!
@AM in NC: You are correct about both the beauty and isolation. If now-me had to choose between Williams and Vassar given what I know now, there’s a good chance I’d go with Vassar as it’s much closer to NYC.
Being librarians, Dame N and I try to visit libraries wherever we go; we went to several in Boston and in Arizona when we visited those places.
Captain C
@Bokonon: Hi! What year were you? I was a ’93 who played WUFO and also hung around with a lot of the ruggers. Feel free to get my email from WaterGirl if you want to figure out if we knew each other or have/had friends in common.
Captain C
@ellie: Thanks!
Captain C
@pluky: Will definitely do so. My parents both went to Cornell, and I’ve been there a few times (long ago) so it’s possible I was in that library at some point. It’s a very beautiful campus.
Captain C
@Lyrebird: We’re probably pretty close in age. I wouldn’t mind checking out the Union campus sometime; I have a friend who’s a physics professor there; he’s a Williams alum and was a rugger there who went by the nickname Oil Can.
Captain C
@The Castle: Thanks!
Captain C
@Victor Matheson: Neat! And I agree about the campus and professors :^).
Bokonon
@Captain C: Dang … we definitely overlapped at Williams, and it sounds like we hung with the some of the same crowds. Outstanding!
HumboldtBlue
That sounds perfect.