/wan-der-lust/ noun: a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about

Monday, October 10, 2011

Grow it. Row it.

So this weekend in Vermont was quite possibly the most beautiful of them all since I arrived.  High 70s and sunny the whole weekend.  Unfortunately, I had to be at a retreat for my work study job all day Saturday while some of my friends went hiking, but I guess that's part of being a grown up.  Can't play all the time.  But Sunday was fun time!



Every year for the past 4 years, Burlington has held a pumpkin regatta.  The premise here is that people grow GIANT pumpkins, carve them out into boats, sit in them and then paddle around on Lake Champlain as they race other crazy pumpkin dwellers. We finally found the races after a frustrating and excruciatingly long quest to find a parking space, but it was worth it.  The first race we saw, one of the competitors was struggling so she decided to hitch a ride on the strongest paddler and just let him drag her to the finish line.  It was working pretty well for a while, but then close to the finish line, her pumpkin started to take on water and then it was sinking.  So she jumped ship onto the other guy's pumpkin.  Good idea in theory, but it's amazing that a pumpkin can support one person and impossible that it'll support two, so they both went down.  Good thing it was 80+ degrees so it probably felt good to get in the water anyway.



It was just hilarious to watch these people racing pumpkins and see how seriously they took it!  And the crowd was intense too!  We wandered around a little in between races, got some pizza and marveled at all of the dogs that were everywhere.  I need to get a dog.


We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Church Street -- a 3-4 block long pedestrian shopping area.  And then went back to the apartment to watch some football and make the most delicious, random-contents-of-the-fridge dinner ever.


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