Hi everyone! I'm Tess, and I live 30 minutes outside of London. I love everything Dartmouth, including the sunsets, the traditions, the classes, and the merch. I'm super excited to experience everything I read about in this blog over the next four years. Come along with me as I explore the ins and outs of life in the woods.
A couple of weekends ago, my dad paid a visit to Dartmouth, all the way from across the pond. Although he was here for less than 24 hours, we definitely made the most of it (spoiler alert we maximized time so well I woke up at 4:30am)… In this blog post I will talk about the different activities we did in the surrounding areas.
We started off strong with a hike up Gile Mountain. 'Hike' is an inaccurate word, it's more of an amble. Twenty minutes up, twenty minutes down. Perfect for someone who just got off a long-haul flight! Despite its relative ease, Gile is a perfect activity to appreciate the beauty of the Upper Valley. To reward ourselves for our (less than) strenuous hike, we made our way to King Arthur Flour, a bakery in Norwich, Vermont. Let me put you on the cookies—genuinely life changing. The good thing about King Arthur is that it's only a five-minute drive from campus, definitely a bikeable distance. As he was staying in Norwich, it was easy enough for him to drop me off on campus to get ready for dinner.
If you can't tell from my blog post devoted to Foco, I am a food connoisseur. As a result, I love trying the restaurants in town. One that I hadn't hit yet was Murphy's on the Green. As implied in the name, it is very close to campus. My dad treated a couple friends and me to a great meal—I definitely will be going to Murphy's again in the near future.
Looking very cold at the top of Mount Cardigan
We called it an early night, in preparation for our hike in the morning. As event planner, I made the executive decision that a quintessential activity would be to do sunrise hike, and not just up Gile, but up Mount Cardigan. Mount Cardigan is about 40 minutes from campus, and more difficult than Gile. So, at 4:50 that morning, we set off. As only I had a headlamp, the going was slow. This was made worse by the fact that we were relying on my phone to lead the way, which had no service… But eventually, we reached the top of the treeline, and the sky was beginning to brighten. About ten minutes before sunrise, we reached the top of Mt. Cardigan. The sunrise was beautiful: deep oranges and pinks and reds. We hustled down though—the wind was biting at the top.
We finished off his visit by eating a well-deserved breakfast at The Pine. If you need a recommendation, the apple crisp pancakes are something else.
All in all, I'd like to say that it was a successful trip. From foliage to food, we hit it all. Am I not the best tour guide in the Upper Valley?
Walking through Dartmouth's vibrant fall foliage and reflecting on my Sophomore Fall experiences underscored the importance of community and embracing opportunities.
