TOWNIE TALK

Author: Liz Lathey

In a few weeks, most of you will be leaving the Green Mountain State for some sunny (or maybe not so sunny) locale of your own. When you do, Vermont will probably pretty much cease to exist for you, until you come back in September, luggage in tow.

On the other hand, people like me, who are from Vermont, will just load up our stuff in our Radio Flyers and tote it all home to our farms. For those who are sadly departing the state just when it is starting to get nice, I will attempt to give you an adequate portrayal of Vermont in the summertime, a phenomenon missed by most Middlebury College students.

Staying in the state is definitely a lot of fun for the most part. Trips to Ben & Jerry's ice cream shops are frequent, since we all hope and pray that the employees will forget and accidentally not charge us, due to the stress involved in life after Free Cone Day. This has never actually happened, but I know enough people who work there that getting free ice cream is not a difficult task.

When there is nothing else to do, Ben & Jerry's in Rutland, Vt., is definitely the place to go. No matter what time of the evening it is (at least only until 10 p.m.), there is bound to be someone familiar making an appearance at the legendary ice cream parlor.

Later at night, the popular place to go for food is Denny's. Although you may laugh at this, it is no joke. In addition to meeting interesting characters like truck drivers and whatever families decide to dine at Denny's at 1 a.m., the overall experience is one like no other late night restaurant can offer. The waitresses are always really friendly and can usually recommend an excellent hairdresser for less than $10.

For those who wish to pass up the elegant fare of Denny's or Ben & Jerry's, going swimming is a choice worthy activity. At the Gorge just south of Rutland, kids from the surrounding high schools can be found from about 3:30 p.m. when school is released until all hours of the night.

The Gorge is actually a really cool place, where those of us from Vermont go cliff jumping. I suppose I should clarify: I don't actually join the Vermonters in their cliff jumping escapades because I am a huge baby and have only jumped a few times, screaming in terror the whole way down, of course. I am the one who climbs down the rocks to get in the water, which is probably more treacherous than simply leaping off the edge.

In my opinion, the only bad thing about Vermont in the summer is the mosquitoes. Mosquitoes may seem innocent enough in many other states, but in Vermont they can be a serious problem.

Brandon, Vt., just south of here, is a breeding ground for millions of mosquitoes, and every time it rains they multiply in any pool of standing water larger than your fingertip.

I work at a farm just south of Brandon, and we use approximately five billion citronella candles to keep the pesky insects away. Due to the inefficiency of the candles, a friend and I developed another technique.

We rationalized that if we smelled burning humans, we'd stay as far away as possible. Whenever we'd kill a mosquito, we threw it in a candle. Well apparently mosquitoes don't know what burning mosquito smells like, because they kept coming. We thought it was a good idea anyway.

It is ingenious ideas like this mosquito trap that got me into Middlebury College and I will be forever thankful for the skills that are inherent in Vermonters.