[Some paragraph marks added for ease of reading]
Monday
Dear Mom and Dad,
All good things must end and so here we are in Worcester at Mel Comstocks [sic] home waiting for her parents to return home to take us back to South Hadley. And I've never been so down in the dumps about going back to school as I am at this minute. The thought of all the work that is ahead of me before exams start is appalling!
The skiing trip was such fun! We never quite got to Canada as we had tentatively planned but that was probably just as well. New England was so cold and had such good skiing conditions that there was no need to go further north. Perhaps a play-by play account of the whole trip is in order here - or at least a general outline of our many and varied activities. Friday after we left Syracuse, I drove to Albany and we arrived at the greyhound [sic] station to pick up Lynn about fifteen minutes early. We then drove back to Schenectady and then to a little farm between there and Duannesburg where we met another fellow and spent the night at his grandparents. [sic] Lots of snow and quite cold by this time[.]
Later that evening, the three people arrived from St. Louis and that morning (Sat.) both cars set out for Vermont and Mad River Glenn. About one o'clock we stopped at Pico Peak near Rutland Vermont and skiied [sic] there for the afternoon as we obviously were not going to reach Mad River in time to ski. Skiing here was good but not too difficult so it made an ideal place to spend the first afternoon of the skiing season. It snowed all afternoon and all that night so the drive to Mad River was slower than we expected. However, we made it and after a hot dinner in Montpelier (this was one thing we insisted upon, a hot dinner every night) we scoured the countryside for barns where some farmer might let us stay overnight. But there didn't seem to be any so we decided to set up tents in the Mad River parking lot and sleep in them and in the two cars. But it was bitter cold (it was 25 below all the next day - hate to think what it was that night) so when two very generous people offered to let us sleep in their cars for the night we could hardly refuse. Skiing at Mad River was quite good but it was so cold Sunday that we climbed in preference to riding the chair lift. But we did take one trip to the top of the mountain and it was a fairyland of frosted trees and mountains in the distance. But it was a long ride up and I never have been so chilled in my life as when I finally reached the bottom and stumbled into the warming hut.
At about this point we heard that skiing at Eastern Slopes (North Conway area) was excellent so we set out for there. That's the great thing about unplanned trips such as this one, you can follow the good skiing conditions without upsetting any plans. Anyway, we spent that night in one of the University of N.Hamp.'s cabins at Jackson, N.H. our most fancy sleeping quarters of the whole trip. Good warm cabin, mattresses to sleep on, a fire already made as some U.N.H. students were already there, and home cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast the next morning. Skiing Monday at Black Mountain was perhaps the best we found on the whole trip. It was cold but no too, and it was snowing just enough to keep a good layer of powder on the slopes in spite of many people skiing them. Made Moosilauke about 10:30 New Years Eve - just in time for a hot shower before the new year began. Must start 1957 out clean. Had a fabulous time here - saw many, many people, skiied [sic] the mountain, sang and learned many new songs, and slept exceedingly well.
Left here Wednesday A.M. as Lynn had to be back at Smith that night. However, the weather had been very cold and Tom's antifreeze, which was good to 20 below, wasn't good enough. Anyway, we spent the whole day in garages and poured three loads of Antifreeze - about $20 worth into the dumb thing before we discovered a leak in the heater hose and got that fixed. We got Lynn to Hanover just in time to meet her ride back to Northampton and didn't get in a single skiing run. We ate supper in Hanover and then went visiting. Called on one Christopher Wren (that's really his name) and he finally persuaded us that since Dartmouth didn't start for two days and there was no one around that we could stay in their room that night. This is perfectly all right for Jim and Tom but girls aren't quite as welcome. So this next morning, as well as trying to cover me up on the couch in the living room so that anyone entering the room wouldn't be likely to see me. But twas done and that evening we had a great song fest as Chris and a friend of his also play guitars.
The next day (Thursday), we skiied [sic] at Holt's Ledge, the New [sic] Dartmouth ski area just a few miles from Hanover. Great, great, great! This was by far our fullest day of skiing as there were only a few people and no waiting for the lift. That night, after dinner in Hanover, we went to a song fest at Beany Nutt's home just outside of Hanover. You probably don't remember my talking about him but Dick Sherwood and I went to a song fest there last February at Winter Carnival. This one was even better although we were so tired that it was hard to appreciate it. Sleeping quarters in Wigwam Circle (which, incidentally was Sherwood's room until he left) and I was going to stay with Ann Campbell, a freshman at Holyoke who lives in Hanover. But this didn't quite work out and I wound up sleeping in the car. Not as uncomfortable as I had expected although I wouldn't want it for a steady diet.
This was Friday, and our last day of skiing so we went to Sunnapee [sic] in southern N.H. where we found terrific skiing. Took a lesson here which helped my skiing loads. I feel that my skiing has really improved and that I can now handle almost any slope, perhaps not as an expert would but at least with confidence. After the tows closed at Sunnapee [sic] we started out for Cambridge and had a very uneventful trip back. Even got there in time to attend a song fest at the Harvard International Student's Center. I must say, Outing Club can get up a better song fest any day, but they would have to go quite a ways to find anyone who could play bagpipes as a man did here. But then, who wants to listen to bagpipes for any length of time? Especially in a small room?
This is turning into quite a letter! Called Mel Saturday night after seeing the movie "Baby Doll" (it wasn't worth banning and all the fuss which was made over it).
Back at school -
Arrived at Mel's Sunday afternoon - she had two friends over for a while that night & this evening Mr. & Mrs. Comstock drove us back to school.
That's about it. A fabulous week & the entire trip cost me just about $30! How's that for frugality? I can look back on this trip when I'm forced to spend snowy weekends here studying.
Packages & letter were here when I got back - as well as a Winston check.
Love,
Liz