You know I won't give in

I just went on the most beautiful drive. So I started in the direction of Lake St.Catherine. I didn't really know where I was going but I like to just take random roads and explore. I usually end up having to turn around a few times. At one point I found myself on a gravel road in the middle of the woods, lets just say my car doesn't love gravel roads. Anyway, I go over a bridge that cuts through a narrow part of the lake and I take a left hand turn. I head up a hill and when I get to the top there is the most amazing panoramic view. We're talking lake and rock cliff mountains to the left and farms and rolling fields to the right. An absolutely breathtaking view. I LOVE finding things like this. I wanted to just stop, pull over and take a photo, but I didn't have a camera with me of course. Neither do I have a camera that would have done that view any justice. May I also mention that my sunroof was open, my window was cracked and I was kind of hot! I continued to drive amidst farms and fields and forest, completely lost, until I spotted a sign for POULTNEY. So yes, I was lost and I found my way back to school without my GPS. Which I had already dug out of my glove compartment to find out that it didn't have any signal. I really wasn't concerned anyway, I knew I could just backtrack if worst came to worst. I must admit, there is a real feeling of freedom and accomplishment when you don't have to rely on cellphones or computers or GPS etc. to find your way home. 
          This little expedition also made me truly realize how different Vermont is from New York. I mean I knew VT and NY were quite different. But I guess I didn't fully grasp it until today. It seems like in NY there are very few places you can go that are really far from a Walmart or a McDonald's. In Vermont however, general stores still exist, and people still go to them....normal people, not just tourists. Even if there was a Walmart nearby (which i'm sure there wasn't) you would never know there was. VT just gives you a feeling that you're getting away. Most Vermonters are practical for a reason, because they have no choice! They drive 4-wheel drive vehicles because many live on gravel roads and they actually need 4-wheel drive. Don't get me wrong, I know there are Vermonters that are much like those folks from NY or there are people right over the border, in Granville, that spend most of their time in Vermont. I am generalizing. But even the fact that there is a certain inconvenience about VT that, to me, is kind of nice. I'll admit that I sometimes get annoyed about the ridiculous potholes on roads around here and the amount of time the plows wait to plow, but I think the problem is me, not the Vermont roads. I have been spoiled and not very practical, living in NY. Maybe the correlation between asshole NY drivers and well-maintained NY roads is not a coincidence. Perhaps New Yorkers need to take a deep breath and simply wait for the snow to stop before they get out on the roads, or they need to slow down and the potholes wouldn't be such a problem.
      Of course it may take me a few years to ACTUALLY slow down. I have, in fact, lived in NY my entire life, it's practically in my blood. But I came back to my room feeling so happy and healthy and free. Which is impressive because I left my room kind of angry and depressed. Getting away from things, if only for a little while, made me realize that I shouldn't take life too seriously. Things seem to have a way of working out, no matter how bad they seem. And I received a really happy phone call when I got back to my room also. My conclusion, is that this day isn't as bad as it seemed a few hours ago, and I think I'm going to survive the rest of the semester.