New Years' Travels

In early January, my mom, brother and I took a trip to Burlington, Vermont to play two performances at the Young Traditions Vermont reunion. It was the first time we had been there for the festival. It took about eight hours to drive to Vermont. We traveled on New Year’s Day (which was a Wednesday) and traveled back home on Sunday, so we stayed for about four days.

Day 1: We’ve Arrived!

On Wednesday, we arrived in Vermont shortly after 5:00pm and stopped at a restaurant to get a bite to eat, before heading to the hotel where we would be staying. We sat around the hotel room playing games and reading our books for a while. My brother and I went swimming, and then we ended the night watching a movie.

Day 2: Field Trip and Cold Nights

The next day, (Thursday) we woke up before 8:00am and ate breakfast. That morning we visited two of the nearest music stores, one being a violin shop where I tried out many different violins, and the other being a guitar store, which my brother Dylan (who could spend hours and hours in a guitar store) liked the best.
Later, we met the man who had hired us for the performances and had lunch. In the afternoon, Dylan and I practiced for the next two days' gigs and stayed in our hotel room that night where it was warm. It was -32 degrees and every time we stepped outside we’d start coughing a sort of “frozen” cough. It was super cold!

Day 3: Losing My Hairs at Showtime!

On Friday, after breakfast, we went into town and visited the violin shop again, ate lunch and got ready for that night’s gig. It only took five minutes to drive to the performance venue because it was in the same town as the hotel in which we stayed. The gig was held in a small theater-like place. The room was fairly small, but big enough for performing. 

There was a nice crowd gathered. Each performer played for about ten minutes and everyone did a great job! As they called Dylan and me up onto the stage, saying little things about each of us, I picked up my bow only to find that all the hairs had fallen out from the tip and were hanging on by the bottom (frog) of the bow! 

I was terrified! 

Nothing like this had ever happened to me at a performance. Luckily for me, one of the girls who had just walked off the stage, played violin. I quickly turned to her and said, "Can I borrow your bow?" Confused and most likely not sure what to do, the girl nodded a bit, and I said "Thanks!" I grabbed her bow and walked on stage. Whew! After the performance, we headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.

Day 4: Best Day Yet!

      Saturday was quite a day! We woke up, got ready, ate breakfast and headed out for a while to visit the stores in town. At 1:30pm there was a session being held at the hotel where all of the performers (including us) were staying. The performers were to lead the session and anyone who wasn't performing, but played an instrument, got the chance to play with the performers. There were instruments of all sorts: cello, fiddle, piano, banjo, guitar and also just voice! 

After the session there was another performance. This performance was in Stowe, Vermont and took place in a larger theater. Dylan and I felt really great about our performance! We played some of our favorite sets. It was very fun! By the time we got back to the hotel, it was already 11:00pm and we went straight to bed. We were very tired, especially after the performance!

Day 5: Farewell
     On Sunday, we packed up our bags and left for home! I was excited to go home and see my family but sad to leave Vermont. We all had a really awesome time and made a lot of new friends that we'll hopefully meet again someday.

~ Haley