My friend in Montpelier (Liz) had been asking me to come over for a visit so, with a little bit of time left on my rental car, I figured it was a good time. At 1500, my customers began a team recognition event and I was able to join by phone only (vice Zoom) - this allowed me to pack and start my drive across the Connecticut River. I used I-89 and made my way to the north - the weather was amazing and I got some pretty views of the mountain ridges (probably the ones where the Long Trail went?) to the west as the sun started to set. It had been raining so the cloud effects were spectacular but also darkly ominous. I made good time, arriving at about 1645 - Liz wasn't done with work yet so I took my time looking for a place to park. The Vermont Capital was so small that I thought it would be easy but there seemed to be a lot of places with restrictions. In addition, the Texas license plates on my rental seemed to be a magnet for angry people - at least one gave me the finger for what appeared to be absolutely no reason. After a while, I found a parking spot - right in front of the Capitol building itself! When I got out of the car, I noticed that "Black Lives Matter" was painted on the road in huge letters. There were lots of people sitting outside on a huge lawn in front of the Capitol - the whole experience seemed quite "Granola." Liz came out of her building (nearby) and met me shortly after 1700 and then we walked around town. She showed me a lot of landmarks and places that had significance for her (she'd lived there for many years). At about 1745, we made our way to Sarducci's, a popular (and, I later learned, very well-known) Italian restaurant. Liz said she knew the people who owned the restaurant but that didn't seem to have any impact on our experience. We sat outside under a large tent - this was nice at first because of the breeze. However, the weather soon made a turn for the worst - lots of wind, lightning strikes nearby and a torrential downpour. We were lucky because the canvass walls of the tent held up where we were sitting - other patrons weren't so lucky... The dinner was good and we had dessert too. At about 1930, we finished eating and had to make our way back across town to our cars. The rain was SO oppressive - I was glad I'd brought my golf umbrella. By 2000, I was on my way home. The rain was still pretty strong but the hydroplaning I experienced a couple of times made the drive even more scary than anything else. Was very relieved to make it to Hanover (2100). This was a nice break from my normal routine - thanks, Liz!