I just returned from the Division III Men’s Basketball championship, held for the 16th consecutive year in Salem, Virginia. The final four teams were The College of Wooster, Middlebury College, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and Williams College. You can read all about the games on www.ncaa.com, DIII men’s basketball. The first two semis were close, with St. Thomas coming back from 17 down with eight minutes left in the game to beat Wooster. Williams beat Middlebury by two in the second game. In the championship game, St. Thomas (Minnesota) beat Williams by 24.
Aside from the games, the town of Roanoke (about 10 miles from Salem) was lovely. We stayed at the Hotel Roanoke, a short walk from downtown. The weather was wonderful (70s) and I was able to take some time to wander the streets of Roanoke and check out some shops. No, I didn’t buy anything. Well, except lunch at Awful Arthur’s.
The Hotel Roanoke is a Doubletree hotel and they give you complimentary warm chocolate chip cookies upon arrival, and then upon request. The record set by a former committee member is around 30 cookies in a five-day period. A current member topped off at around 20 last year. I think I had five. There were times I wanted one, but the check-in line was too long to wait.
I flew through Charlotte and on the way back the flight from Charlotte to Indy was packed. Salem is great at giving gift baskets at the hotel and I crammed as much as I could into my carry on. Unfortunately, my backpack was too big to fit in the overhead compartment and I had to smash it under the seat in front of me. Which left no legroom. AND the guy next to me was very large and took up part of my seat. I was miserable for an hour and kept praying I could make it through the flight without a blood clot in my legs. Remember for next time:
• Do a better job of requesting an exit row.
• Ask Salem to ship you the goodies.
• Even if you have to pay extra to check a bag, it’s worth it to have leg room.
• Look at the nutritional content of a sandwich BEFORE buying it. I was halfway through a Wolfgang Puck turkey remoulade sandwich when I saw there was 1450 mg of sodium in that sucker.
Overall, a great basketball weekend!
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