There’s always that moment of expectation when you check in at a new hotel. Key in hand, you head off to find your room, scanning the numbers in the halls, looking for the place that will be your home for the next few days. Will it be nice? Will it have a view? Will it have HBO? These are all good questions.

Another good question is: Will it be cordoned off with police-style caution tape?

If the answer is “yes”, you know it’s going to be one of those trips. Evidently, there was some construction in my hotel. One clue was that the check-in desk was a bunch of folding tables with computers on them upstairs in a meeting room. Another clue was the fact that some of the staircases didn’t appear to be connected.

The good news is that the rest of my visit in Burlington was dynamite. Great schools, great kids, great teachers who made me feel welcome. Here are just a few of the highlights:

At Edmunds Elementary students designed their own colorfully-dressed pirates, Ã la Backbeard…

At Chaplain Elementary, Alexandre and Rowen made this cool Backbeard ship out of popsicle sticks…

…and Essa made a great Bean Thirteen illustration…

At C.P. Smith, students designed wedding dresses for a soon-to-be-married teacher in the style of Backbeard…

..and there was much, much more. So who cares if my phone wasn’t connected, my alarm clock malfunctioned, and the guy in the room below was doing construction at eight at night? Burlington was a great way to end this year’s school visit season. Thanks so much to everyone I met this past week!