Dining with the Dude

What might inspire a Dartmouth student to get up at 6:30 a.m. on a weekday? There's only one answer: food.

Every Wednesday morning a group of students calling themselves the Dinercrewe seeks out the best home-style breakfasts in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Joseph "Diner Dude" Cloyd '02, who runs the tours, didn't think up the idea himself. In fact it's an old tradition associated with the Cabin & Trail division of the DOC that began sometime in the late 1980s but died off for several years until being revived by Chris Saccardi '97. Some of the trips on Saccardi's itinerary could only be described as extreme dinering. Provided the drivers didn't oversleep, the big green DOC vans left campus at 3 or 4 a.m. and drove for several hours in search of the best diners.

Diner Dude prefers sticking closer to campus. Here are some of his favorite stops:

Doodles Diner (Grantham, New Hampshire) is ranked "Best in Class" by the Dude. "Order the French waffle—they're dipped in French toast batter."

Eaton's Sugar House (Royalton, Vermont), which serves "the best pancakes and maple syrup closest to Hanover."

■ Hungry Bear Diner (Bradford, Vermont) dishes out "the best deal in the Upper Valley: The Trooper Special—two eggs, hash browns and toast—costs all of $1.99."

■ The Wasp (Woodstock, Vermont) is "top-rated for charm despite the shocking lack of a bottomless cup of coffee."

Early Bird Special Cloyd guidesstudents to the area's cheapest eats.

QUTE/UNQUOTE "The good news is that we know we've got a sensitive fire alarm in the building." —DEPUTY LIBRARIAN JOHN CRANE '69 ON A RASH OF FALSE ALARMS IN BAKER LIBRARY CAUSED BY RENOVATION-RELATED DUST