Travel Blog

We spent the day yesterday in our old stomping ground, State College, PA. And when I say the day, I mean the
whole day. We left Carrolltown at 9:00 a.m. and didn’t get back until 11:30 p.m. But we had some fun.

We started off at Panera’s for coffee, orange scones and cinnamon crunch bagels. I know that may not sound like
a big deal to a lot of you, but we’ve been Panera-less for three years. Think about it. Then Phil went off to get a
massage at his old massage school, and I went to AccuWeather to see some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time.


I only expected to be at AccuWeather for an hour or so, but I ended up staying for close to four hours. It was really
fun to catch up with my pals, but it was even more fun to run into the people who didn’t know me too well three
years ago, but who did the triple-take of near recognition when they saw me walking down the hall. I just said hi to
those folks and kept on walking. I almost got busted by the owner, though, because visitors aren’t really supposed
to be roaming through the halls unescorted, but since I had three floors of people to visit and my first and second
escorts had jobs to do, I was pretty much left on my own. I was rounding a corner to go see someone and Joel
Myers was standing right there staring at me. He couldn’t remember who I was three years ago, so I knew I was
okay on that front, but I had a big, shiny Steelers shirt on, and logo apparel is a no-no in AccuWeather because of
the TV cameras. So he stared at me, I smiled at him, and just walked past him into Marshall’s office. He didn’t
follow me in to bust me, so I think I’m safe. Who knows who’s taking flak today for letting their employee wear a
Steelers shirt to work though. Hee hee.

But it was a really good visit. I got to see everyone I had wanted to see except for my old boss, Jim. He was on a
business trip to Philly. Oh well. Jim, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry I missed you, and I’ll catch you in another
three years.

After AccuWeather, I met back up with Phil and we walked around Penn State campus for awhile. We laughed at
all the college girls wearing either Ugs or flip-flops. I’m sorry, but neither are a good look. We wanted to take my
picture at the Nittany Lion Shrine, but when we got there, all these little kids were using it as a slide, and we
couldn’t wait them out. So we went to Old Main instead.


And watched the fat PSU squirrels.


Then we went on the perfect Sue PSU sweatshirt quest. It wasn’t a success, but I’m still hopeful. We didn’t hit all
the bookstores yesterday because our meter was running out, so we’ll have to come back and finish up later.
Then we ate at the restaurant where Phil proposed to me, even though I wasn’t supposed to eat because we were
going to Damon’s to watch the Steelers game with friends that evening. But we were starving, so we went and had
our favorite appetizers and some hot tea. And we got the server all excited about full-time RV’ing, even though he
said he should finish college first.

Then we went to our friends Nick and Becky’s house to catch up with them and re-introduce ourselves to their kid.

The last time we saw him he was about ten months old. We let him warm up to us slowly, but by the end of the
evening, we were flinging a monkey around with him, so that was cool. And now I want a Fling Monkey in the worst
way. That thing was fun!

And then it was off to Damon’s for the Steelers game with Brian, Lori and Dave. The start of the game was
abysmal, and I thought my jinx was continuing (the only two Steelers games I saw any part of this season were
the only two they lost), but they pulled it out in the end. Yay, Steelers! Plus the guys got to see the Girls Gone
Wild bus out in the Damon’s parking lot (see front page pic), so I think they were pretty happy about that. All in all,
a super good day in PA.