American Travels, week 2 part one
Day eight, Friday 3d of August
penn's cave
After the long journey to Falling water, we decided to stay a bit closer to home and drive to a famous local sight, Penn's Cave. Penn's cave is a set of beautiful underground rooms you can visit by taking a boatride through them, as they're all underwater. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Pennsylvania. By coincidence our guide through the caves was an old schoolfriend of Billys and he was clearly having fun showing us the strange rockformations and their nicknames. Unfortunately we weren't able to experience the total darkness inside the cave, as there were small children on the tour that were still afraid of the dark (or maybe their parents were).
Penn's Cave
drive-in
After dinner we went to the Drive In movie theater called the Starlite drive-in. I had always wanted to go to a drive-in, and as it happens there is still one operating in State College. For just $5 per car you can get in and see two movies! The sound is broadcast on a radio channel to your car stereo. Today we saw the Simpsons and Transformers! There is also a concessions stand were you can get popcorn, candy, pizza and drinks. Fortunately we got there early and found a spot right at the front, were we had a great view of the screen, instead of being behind the trucks.
At the drive-in
Day nine, Saturday 4th of August
monkey boy
On saturday we went to Billy's workplace to print out our tickets for Sixflags and to begin writing my travel diary. Kris had invited us out to dinner, so we were set to meet him at 6pm. By coincidence Steve was also nearby and we decided to have dinner all together and then go out for drinks. First we watched some more youtube and then drove to Home delivery to have dinner. Contrary to what the name might suggest, you can also eat there. After dinner we went to the Saloon, a bar that had some live music programmed. we started of by drinking a 'monkey boy' which is basically all different kinds of liquour poured into a pitcher with ice and fruit juice, topped with sugared cherries. It's so big you really don't need to get anything else. The coverband was really good and after a few rounds of doing the Penn State yell and some dancing, the night came to a satisfactory end.
Day ten, Sunday 5th of August
woodward cave
After drinking lots of water to take care of our hangovers we drove to Aaronsburg to have lunch (breakfast for us) with the Wolf family which is Jeanne's side of the family. We gathered at Lynda's Country Cooking and had a nice brunch while I was introduced to everyone. Afterwards we drove a few miles to the Woodward cave, just outside of Bald Eagle state forest. This is a 'dry cave' unlike the one at Penn's cave and doesn't have that many formations. It does however host a number of different bats and some amazingly shaped tunnels as well as huge, open rooms. The tour consisted of us and another couple so we had ample opportunity to see everything and experience the cave with little interference, including the absolute darkness. We asked the tourguide for a good place to go swimming nearby and she recomennded Poe Valley state park.
Woodward Cave
swimming
After a wonderful drive through the woods we came to Poe Valley and a brand new recreation area. Unfortunately the amenities weren't finished yet so we had to do withour changing booths and toilets. Still it was a wonderful place, with perfect swimming water and a nice clean beach. Before going home we got some more delicious food at Wegmans and a Badminton set to play with on deserted parking lots.
Poe Valley and Monarch butterfly
Day eleven, Monday 6th of August
lazy thai
Another lazy day, Billy needed to go into work for a few hours so I slept late. Then we walked into town to do some shopping, visit bookstores and buy a Dali reproduction for Billy's appartment. After a game of badminton we drove into town again and had dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant called the Cosy Thai. I had always been afraid that thai food was too spicy, but actually it wasn't spicy at all but just delicious. According to some, this is the best place to eat in state college and it really lived up to its reputation. For about $30 we had two main courses, one appetiser and drinks. Now I love Thai food!
State College architecture
Day twelve, Tuesday 7th of August
Some things are just not meant to happen, or so it seems. Today was positively the weirdest day in my life ever! It all started at 6am when our alarm clock woke us up...
weirdness
We had decided to wake up early, as today we were going to drive six hours and visit Niagara falls! But as soon as we woke up we knew that sonmething wasn't right. we hadn't slept at all it seemed and billy was feeling tired. We wondered if we should postpone the trip, but then decided to go through with it. We parked our things into the car and were ooff. the day was grey and overcast and as we drove out of State College it started raining. Aboput an hour later the rain had stopped, but the car was shaking and at one point a car behind us actually flashed his headlights at us. I thought maybe the trunklid was open so we decided to pull into the nearest gas station and take a look. It turned out one of our rear tires was flat! We had been driving with a flat tire for a while so there was a big chance that the tire had been damaged. We tried inflating it, but even before it reached the normal pressure it blew. So there we were, in the middle of nowhere and in need of a new tire. Fortunately there was a Wal Mart nearby that had a car service center so we put the emergency tire on the car and drove the ten miles.
Flat tire and 'donut'
At Wal Mart they were able to provide us with a new tire but we had to wait about 45 minutes, so we used the time to do some shopping (an american flag, a Transformers T-shirt and a quick lunch). Then we were off again, but as soon as we reached the interstate there was a closed lane causing a traffic jam. All in all we were about three hours behind on schedule so we decided that Niagara falls was just not going to be happening today. After visiting a yard sale in Dubois, our new destination became Punxsutawney PA, home of Punxy Phil, the weather-predicting groundhog!
groundhogs
You might know about the movie groundhog day, starring Bill Murray, well this movie was inspired and filmed in this town, where once a year they have a festival and the groundhog predicts if the spring will come early or the winter will be longer.
Liberty Phil, real live groundhogs Phil & Phyllis and Phantastic Phils.
When we were taking pictures of the live groundhogs at the groundhog zoo, a man came up to us and started explaining some things to us about punxatawney and it's famous groundhogs. His name was Ben and as well as being a doctor at the local hospital he takes care of the groundhogs. It soon became clear tht friendly Ben was 'one of us'. He gave us some groundhog beanies and after learning of our failed plans to visit Niagara falls he recommended we stay over at a town called Ellicottville. After talking to Ben some more we said goodbye and had a walk around the town, looking for the Phantastic Phils, groundhog statues made by local artists, and visiting the local giftshop. In all Punxsutawney is a great place and the people are real friendly too!
visions of never
After visiting the site of the groundhog day festival we drove down to Altoona where there was an exhibit of fantasy art at the college art gallery. We had seen the posters advertising it all over State College so we had already planned to visit it some time. This seemed the perfect opportunity. It wasn't very easy to find the gallery though, as it was hidden away in one of the campus buildings and when we got there it was practically deserted. Fortunately there was someone there that was very pleased to have some visitors and she opened the gallery for us, leaving us to enjoy the exhibit by ourselves. It was a wonderful collection and great to see works that I had known previously but only as reproductions.
a taste of michael's
Feeling hungry and tired we decided to look for a place in Altoona to get a coffee and a bite to eat. My eyes fell on a sign saying Michaels' Cafe so I thought it might be a good place. We parked and went in, only to find out that it was actually a gourmet restaurant! We decided to give it a try though and just have dinner there. They had a special called 'a taste of Michaels' that consisted of a five course meal, where we got to choose a soup, an appetiser and a main course. These would all be half portions, but that was more than enough for us! Our taste included mushroom soup, filled mushroom caps, a shrimp martini, shrimp fettucini and crab filled salmon.
I decided to ask the maitre d' about the american usage of the words appetiser and entree (a main course in the US), as they differ from the way we use them, but unfortunately he didn't know. He did however reveal his long desire of visiting europe and went on to regale us with tales of QE2 wine bottles that turned out to be water and visiting the local gay bar in a kilt. Yes you guessed it, Ken was also 'one of us'. Somehow in all of our travels we kept finding them. After some cheesecake for dessert we drove back home, not entirely sure what the fates would have in store for us!
penn's cave
After the long journey to Falling water, we decided to stay a bit closer to home and drive to a famous local sight, Penn's Cave. Penn's cave is a set of beautiful underground rooms you can visit by taking a boatride through them, as they're all underwater. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Pennsylvania. By coincidence our guide through the caves was an old schoolfriend of Billys and he was clearly having fun showing us the strange rockformations and their nicknames. Unfortunately we weren't able to experience the total darkness inside the cave, as there were small children on the tour that were still afraid of the dark (or maybe their parents were).
Penn's Cave
drive-in
After dinner we went to the Drive In movie theater called the Starlite drive-in. I had always wanted to go to a drive-in, and as it happens there is still one operating in State College. For just $5 per car you can get in and see two movies! The sound is broadcast on a radio channel to your car stereo. Today we saw the Simpsons and Transformers! There is also a concessions stand were you can get popcorn, candy, pizza and drinks. Fortunately we got there early and found a spot right at the front, were we had a great view of the screen, instead of being behind the trucks.
At the drive-in
Day nine, Saturday 4th of August
monkey boy
On saturday we went to Billy's workplace to print out our tickets for Sixflags and to begin writing my travel diary. Kris had invited us out to dinner, so we were set to meet him at 6pm. By coincidence Steve was also nearby and we decided to have dinner all together and then go out for drinks. First we watched some more youtube and then drove to Home delivery to have dinner. Contrary to what the name might suggest, you can also eat there. After dinner we went to the Saloon, a bar that had some live music programmed. we started of by drinking a 'monkey boy' which is basically all different kinds of liquour poured into a pitcher with ice and fruit juice, topped with sugared cherries. It's so big you really don't need to get anything else. The coverband was really good and after a few rounds of doing the Penn State yell and some dancing, the night came to a satisfactory end.
Day ten, Sunday 5th of August
woodward cave
After drinking lots of water to take care of our hangovers we drove to Aaronsburg to have lunch (breakfast for us) with the Wolf family which is Jeanne's side of the family. We gathered at Lynda's Country Cooking and had a nice brunch while I was introduced to everyone. Afterwards we drove a few miles to the Woodward cave, just outside of Bald Eagle state forest. This is a 'dry cave' unlike the one at Penn's cave and doesn't have that many formations. It does however host a number of different bats and some amazingly shaped tunnels as well as huge, open rooms. The tour consisted of us and another couple so we had ample opportunity to see everything and experience the cave with little interference, including the absolute darkness. We asked the tourguide for a good place to go swimming nearby and she recomennded Poe Valley state park.
Woodward Cave
swimming
After a wonderful drive through the woods we came to Poe Valley and a brand new recreation area. Unfortunately the amenities weren't finished yet so we had to do withour changing booths and toilets. Still it was a wonderful place, with perfect swimming water and a nice clean beach. Before going home we got some more delicious food at Wegmans and a Badminton set to play with on deserted parking lots.
Poe Valley and Monarch butterfly
Day eleven, Monday 6th of August
lazy thai
Another lazy day, Billy needed to go into work for a few hours so I slept late. Then we walked into town to do some shopping, visit bookstores and buy a Dali reproduction for Billy's appartment. After a game of badminton we drove into town again and had dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant called the Cosy Thai. I had always been afraid that thai food was too spicy, but actually it wasn't spicy at all but just delicious. According to some, this is the best place to eat in state college and it really lived up to its reputation. For about $30 we had two main courses, one appetiser and drinks. Now I love Thai food!
State College architecture
Day twelve, Tuesday 7th of August
Some things are just not meant to happen, or so it seems. Today was positively the weirdest day in my life ever! It all started at 6am when our alarm clock woke us up...
weirdness
We had decided to wake up early, as today we were going to drive six hours and visit Niagara falls! But as soon as we woke up we knew that sonmething wasn't right. we hadn't slept at all it seemed and billy was feeling tired. We wondered if we should postpone the trip, but then decided to go through with it. We parked our things into the car and were ooff. the day was grey and overcast and as we drove out of State College it started raining. Aboput an hour later the rain had stopped, but the car was shaking and at one point a car behind us actually flashed his headlights at us. I thought maybe the trunklid was open so we decided to pull into the nearest gas station and take a look. It turned out one of our rear tires was flat! We had been driving with a flat tire for a while so there was a big chance that the tire had been damaged. We tried inflating it, but even before it reached the normal pressure it blew. So there we were, in the middle of nowhere and in need of a new tire. Fortunately there was a Wal Mart nearby that had a car service center so we put the emergency tire on the car and drove the ten miles.
Flat tire and 'donut'
At Wal Mart they were able to provide us with a new tire but we had to wait about 45 minutes, so we used the time to do some shopping (an american flag, a Transformers T-shirt and a quick lunch). Then we were off again, but as soon as we reached the interstate there was a closed lane causing a traffic jam. All in all we were about three hours behind on schedule so we decided that Niagara falls was just not going to be happening today. After visiting a yard sale in Dubois, our new destination became Punxsutawney PA, home of Punxy Phil, the weather-predicting groundhog!
groundhogs
You might know about the movie groundhog day, starring Bill Murray, well this movie was inspired and filmed in this town, where once a year they have a festival and the groundhog predicts if the spring will come early or the winter will be longer.
Liberty Phil, real live groundhogs Phil & Phyllis and Phantastic Phils.
When we were taking pictures of the live groundhogs at the groundhog zoo, a man came up to us and started explaining some things to us about punxatawney and it's famous groundhogs. His name was Ben and as well as being a doctor at the local hospital he takes care of the groundhogs. It soon became clear tht friendly Ben was 'one of us'. He gave us some groundhog beanies and after learning of our failed plans to visit Niagara falls he recommended we stay over at a town called Ellicottville. After talking to Ben some more we said goodbye and had a walk around the town, looking for the Phantastic Phils, groundhog statues made by local artists, and visiting the local giftshop. In all Punxsutawney is a great place and the people are real friendly too!
visions of never
After visiting the site of the groundhog day festival we drove down to Altoona where there was an exhibit of fantasy art at the college art gallery. We had seen the posters advertising it all over State College so we had already planned to visit it some time. This seemed the perfect opportunity. It wasn't very easy to find the gallery though, as it was hidden away in one of the campus buildings and when we got there it was practically deserted. Fortunately there was someone there that was very pleased to have some visitors and she opened the gallery for us, leaving us to enjoy the exhibit by ourselves. It was a wonderful collection and great to see works that I had known previously but only as reproductions.
a taste of michael's
Feeling hungry and tired we decided to look for a place in Altoona to get a coffee and a bite to eat. My eyes fell on a sign saying Michaels' Cafe so I thought it might be a good place. We parked and went in, only to find out that it was actually a gourmet restaurant! We decided to give it a try though and just have dinner there. They had a special called 'a taste of Michaels' that consisted of a five course meal, where we got to choose a soup, an appetiser and a main course. These would all be half portions, but that was more than enough for us! Our taste included mushroom soup, filled mushroom caps, a shrimp martini, shrimp fettucini and crab filled salmon.
I decided to ask the maitre d' about the american usage of the words appetiser and entree (a main course in the US), as they differ from the way we use them, but unfortunately he didn't know. He did however reveal his long desire of visiting europe and went on to regale us with tales of QE2 wine bottles that turned out to be water and visiting the local gay bar in a kilt. Yes you guessed it, Ken was also 'one of us'. Somehow in all of our travels we kept finding them. After some cheesecake for dessert we drove back home, not entirely sure what the fates would have in store for us!
posted by Luciano75 at 10:47 AM
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