Day 9 – A Return To State College
Today’s Blog Entry
Cindy and I left Watkins Glen about 8:30, well before checkout time, so that we could maximize our time on campus at Penn State later in the day. We arrived at Bald Eagle State Park following a 2-1/2 hour drive. This state park is midway between Lock Haven and Bellefonte, a description that only a Penn Stater would understand. We set up camp and headed into State College, only 1/2 hour away.
Our timing was excellent as the students weren’t due to arrive on campus for fall term until the following week, so the campus was nearly empty and amazingly quiet. All of the empty parking lots in the center of campus were quite tempting, but knowing how zealous the PSU parking enforcers can be (and with a truck that offers some challenges size-wise) we elected to park in a commuter lot located literally in the shadow of Beaver Stadium.
From that hallowed ground we set off on foot for a circuit of the campus that took us past Mifflin Hall (Stuart’s dorm for four years) and then down East College Avenue to find a place for lunch. We ate at Local Whiskey, an Irish-themed pub located in the building above the fabled Phyrst, a.k.a. Penn State’s greatest basement bar. It was too darn hot for us to enjoy any of Local Whiskey’s namesake libation (or beer, for that matter) but the food was very good. Cindy had a smoked trout sandwich and I had the Oyster Po Boy, both with hand-cut fries and a large pickle spear.
After lunch we walked up the mall past Old Main and hung a left at Pattee Library to visit the Nittany Lion statue. After Cindy took some photos of me with the lion we headed straight down Curtin Road to the Penn State Creamery. We had hoped for a repeat of the awesome ‘Grilled Stickies’ ice cream from our last visit in September 2019 but alas that wasn’t on the menu board. Cindy had a cone of their August Pie, which was vanilla plus peach, nectarine, and blueberry. I had the Alumni Swirl which was vanilla plus mocha chocolate chunks and blueberry jam. I had to get the “two cones” picture very quickly because the ice cream was melting quite rapidly in the 90 degree heat.
We walked the rest of the campus circuit back to the stadium where I visited the museum gift shop for some blue and white swag. While I shopped Cindy stayed in the truck (with the air conditioning on, of course) to prepare for a 4:00 PM phone interview with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal regarding the Delta variant and vaccine third doses – there’s just no rest for the weary! After I finished shopping and Cindy finished her interview we headed back to the campground.
Our dinner was farm-to-table bratwurst from Virginia and Yukon Gold potatoes on the grill with a cold salad of cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and avocado. After dinner we watched the sunset (no campfire due to the warm temperatures) and rested up for our big bike ride in the morning.
Today’s Map
Today’s Photos
