This is (hopefully) the last picture you’l see from me and my Sidekick. 45 minutes after opening and two customers have been processed. It’s gonna be a long day for AT&T.


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The crowds around Penn State’s campus were bustling, but manageable. The fried food selection was excellent, and volunteer were taking donations as they handed out free hot dogs and r/w/b cake before the big show. In the distance you could just make out the large black canisters that held the ammunition.

Wait…were those gunshots?

Yep, that’s right. Vintage uniformed men with muskets. It was hard to tell from the distance if these were revolutionary era uniforms or civil war uniforms, but I’m thinking it was the former since there could have been a fight with all the rebel-flag wearing Nascar fans.

Now, for the show…or if you want you can view a high res version that could take a long time to download.

One of the new “features” available in professional fireworks packages is the “VIP” seating area. You can just make out a few flashes along the bottom of the screen showing the area where VIPers saw a special ground-show of characters and low fireworks.

This is a collection of photos and videos from our vacation (which is sadly over) that individually did not warrent their own post but needed exposure somewhere.

I have a new favorite restaurant in State College, now. Herwig’s Austrian Bistro (voted #1 ethnic food in State College three years in a row!) starts with a verbal assault from the owner or his son as they direct your eyes to the chalkboard menu — which changes everyday — and instruct you to order from the board in Austrian or you will be hit with the large red wooden spoon…as is supposedly traditional. I don’t know about that, but the food was amazing and the jovial haranguing from the owner and son made me comfortably full.

The chalkboard menu that changes daily.			The kitchen counter — that’s the owner over the stove and his son on the left.			This sign on the table should clue you into the experience you will have at Herwig’s.			The infamous red spoon.
Vegetarian fare is limited at Herwig’s but Becky had this stunning three cheese sandwich.				Evie went with the other vegetarian option, potato cakes.				I went with the rib special. The ribs were an unfamiliar, but tasty, difference from what I expect on ribs but they were as tender as they should be, showing a perfect cooking technique. The sauerkraut and potatoes were rich and delicious.

The night before we headed out for vacation, Kelly mentioned that we should look into getting “roll-up” screen doors. I was intrigued by the idea and set my mind to learn more. Lucky me that Evie had one installed on her back door. It’s a really simple affair and may mature more before it is perfect, but I really like the convenience…and being a Southern man, I love a screen door. We may have to get a set for the room we had renovated.

The handle (on the right) is functionally hidden flush under the hinged edge of the door.		A track at the top and bottom guides the screen door.		The leading edge pulls the screen out of the roll evenly across the track.
The handle hits against a magnet on the far side holding it closed, and there is a latch to secure it.			From a distance it looks like any screen door.

Becky does a demo:

Half our goals in visiting Lewisburg was visiting the weekly Farmer’s Market. It is apparent that what was once a single open-air building of local goods has expanded nearly 3x out into tented stalls. The overcrowded mix of Amish, Mennonite, town, gown and foreigner was a little overwhelming but there were several treats to be found.

We spent Wednesday driving out to Lewisburg on a mission to take pictures of my uncle’s dorm, and visit the Farmer’s Market. Along the way we had lunch, a delicious iced coffee (not Starbucks — Cherry Alley Cafe has had their website hacked by some real amateurs) and did a bit of walking.

Supposedly due to drag racing and several major accidents on Route 220 as you head out to Black Moshannon State Park the signage is very “in-your-face” about safety.

You can see the signs coming a ways off.	Almost didn’t catch this one at all “Slow Down. Save A Life”	“Don’t Tailgate”	“Buckle Up It’s The Law”
“Targeted Enforcement Area”	“Keep Alert”	“Keep Min 2 Dots Apart”	…and then some BIG dots.

One of my favorite pastimes is perusing the fast food offerings of foriegn locales. In the exotic world of State College, Sheetz is the dominant convenience store and I had a chance to slip inside and grab these snapshots.

Bugles Sweet & Salty Caramel	Doritos®: The Quest	Mint 3 Musketeers is nothing new, but giving it to us in a two-pack, ala Almond Joy is special.
Forget having to try to speak PimplyFacian to place your order, just put it into this machine and swipe your card…		…or even better, just pull your sealed pre-made smootie/shake from the fridge below, pop it into the machine above!

And we’re pretty sure our access to the Penn State club section will give us a good view.


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We spent Tuesday driving out to Black Moshannon State Park for a walk and picnic lunch. Like every other park I’ve been to up here, it was lush and beautiful — very reminiscent of the Arkansas State Parks that I have idealized from my childhood. Due to my inability to edit objectively, click through to see about 80 pictures and videos of our day at the park.

Breakfast Becky is known for extolling the importance and beneficial nature of breakfast. While we’ve been in State College she hasn’t been enjoying her favorite breakfast, so I’m sure that when we return one of the first sounds I’ll get to hear is our blender blending.

This is how it starts (bottom-to-top): beets, mangoes, ice, kale and protein powder.

This is what the completed “yummy” breakfast looks like.

I’m sure Becky will step in with corrections, pointers,…defense? but you get the idea.

sidebar: A couple years ago we were in CostCo when Vita-mix was doing a demo and selling their top model for $350. Being a gadget lover I was mesmerized and I begged and pleaded Becky to let us get one. She insisted that our blender was just fine and we didn’t need a new one, especially at that price. Three barely competent blenders later (and an increased love for the real deal smoothie on her part) and she’s rethinking her position.

My mother-in-law has a great back porch and after a day of vicious garden touring I got to re-experience one of my favorite moments here in the land of northern Germanic descendants: watching the rain fall on the garden. This will only give you a small hint of the pleasant pause in my noisy life, but I think you’ll get it.

…and after all was said and done we were treated to a full horizon double rainbow.

And now for something completely different…

I have more Central Pennsylvania posting coming up, but I came across this video of our cat, Dani, drinking from the water fountain. Always makes me go “Awww…”

The Penn State Master Gardners of Centre County Cooperative Extension hosted a garden tour on Sunday, so we spent a good part of the day driving around looking at the horticultural highlights of the area. If the idea of dozens of pictures and videos of greenery swaying in the breeze bores you, then I suggest you wait patiently for my future post on the delicacies found at Sheetz (and you’ll want to stick around for that stuff — believe that.)