Football Frenzy

 Fall for us brings lots of football and this year even more.  We have season tickets to Penn State Football so that involves some tailgating, 6-7 Saturdays starting with Labor Day weekend going through mid November.  Then Jim has been the team Doctor for the local high school for 28 years, so that involves Friday nights until November.  This year the team is once again in playoffs for districts so the season extends we hope till December.  The excitement of a team doing well is fun to be around and so far we have had some wonderful weather for it

First week of districts found us at Penn Argyl High School in Penn Argyl having never been there before we were surprised to see it located in the Poconos.  North Schuylkill must be about as far west as you can go and Penn Argyl as far east in District XI.  Perfect day for a football game and North Schuylkill came out the winner and moves on to play for the district title this Saturday with Northern Lehigh.

The Medical team Jim, Amanda & Joe Halko.

What a great setting for a field looking up at these rocks, they must have had some amazing fall colors.

Mount Nittany State College

 With Jim scheduled for Continuing Ed meetings in State College I decided to tag along and hike Mount Nittany.  We drove out late Thurs. after a busy week, Jim's meetings started early so I headed off to breakfast at "The Waffle Shop" http://www.originalwaffleshop.net/story.htm.   The waffles are so light I ate every morsel, with a cup of Earl Grey tea and I was ready for my hike.  I drove through campus stopping to take a photo of the Nittany Lion Shrine, then over to hike Mount Nittany.

 I needed to be about 2 weeks earlier to see the fall foliage, but the weather for November was perfect.  The trail to the Mike Lynch Overlook is only .7 miles but it is 600 vertical feet up the western slope.  Once up there the rest of the trails are more rolling and fluctuate between 1,840 feet and 2,040 feet.

Mount Nittany

Looking at Beaver Stadium from Mike Lynch Overlook:

Boalsburg Overlook

Jim and I then visited with Bob and Dorothy Kelly at their new home in State College.  Bob and Jim's dad are first cousins, he and Dorothy moved from Girardville out to Centre County 3 years ago.  After reminiscing with them we drove home stopping at one of our all time favorite spots "The New Berlin Inn"  for a great dinner in a beautiful setting.http://www.innatnewberlin.com/

Penn State vs Northwestern game

A little cold but a great day at Penn State with Mallory & Nick---visiting campus, Penn State/Northwestern game and another great meal at Spats. http://site.spatscafe.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=15

The day started before sunrise to get to State College in time for Mallory to meet the Art Department at Penn State, definitely a program on the top of her short list for her Masters in Art Education.  With still other contenders we'll see where she ends up but this one definitely was more than we expected.  We knew it was a good program but after visiting realize it is far more than that.  We enjoyed dinner at Spats one of our favorites and then made the late night drive home, making a relaxing Sunday feel perfect.