Thursday, October 28, 2021

October Coolspring Expo Recap Day 2

Saying Hello to Friends


Coolspring is south of Brookville and north of Punxsutawney.  Have you heard of Punxsutawney?  I bet you have at least in February.  Or maybe you've seen a certain movie. (giggles)  If you have followed our blog for some time then you definitely have.  We've teamed up with Flo and the Say Hello to My Little Friends crew to find all the Phantastic Phil statues throughout Punxsutawney.  Today was the day to, perhaps, finish our quest.

Flo found out there were 9 new statues besides the one we still hadn't located at the IUP campus.  Was it out for cleaning or re-sponsored, repainted, and relocated?  The plan included a fun side trip, but let's get to it.

After a hearty breakfast and some housekeeping we got the text from Flo and headed to the gate.  We didn't have to wait long before we climbed into her car and the four of us headed south to Punxsutawney.  First stop of the day...Gobbler's Knob!  Home of the annual Groundhog Day festivities!  Maritza and I chatted and laughed as Flo and Xyra traded GPS stories.  We laughed harder when it took us to a walking path instead of to the actual visitor's center. But we're resourceful and found our way.  Then the exploring started!

Gobbler's Knob!

Photo dump time!
Entrance

Heading to center stage.

Phil? Are you home?

Friends, Romans, Groundhogs...we come to see where it all happens in February.  It's much greener now. (giggles)

Off to the Visitor's Center...cool inlay.

Fun artifacts about the holiday and the movie.



Super fun woman.  Marcy the General Manager of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.  She was a lot of fun to talk to about Gobbler's Knob and Phil and our quest.

In the one room the artist who paints the statues created a mural of a typical February 2, Groundhog Day, festival. We had fun in that room. 





On to the Quest!

This is the tricky part.  In Pennsylvania towns were created around cowpaths and access to mills and fields and such.  Roads are twisty and some have many name changes.   We got out the map and looked it over.  Cool the first one we want should be on our way back into town from Gobbler's Knob.  Um, yes and no.  So we drove until we found our first new statue to use as a point of reference!  By the time we found Officer Phil & Fury we were laughing so hard we thought the officer in the parking lot might think we were up to no good.

Now we were cooking!  Next stop Farmer Phil at the Farmer's National Bank.

And Sgt. Major Phil at the VFW

They have the story of the fallen veteran who inspired this statue in the window, so we paused for a moment of silence.

Back to square one with the map. Where do we go from here?  Well, we know where the Wizard of weather is so...back that direction and we glimpsed the finger of You Can't Keep a Good Phil Down.

Now that we had our Phil "goggles" on we decided to go back looking for East End Phil.  
We spotted this one while looking across a parking lot and through some trees. Then found a route to the park. 

This one is another memorial.  Painted with things the two teens liked.

Woo hoo!  Halfway there!  Five more to find and all seem to be on the main road heading back to Coolspring.  

Tourist Phil is painted with all the types of phil souvenirs you can purchase as well as fun slogans.

Slice to Meet You Phil is pretty cool.  Can you guess what he is about?  Hint, February is awareness month for this.

Phil Phinacial is really cute!

At Phil the Flames we got to meet the artist!  She was clear coating this one for the winter.  

Yes!  Now off to IUP...and thwarted again!

Oh, well.  Still a great day hanging out with friends.  It was great to meet Maritza; she's really cool!

We stopped at The Country Cone on the way back to the museum.

Another late night working on freeing the second piston.  This one came free at 1 AM.  Again, we were in bed before it happened.  (giggles) 



Spending the day with friends is wonderful!  I can't wait to read Maritza's report!

Thank you for stopping by!  Which is your favorite Phil statue?

Have a great day!

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Wednesday, October 27, 2021

October Coolspring Expo Recap Day 1

Prologue

Hi!  i was so excited I got to be the one to go to Coolspring this fall for the October Expo!  I haven't been there in a long time and I remember it being so lovely.  I had originally thought to make a really long or just a photo dump post, but that's just no good.  So the plan is three chunks. Day one, day two with our friends from Say Hello to My Little Friends, and then Days 3, 4, and 5 together.  Let's get started.

Heading Out Wednesday

October 13 dawned a lovely day.  So nice Xyra and I wore shorts. I mean, really, the cab of the truck is nice and toasty.  And as we headed west we saw the trees were actually starting to change.  Very pretty.

One not so hot thing happened on the way.  It's tradition to stop at Wawa for a rest stop and to grab breakfast sandwiches, but they were out of eggs...so no sandwiches. 
Of course, the first thing we did when we arrived at Coolspring was to hit Vilella's Meats for chip steak and cheese sandwiches.  Yummy!  Then it was time to put up the tents!

All my gear fit well.  I had three lanterns so i could read before going to sleep.  And, since i couldn't bring Tatlo this time, I brought my doll.  Isn't she pretty?
I had to test it out. (giggles)



The afternoon was so nice and I hadn't been here in so long I took a walk around the museum grounds near the drive and entrance.  




If this had been running, I wouldn't have gotten this close.  You must always stay clear of moving parts!  You could get hurt.
This is our butler.  (laughs)  I think they were calling him Fred.  
Xyra said she had been by the Machine Works many times and hadn't noticed the little engine in the window or the sign telling everyone this was the engine that started it all.  It's a really cute little engine.

Soon it was time for dinner.  We gathered with friends around the fire pit for pot luck.

After dinner more engine work.  This time the crew was working on removing the pistons on the 60hp St Mary's. What a project?! 

They did get it out...around 2 AM.  Xyra and I had headed off to bed around midnight.  

I know that looks like a bad photo, but the little white dot is my lantern in my tent.  I left it on so I could find it easily in the dark.  
The smudge like thing to the right is the big tent.  They have fairy lights with remote control!

We had lovely moonlight so walking around was okay all four nights.  Plus there are other lights around the buildings.

Thank you for stopping by!  More tomorrow!

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