Where in the world is Jeremy? Surprise, I'm on the road again. Not that the 90 minute journey from Williamsburg, Virginia to Fredericksburg, Virginia is as glamorous as a 10,000 mile journey through Africa, but given what my life is at the moment, it will have to do. After 2 months working in Williamsburg, that particular physical therapy facility no longer had a need for me. So now I take my skills to Fredericksburg for the foreseeable future.
Since my bank account is currently telling me I have to work, apart from an upcoming summer trip to Hawaii for a wedding, most of my travels this year are going to be weekend road trips. And that is OK by me. One of the road trips I have actually been looking forward to making for years now was up to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for the annual Feb. 2 Groundhog's Day (GD) celebration. For the first time in quite some time, GD fell on a weekend, which meant my brother could join me (I can take mid-week vacation days, but since he is a teacher, the school system kinda frowns upon their educators taking mid-week days off).
The Gaynor Family is known for packing as many activities as humanly possible into the time frame we allot ourselves for vacations and road trips alike. Rest is not an option. We'll have plenty of time to rest when we die. We are the type of people who open airports and lock the gates on our way out of national parks. My brother and I have done a fair amount of road tripping in our day, and almost every one of those trips follows this general itinerary:
-Leave really really late on Friday or in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
-Drive through the night so that we arrive at our intended destination as the sun comes up
-Spend the entire day doing whatever sightseeing we intend to do until we can no longer keep our eyes open
-Sleep in the car or in a budget hotel and repeat the sunrise to weary eyes routine every single day until the trip ends
If any of this sounds familiar, it is because this is how I traveled through all 7 continents last year. Although, sleeping in a budget hotel would have been like sleeping in the Ritz Carlton compared to some of the places I slept last year.
Anyway, back to GD. We packed the car, for this 1 day trip, with more stuff than I packed for an entire year going around the world, and left Baltimore around 8pm.
Whenever we go anywhere, we always research whether there are other historic, ridiculous, or unique things to see and do along the route to our intended destination. In that spirit, we couldn't just make Punxsutawney our only destination for this road trip. So we stopped in Altoona, Pennsylvania at America's Oldest Gas Station.
We really wanted to fill our gas tank here, just because, and because we were actually running on empty, but no such luck. After filling up elsewhere, we finished the 5 hour drive to Punxsutawney around 1:30am.
GD festivities start at 3am and the town actually has shuttles (school buses) which run from various locations to take people to Gobblers Knob, home of the celebration. We decided to take the shuttle from the Walmart parking lot. 24hr Walmarts are awesome. It actually gave us something to do while waiting for the shuttle because even at 1:30am, getting good sleep really wasn't an option.
Northwest Pennsylvania in the middle of winter is bitterly cold. 0 degree (-17C) temps were what we were dealing with. True story: It was actually colder here than just about any time during my trip to Antarctica.
In the spirit of the Oscars tonight, I present the following:
Jeremy: Who are you wearing?
Jeremy: Well Jeremy, I am wearing Smartwool underwear, Smartwool medium weight long underwear, grey Reebok warm-ups with a liner, Old Navy Jeans, black Reebok warm-ups with liner, and REI convertible trekking pants. On top I am wearing Smartwool medium weight long underwear, long sleeve Mountain Hard Wear shirt, REI long sleeve shirt, Columbia titanium long sleeve hiking shirt, and my Quark Expedition Antarctica parka. I also am wearing a pair of gloves covered by REI skiing mittens. My fashionable head wear consists of a Smartwool balaclava, a fleece neck warmer, Smartwool hat, ear warmers, and the fleece lined hood of the Quark jacket. I have on Smartwool sock liners and a pair of REI fleece socks. My stylish Vasque hiking shoes have to be the perfect compliment to at least something I am wearing, but I'm not sure they are going to be warm enough for this morning's festivities.
Jeremy: You really don't have any clue about fashion, do you?
Jeremy: Is practical a fashion?
Jeremy: You embarrass me. On to more important matters. Do you think Phil will see his shadow?
Jeremy: To me, it's not about whether he sees his shadow or not, I'm just thrilled to be here amongst so many inebriated belligerent revelers along with celebrities like Punxsutawney Phil and The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore. This truly is a special event. Everybody here today is a winner, even if only in the minds of their respective mothers. Well Jeremy, it's time for me to go brave the cold and stand in place for the next 5hrs until the sun comes up. It promises to be an exciting morning.
Jeremy: You're my hero
I must say, Jeremy gives a good interview. After a short shuttle ride at 3am from the Walmart parking lot to Gobblers Knob, we stood in those freezing cold temps for about the next 5hrs. Mind you, we didn't need to arrive that early. The sun wouldn't rise until about 7:30am, but we wanted to get as close as possible so we could get a good view of the festivities. This celebration has been going on for 123 years, so event organizers have had plenty of time to perfect the schedule of events leading up to when Phil emerges. Much to my surprise, there was music, dancing, talent acts, and an impressive 30 minute fireworks display at 6:30am while it was snowing to 'phil' the time until Phil was brought out for all to see. In spite of the freezing cold temps, it really was a fun morning, which close to 40,000 people were there to witness. As the sun began to rise, the main event began. The Inner Circle members went through the pomp and circumstance of taking Phil out from the stump on stage, reading the official scrolls of what it would mean if Phil did or didn't see his shadow, and then they placed him on top of the stump for the official shadow/no shadow moment. In actuality, I don't think a shadow has anything to do with the festivities. They place 2 scrolls on the stump, and he walks over to one of them. The head of Inner Circle then reads what is written on the scroll which Phil chose, and this year, it was the scroll stating he didn't see his shadow, meaning spring is right around the corner.
The town of Punxsutawney takes great pride in the fact that so many people come and visit them on this 1 day of the year. From the wait staff in a crowded diner to the gentleman giving tours of the town in the back of a tractor to tourists sitting on bales of hay (while snowing), the people couldn't have been nicer. Souvenirs and food were basically under-priced, given this is the 1 day out of the year when this town really makes money. The townspeople created an event and an atmosphere which I would be more than happy to experience on another Feb. 2 in the future.
As an added bonus for you weather fans out there, for the past decade or so, every GD, the Meteorological Hall of Fame (also located in Punxsutawney) inducts a new member. This year, Jim Cantore, the man who gets sent to every huge weather event in America (blizzard, hurricanes, tornado ravaged areas, floods, etc), was the inductee. I was probably more excited for this unexpected occurrence than I was to see Phil, but it was the perfect way to cap off the events of the day.
Since my bank account is currently telling me I have to work, apart from an upcoming summer trip to Hawaii for a wedding, most of my travels this year are going to be weekend road trips. And that is OK by me. One of the road trips I have actually been looking forward to making for years now was up to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for the annual Feb. 2 Groundhog's Day (GD) celebration. For the first time in quite some time, GD fell on a weekend, which meant my brother could join me (I can take mid-week vacation days, but since he is a teacher, the school system kinda frowns upon their educators taking mid-week days off).
The Gaynor Family is known for packing as many activities as humanly possible into the time frame we allot ourselves for vacations and road trips alike. Rest is not an option. We'll have plenty of time to rest when we die. We are the type of people who open airports and lock the gates on our way out of national parks. My brother and I have done a fair amount of road tripping in our day, and almost every one of those trips follows this general itinerary:
-Leave really really late on Friday or in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
-Drive through the night so that we arrive at our intended destination as the sun comes up
-Spend the entire day doing whatever sightseeing we intend to do until we can no longer keep our eyes open
-Sleep in the car or in a budget hotel and repeat the sunrise to weary eyes routine every single day until the trip ends
If any of this sounds familiar, it is because this is how I traveled through all 7 continents last year. Although, sleeping in a budget hotel would have been like sleeping in the Ritz Carlton compared to some of the places I slept last year.
Anyway, back to GD. We packed the car, for this 1 day trip, with more stuff than I packed for an entire year going around the world, and left Baltimore around 8pm.
Whenever we go anywhere, we always research whether there are other historic, ridiculous, or unique things to see and do along the route to our intended destination. In that spirit, we couldn't just make Punxsutawney our only destination for this road trip. So we stopped in Altoona, Pennsylvania at America's Oldest Gas Station.
We really wanted to fill our gas tank here, just because, and because we were actually running on empty, but no such luck. After filling up elsewhere, we finished the 5 hour drive to Punxsutawney around 1:30am.
GD festivities start at 3am and the town actually has shuttles (school buses) which run from various locations to take people to Gobblers Knob, home of the celebration. We decided to take the shuttle from the Walmart parking lot. 24hr Walmarts are awesome. It actually gave us something to do while waiting for the shuttle because even at 1:30am, getting good sleep really wasn't an option.
Northwest Pennsylvania in the middle of winter is bitterly cold. 0 degree (-17C) temps were what we were dealing with. True story: It was actually colder here than just about any time during my trip to Antarctica.
In the spirit of the Oscars tonight, I present the following:
Jeremy: Who are you wearing?
Jeremy: Well Jeremy, I am wearing Smartwool underwear, Smartwool medium weight long underwear, grey Reebok warm-ups with a liner, Old Navy Jeans, black Reebok warm-ups with liner, and REI convertible trekking pants. On top I am wearing Smartwool medium weight long underwear, long sleeve Mountain Hard Wear shirt, REI long sleeve shirt, Columbia titanium long sleeve hiking shirt, and my Quark Expedition Antarctica parka. I also am wearing a pair of gloves covered by REI skiing mittens. My fashionable head wear consists of a Smartwool balaclava, a fleece neck warmer, Smartwool hat, ear warmers, and the fleece lined hood of the Quark jacket. I have on Smartwool sock liners and a pair of REI fleece socks. My stylish Vasque hiking shoes have to be the perfect compliment to at least something I am wearing, but I'm not sure they are going to be warm enough for this morning's festivities.
Jeremy: You really don't have any clue about fashion, do you?
Jeremy: Is practical a fashion?
Jeremy: You embarrass me. On to more important matters. Do you think Phil will see his shadow?
Jeremy: To me, it's not about whether he sees his shadow or not, I'm just thrilled to be here amongst so many inebriated belligerent revelers along with celebrities like Punxsutawney Phil and The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore. This truly is a special event. Everybody here today is a winner, even if only in the minds of their respective mothers. Well Jeremy, it's time for me to go brave the cold and stand in place for the next 5hrs until the sun comes up. It promises to be an exciting morning.
Jeremy: You're my hero
I must say, Jeremy gives a good interview. After a short shuttle ride at 3am from the Walmart parking lot to Gobblers Knob, we stood in those freezing cold temps for about the next 5hrs. Mind you, we didn't need to arrive that early. The sun wouldn't rise until about 7:30am, but we wanted to get as close as possible so we could get a good view of the festivities. This celebration has been going on for 123 years, so event organizers have had plenty of time to perfect the schedule of events leading up to when Phil emerges. Much to my surprise, there was music, dancing, talent acts, and an impressive 30 minute fireworks display at 6:30am while it was snowing to 'phil' the time until Phil was brought out for all to see. In spite of the freezing cold temps, it really was a fun morning, which close to 40,000 people were there to witness. As the sun began to rise, the main event began. The Inner Circle members went through the pomp and circumstance of taking Phil out from the stump on stage, reading the official scrolls of what it would mean if Phil did or didn't see his shadow, and then they placed him on top of the stump for the official shadow/no shadow moment. In actuality, I don't think a shadow has anything to do with the festivities. They place 2 scrolls on the stump, and he walks over to one of them. The head of Inner Circle then reads what is written on the scroll which Phil chose, and this year, it was the scroll stating he didn't see his shadow, meaning spring is right around the corner.
The town of Punxsutawney takes great pride in the fact that so many people come and visit them on this 1 day of the year. From the wait staff in a crowded diner to the gentleman giving tours of the town in the back of a tractor to tourists sitting on bales of hay (while snowing), the people couldn't have been nicer. Souvenirs and food were basically under-priced, given this is the 1 day out of the year when this town really makes money. The townspeople created an event and an atmosphere which I would be more than happy to experience on another Feb. 2 in the future.
As an added bonus for you weather fans out there, for the past decade or so, every GD, the Meteorological Hall of Fame (also located in Punxsutawney) inducts a new member. This year, Jim Cantore, the man who gets sent to every huge weather event in America (blizzard, hurricanes, tornado ravaged areas, floods, etc), was the inductee. I was probably more excited for this unexpected occurrence than I was to see Phil, but it was the perfect way to cap off the events of the day.
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| On stage with Phil post-prediction |
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| Kind of a reverse photo bomb. Jim Cantore is unaware that he is in a picture with a world famous travel blogger. |
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| This is Gobblers Knob. It was packed with people to about where we are standing |
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| A popular thing to do in towns across the USA is to have local artists design/paint something unique to that particular town. |
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| Phil's home....in the public library |
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| Me shaking hands with weather royalty or Jim Cantore shaking hands with blogger royalty? |
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| My ride for the tour of the town |
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| The movie made the town famous but was actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois |
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| Hello and Goodbye from Punxsutawney |
