Over the mountains and through the woods…

to Happy Valley PA… Susan and I are here in State College to attend Delia and Kat’s commitment ceremony and do a bit of marsh birding in the morning.

The drive out was a mad dash to arrive in time for the ceremony without having to leave home at dawn. Driving along the interstate at 80 miles an hour, most of the view was a blur of mountains and trees, with occasional valley views of pretty dairy farms with silos and big red barns. I’d imagine it to be gorgeous in the fall.

Parking problems caused both Susan and I to miss the ceremony, despite having arrived within plenty of time. Once the ceremony started, no one was allowed in, even though I begged and pleaded that I’d driven for 5 hours. Bummer!

Anyway, we did get to the party afterwards where I snapped this pic of the cake cutting. Then an early dinner in a local pub with a few of Delia and Kat’s friends. We talked birds and made fun of each other’s accents. (Mostly they made fun of mine – there’s no such thing as a Jersey accent; it’s all the rest of you people that talk funny!)

Tomorrow morning should be fun; Delia’s planned to show us around a few of her favorite local spots for birding. Plus, Barrack Obama will be speaking at the college as part of his “Road to Change” bus tour of Pennsylvania. I’d love to have the time for that, but there’s that drive home…

6 thoughts on “Over the mountains and through the woods…”

  1. Hey, welcome to central PA! Bummer you missed the ceremeony, but parking problems in State College are par for the course.

    Try to get your friend to take you up to Bear Meadows tomorrow – a very wild area not that far out of town. It’s one of the southern-most boreal-type bogs and a very special place.

  2. Oh bless you. Right out of a movie. Can’t imagine your consternation.

    All’s well that ends well: they look happy and you get to BIRD!

  3. What a time we had on the marsh! Especially when Laura clapped her hands to see if she could get clapper rails (!!??) and about fifty wood ducks flew off in a panic! I’m surprised none of them died of little birdy heart attacks!

    Thank you so much for sharing our day (and my marsh) with us.

  4. Dave: Thanks for the suggestion – I drove past Bear Meadows Road on the way to Delia’s place, but ran out of time before the trip home.

    I noticed a few boggy-looking places along I-80 that reminded me of bogs I’ve visited in the Adirondacks. Do you know what any of them might be?

    Mary and Cathy: Yep – birds are what matters.

    Delia: That clapping trick works! It does! If I’d been able to see any of those ducks first, I never would have tried it tho.

  5. You mean in the Poconos? Not sure about the ones right along the highway, but there are some good bogs up there, I hear. I’m not too familiar with the region, unfortunately – it’s awfully far for us.

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