To Penn State and Back

Lots of driving in the last 26 hours, but I had a good trip to Penn State.

Corey was disappointed with his race, but I was not disappointed that I had made the trip to see him run. It makes me very proud of him to see him running in his Syracuse uniform and to be part of such a nice group of young men. This photo was taken near the finish line and Corey ended up passing the guy in the blue uniform at the edge of the photo, just before they crossed the line.

I left Williamsport in the fog at 7 AM and arrived at the course around 8:20. I must have a really old Pennsylvania map because some of the roads I planned to take had different route numbers and other roads were improved to expressways since my map was published , but I followed my nose and got to the Penn State golf course where the meet was held with time to spare and to get a hug from Corey before he went to the starting line.

I got to meet several parents of other Syracuse XC runners, which added to my enjoyment of the day. Some folks came from as far away as the southwest corner of Virginia. One of Corey's apartment-mates is from Hyde Park, NY, so I had something to talk to his parents about since I spent a couple of days there during my Albany to NYC bike ride in August. 

One of my colleagues is a Penn State alumni and she recommended a restaurant in State College so I went there for lunch before heading home. I got off of I-390 at the Naples exit and went through that town where I was able to buy some freshly picked grapes. I saw a sign advertising "Pick Your Own Grapes" about a mile and a half off my route, and I would have gone and done that except that it was raining pretty good at that point.  So I have a peck and a quart of beautiful Concord grapes in the basement waiting for Grandma and me to squeeze each and every one tomorrow. I took a grape pie to Corey and he seemed happy to have that!

Last night I finished the knitting part of the baby blanket. Tonight I hope to sew up the mitre corners of the border and weave in all the ends. Then I will take a photo and get it ready to mail off to the baby.

I paid $3.59/gallon for gas at 2 different stations in PA, that is about 20 cents cheaper than around here.

If you e-mail us and it gets returned to you, it may be because our mailbox is getting full and I don't know how to clean it out. The one thing I tried obviously didn't do the job because I got my Full Mailbox message from Frontier again this morning. Jim will have to fix it when he gets home, or calls me and tells me how to do it.

Hope all is well.

On the Road Again

Report from Williamsport, PA.

I left school right after my last class, leaving my student teacher to put away all the equipment and do our hall duty. After a quick stop at home to fill the Bubba Sport with iced tea and turn off the water into the house, I was on the road by 3:45 PM. 

The 3 hour drive to Williamsport was pretty easy-not too much traffic or delays from constuction delays and rain did not start until I crossed into Pennsylvania. 

My hotel room is free because I used my Marriott points and it is too bad I am only here for one night! I have a large studio room with a comfortable living area (couch, desk, tv,) a separate area with a small refrigerator and microwave, a large bathroom and a bedroom area with another tv and a king-sized bed. Upon my arrival here I was glad I didn't try to drive another hour and a half to State College. I was tired and it was raining and dark-not the best conditions for driving in unfamiliar territory. So I will get up early tomorrow morning so I can get to Penn State around 8 AM. Corey runs at 9. 

The latest stretch of Rt. 15 that is under construction is the part by the Turkey Restaurant. It won't be long until Rt. 15 will all be an expressway with a speed limit of 65 mph. Rt. 15 is one of my favorite roads because it goes through some beautiful scenery, but there always seems to be something to look at. I suppose it will get more generic as it becomes more and more expressway, but right now I still enjoy the drive. 

The latest forecast I looked at has the rain holding off until the afternoon tomorrow in Penn State so maybe the XC meet will be rain-free. That would be nice because I hope to take some photos and that gets trickier when I have to hold an umbrella over my head and the camera.

I may try to find some grape pie grapes on my way home tomorrow so Grandma and I can make grape pie fillings on Sunday. I will have to look at a NYS map and find a route to take that will take me home through grape country.

Time to knit. I am really close to finishing my baby blanket.

Hope all is well. 

Parent's Weekend

This is a different sort of Parent's Weekend for the Robinson family. Jim is currently out in Utah with Tucker for a week and tomorrow, after school, I will head towards Penn State to see Corey run in a XC meet there!

Jim has had his trip planned for a couple of months. He flew from here to Albuquerque and then rented a car to drive to Bluff. He and Tucker will spend 4-5 days hiking in Paria Canyon, a beautiful slot canyon that runs into Grand Canyon. Here is a photo that I downloaded from the internet. You may be able to click on the photo to enlarge it.

When Jim gets home, he should have his own collection of photos to share and I will pass them along to you in this blog.

I just decided to make the trip to Penn State late last night. I will drive to Williamsport, PA tomorrow after school and will stay in a hotel that is free with my Marriot rewards points! I will get up early on Saturday morning, to drive the last hour to State College, in time to see Corey race at 9:00 AM. I'll share photos from that too. The weather is not supposed to be great this weekend in PA or NY, rain and thunderstorms on Friday night and Saturday, but we'll make the best of it.

Tonight, after shopping at Eastview Mall, I went to  Knit Night at the East Rochester yarn store. I spent a very pleasant hour sitting and knitting with other knitters. 

I guess I had better go pack up a few things. I don't need much because I will only be gone for 24 hours or so.

Hope all is well.

Two Car Garage

Now, before you think we are losing it here, this was an experiment done out of curiosity, not eccentricity or boredom! 

I wondered, now that we have 2 smaller cars, if we could fit them both into the garage at the same time. So I backed into the garage, like I was parallel parking it under the canoes. Jim was my coach, calling out how close I was coming to hitting something. Once the Beetle was in, Jim easily pulled the Vibe into the remaining space, with room to spare! 

I don't know when we would want to have both cars in the garage, but maybe if a big ice storm or snow storm was in the forecast, it might be nice to have both cars under cover. So that was our after-dinner entertainment!

The Bills won today and they actually looked good. Maybe it will be easier to be a Bills fan this season, than it has been in the past few years.

We've also been watching a fair amount of tennis-the US Open. There have been some great matches with some upsets. We'll watch the Women's Final tonight and then the Men's Final tomorrow night.

Jim ran in a small 5K cross-country race yesterday and finished 2nd. He was pleased with his time, especially since he hasn't raced in awhile. 

I have been knitting a lot this weekend and am almost finished with this blanket. It sure looks nice-I will post photos when it is completed.

Gram and GrandDad come back into town tomorrow for a couple of days as they head for Bob and Joanie's. They will come here for a Ponty's supper tomorrow and it will be good to see them.

We've talked to both Tucker and Corey this weekend and things are well with both of them. Corey went kayaking yesterday and had a fun time. I'm glad his schedule allows him to do some paddling once in awhile, because it brings him joy. Tucker is working hard so he can be ready to take some time off when Jim gets out there on Tuesday.

I guess that is all for now. It has been a quiet weekend, just what I wanted and needed.

Hope all is well.