The sun was shining, so....

I asked Dave if he wanted to go to Punxsutawney. Not sure why, but why not? The sun was shining, we have the day off, and nothing else to do, and it's Groundhog Day Weekend, but the only thing I really saw that they were doing today was an ice sculpture exhibit. Turns out, we never found that. We did, however, meet the famous Punxsutawney Phil! It was cool. We got to meet him up close and personal, and didn't have to stand for hours in the cold among a flood of people. So, we can now say, we met Phil, and have been to Gobbler's Knob. Not at the same time, but we did it. And I requested Phil call for less cold, even if we had to go through 6 more weeks of winter.

Like I mentioned, we never did find the ice sculpture thing. We wandered around, took a few photos of some of the "Phantastic Phils", stopped by the Library Zoo, where we could see the groundhogs through the window, then went into the Festival activities tent to find out just what else was going on, which apparently by the middle of the afternoon, didn't really amount to much. That's where we met PHIL and his handler John Griffiths of the Inner Circle. We only stuck around for a little while, but got some pictures, and listened to John tell a story about how they give Phil some groundhog elixir each year, that adds 7 years to his life. He tells us it doesn't work on people. LOL. Dave asked that if Phil was there, who was in the Library Zoo. Well, it's Mrs. Phil and Stinky. Stinky? Really? Why would you name a groundhog Stinky and let him hang out with Mrs. Phil? I mean, she's the first lady of weather and all, right? Weird. (Yeah, ok, and I am being silly too) LOL PICTURES HERE :-)

Anyhow.... we left there, and took some more "Phantastic Phils" pictures and stopped at the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. It was located in a building that was once the Post Office. I found the Post Office stuff more interesting that the weather stuff. Kids would have found it fun though. It had little weather related activities to teach how weather works. And had a little TV weather corner where you could 'broadcast' your own weather telecast.

We found a few more Phantastic Phils, then headed to Gobbler's Knob. The PHANTASTIC PHILS are a public art project, where 6 foot tall fiberglass groundhogs were molded and various artists from across the state and country painted them with whatever theme they chose, Phil was somehow incorporated into each name. They were then put on display though the town. Of the 32, we found 21. Some of them were very nice. It's amazing how many different ideas came from the same statue. We had seen buffalo when we passed through Buffalo, NY a few years ago. For some reason, I just think it's a cool project. The lady in the festival tent was saying they had a similar project in Johnstown, with a dog. I've never heard of it though, I'll have to check into it. I guess I just appreciate silly art :-)

Our last stop was Gobbler's Knob. It was a nice little park. And everything appeared to already be set up for Tuesday (with LOTS of lights already ON so he can see his shadow easily). We walked right up to the stage, which will be nearly impossible for all but a few come Tuesday. We're not really sure where the thousands of visitors will park on Groundhog Day. The park isn't all that big, and all the roads seemed to be marked no parking the whole way up. I'm pretty sure, we'll never visit ON groundhog day, but it was nice to have taken the day to wander around. PICTURES HERE :-)

Here's to Phil not seeing his shadow, or at least giving me the "warmer, please?" that I requested.