Mist Tunnel at the Fest / Land of Enchantment

Thursday was shaping up to be a very nice day to visit the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, in State College, PA. I used to do both of our local arts festivals every year with my big sister Barb. She'd take a bus from Harrisburg to State College, and I would meet her, pick her up, and take her to the fest.

There was a second arts festival called the People's Choice Festival in Boalsburg that we enjoyed very much, and in latter years, we skipped the original one and simply went to Boalsburg, where it was a bit less crowded, cooler (with a creek to wade in!), and with more affordable prices. This fest has since moved out to Centre Hall, where the Grange Fair takes place; I have not visited that fest since it's been in the new location.

Earlier in the week, my husband asked if I'd like to go to the State College fest. He could drop me off, he said, and pick me up a few hours later. I had not been on campus for a while, other than the Palmer Museum and the Arboretum. So there were things happening on campus that I also wanted to see: the demolition of the Liberal Arts Tower, and the demolition of Sackett Building.

The weather was unusually nice for festival. It is typically hot as Hades, with humidity levels off the charts. But on this day, and pretty much this day only, it was more temperate, less humid, and with a high of between 77 and 81 degrees during my visit. It was hot in the sun but comfortable in the shade. 

The plans firmed up: my husband would drop me off around 11 at the Berkey Creamery, go over and sit in his chair in Bald Eagle Creek, then come back and pick me up at 3. I'd get four whole hours to stomp around campus and downtown, and see the sights. From there, we would go out for a steak dinner in a nice, cool, air-conditioned restaurant.

I made a list of all of the places I wanted to go: the Arts Fest itself (which has booths both on campus around Willard Building and into downtown), the Creamery, the LA Tower, Sackett, Old Main, and maybe the HUB. I planned to end my adventure at the Arboretum, where my husband would pick me up.

The only place on my list I didn't make it to was the Nittany Lion Inn; I have not been there since it has changed hands and been refurbished, and I'll admit that I'm curious to see the interior. That will have to happen some other day.

T. Tiger and I started our adventure at the Creamery with a Peachy Paterno milkshake that was quite good. I figured a milkshake was more portable than a cone or dish, so I sipped it, then tucked it into the side pocket of my daysack. I walked down through campus, checking items off my list, taking photos everywhere I went, drinking it all in.

There was a time I walked this campus several times a week, or more. Of course, as a student here in the 1980s, I was on campus every single day. I lived in North Halls, and so I walked down through campus in the morning and then back up in the afternoon. 

Later on, as a PSU employee working at Innovation Park, I had a parking tag which allowed me to park by the Arboretum, and so I'd park there and walk to all of my meetings. Somehow, this is always my journey: down through campus first, then back up in the end. It just feels normal to me.

I went inside Old Main and visited Henry Varnum Poor's land-grant frescoes, and took many pictures. And I dropped my sunglasses just inside the front door, but found them again, unharmed, on my way back out. 

I walked inside the HUB and sat for 15 minutes watching the fish in the aquarium that was the class gift from the class of 1999. I walked around the Millennium Science Complex. I took pictures of the businesses along College Ave., and South Allen (where now many restaurants and bars have huge windows that open onto the street so people can have that "sitting outside" feeling).

I even managed to see a little bit of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts! There are always amusements and entertainment stages set up on the first block of South Allen Street. There is a water event that dumps buckets of water onto the little kids as they run beneath the buckets. There is also a mist tunnel, which you may see above. A lady with a little dog in a stroller (and a pride symbol!) walked through, and I snapped her picture.

Back on campus, I visited the duck pond, and the alumni gardens, and took pictures of the statue of the children playing there. I stopped and sat on a bench in the shade near Old Main, and ate the bit of leftover salad I had brought along home from the day before, at Couch's.  And then I started my walk back uphill, to the Arboretum, by way of the Business Building, whose reflections I love to photograph.

I had changed my camera battery quite early in my day's adventure, but of course, my second battery started flashing around the point where I was heading for my final stop: the Arboretum. I took almost FIVE HUNDRED PHOTOS on this day. Note to self: on a big photo day, take along TWO extra batteries, not just one! (And to be extra careful, tuck an extra memory card into your camera bag, as well.)

The lily pond at the Arboretum was just a land of enchantment. It was full of water lilies, and dragonflies, and colorful, pretty things. You may see a photo in the extras of a blue-eyed darner enjoying a rest stop on top of a water lily bloom. 

By the time I was done, I was hot, and sweaty, and exhausted, but happy. I met my husband right on time, and it was so nice to sink into a car seat after walking for four hours nonstop. These are things I have not done much lately for four hours straight: mixed and mingled around people, wore shoes, walked downtown and back, hung out outdoors in the summer heat.

My clothes were soaking wet from the heat, and I felt very uncomfortable with the thought of going into a restaurant looking like I looked, feeling like I felt. Every layer I had on was in the "so wet you're gonna have to peel it off of you" category, which is no fun at all.

Fortunately, my husband had a spare t-shirt in the back seat, and I swapped shirts before we went into the restaurant; I wasn't fancy, but at least, the shirt I wore was clean, and dry. Much better! Second note to self: if you're planning to go somewhere else after a hot-weather walk and photo shoot, be sure to take along a complete round of spare clothes!

Here are some additional photo sets you'll find on Instagram:
Henry Varnum Poor's land-grant frescoes,
The Arboretum's lily pond,
The funhouse reflections from the windows on the Business Building, 
Penn State's Berkey Creamery, including T. Tiger with our milkshake.

For my soundtrack songs, I thought I'd pick some tunes with the word summer in them. So here are the Lovin' Spoonful, with Summer in the City; and Bryan Adams, with Summer of '69.