Skiing: Annual Camp and Ski Trip - February 23-25, 2018

For about 12 years now, I've joined several other buddies camping in a cabin at Kooser State Park near Somerset, PA and skiing at Seven Springs Resort, Champion, PA.  This has become a terrific tradition as we always eat and drink and ski through the weekend.  For info on our Kooser Weekend in 2017, Click Here.

This year was different as the weather took a turn for the worse, as temperatures were in the 50s and warmer as the rain fell almost constantly for several days before and during the weekend.

Guy, at far right, checking for any signs of snow

at our cabin in Kooser State Park

The weather didn't impact our fun together, it merely reduced the skiing to a few hours on Sunday instead of all weekend, as we've done in the good snow years.

The weekend began with dinner at the Laurel Mountain Inn, enjoying the steak and potato meals the Inn is famous for.  Saturday morning the rain helped us decide to take a road trip driving around the local roads.  We visited a nearby ski area, Laurel Mountain, another state park, Linn Run, a pastry shop in Laughlintown, a local pub, Joe's Bar, with a huge taxidermy collection, then enjoyed an afternoon lunch at the Ligonier Tavern.

Given the warm, wet week, Laurel Mountain Ski Area was closed.  Here's a Video of the forlorn, snow-missing slopes of Laurel Mountain.  The piped music blasting over the empty hillside felt very eerie, given that there was no one else to be seen anywhere.

Sean Stull selfie at Laurel Mountain

  We took a few pics and drove through Linn Run State Park reminiscing about the natural "slip and slide" in the parl.  Linn Run (the creek) washes across a very long, large, flat rock that several of us enjoyed sliding across in years past.

The Original Pie Shoppe in Laughlintown has been around for many years and I've driven past it many times while motoring by on US 30.  This was my first visit, although a few of our little crowd had been there before and recommended the shop contents very highly.  The shelves were packed with cookies, cakes, rolls, breads, tarts, and, of course, pies.  Lots of different pies.

The Original Pie Shoppe

After munching a few goodies, we headed for a tourist spot that seemed to be merely a very local pub, Joe's Bar, in Ligonier.  This drinking establishment was new to me despite many visits over the years to Ligonier.  Although the bar itself is nothing special and strictly a local attraction with a scattering of local folks sipping their drinks around the old, scratched up bartop, the collection of stuffed animals is a taxidermial (is that a word?) cornucopia!  We wandered around two floors of glassed in stuffed animals that had been collected by the owner over many years and displayed in the bar.  The owner and collector has now passed on, but his wife and current owner has left the collection intact for all to see.

A small fraction of the display at Joe's Bar

Recognize these critters?  Type in the comments below if you know!

After enjoying all the critters from squirrels to elephants, we traipsed across the street for a late, but satisfying lunch at the Ligonier Tavern.

We returned to the cabin for the evening and our annual STEAK DINNER.  This meal deserves all upper case letters because Sean Stull and others bring a great selection of steak, veggies and potatoes which we grill and prepare ourselves at the cabin.  The meal always tastes great and is quite filling as we eat enough for a crowd twice our size!  Cigars and solving the problems of the world completed the evening in a totally satisfactory manner.

The next morning we cleaned the cabin and made our way to the

Sean Stull skis the snow we found

slopes to see if any skiing might be salvaged from the weekend.  Now that I'm a Florida resident, getting in at least a minimal bit of skiing becomes much more important.  I know I can't come back a week later when the snow returns.  As a result, I was desperate and was able to gain Sean's support so we were the only two willing to scavenge the slopes for snow.  We did find a bit worth skiing, but it wasn't much.  The good news is that it was much better snow than I could find in Florida.  :-}

Although the picture of Sean and video of me (both above) show how we felt about the skiing, it was actually a bit better.  The photos and video below show more accurately what the skiing was like.

Sean at the top of Wagner Slope

Murph at the top of Wagner Slope

View of Seven Springs from the top of Stowe Slope

Above video by Sean Stull while skiing down Wagner Slope at Seven Springs.

Even with the skiing at a minimum, the camaraderie was superb, as always.  We'll do Kooser Weekend again next year!

Growing Family - February 20-22, 2018

The train picked me up in Orlando, then spent two days carrying me north. First to Union Station in Washington, D.C. then to Pittsburgh's Penn Station.  From downtown (pronounced "dahntahn" in Pittsburghese) I caught a bus to Beaver Falls.  There I enjoyed first breakfast, then the rest of the day with my vivacious 3 year old granddaughter, Avery Mae.

Avery Mae Murphy

She has a great smile framed by long, flowing locks of bright red hair and is soon to be a big sister to her little brother when he arrives in May.  Her family is excited and making plans for the little guy's imminent arrival.

Apparently her parents are willing to consider sailing as a future activity for the arriving young gentleman, as they showed me one of the first outfits he'll be wearing . . . It has a colorful sailboat on it!

Young sailor's first duds

It was wonderful to visit and I hope to do so again soon.  Maybe when the little guy makes his initial appearance?

Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch - February 6, 2018

This rocket launch was predicted to be the most dramatic since the shuttle and Apollo launches of many years prior.  We decided to settle in with TGO friends at New York, New York, a small pub located on the Indian River directly across from Cape Canaveral.  The view across the water is completely free from any obstacles making the view perfect for any rocket launch, especially this big one!
The launch was delayed for a couple hours due to a strong breeze, but it finally abated and the countdown was resumed.

One of the really cool things, IMHO, is the landing of the Falcon first stage boosters.  In the recent past, SpaceX, the builder of the Falcon rockets, has landed and relaunched a few of these reusable first stage boosters.  While we've seen a few of the landings, this one was especially noteworthy, as two of the three first stage booster rockets were to land simultaneously back at Cape Canaveral.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the landing, but here are some pictures from the SpaceX website, including a very dramatic one of the boosters landing.

From SpaceX.com

From SpaceX.com

From SpaceX.com

From SpaceX.com