John & Anne Wiley

2013/05/14

Change Of Pace

Today we researched genealogical resources in Butler and Franklin, then came back to where we started this part of our Adventure in Clarion. We consciously looked for places to take pix, so at our stops today we got a few that we like. On the way into Clarion this evening we stopped to visit Tripp, and if you know us you’ve already guessed what we did then.

5429 Into Blue

5429 Into Blue

Taking off our eyes filled with wonder and our hearts with the joy of flight! This lovely countryside we’d been driving was suddenly transformed into a realm of magic. The gathering blue was shrinking the clouds to puffy topping, and the colors sprang to life. Oh what a feeling to wander the skies again!

5460 Hidden Meadow

5460 Hidden Meadow

A meadow rimmed with blooming trees seen only by a few on the ground, became a treat for the passing aviators. Rather than face a two hour drive we’d decided to make the short flight over to check out Punxsutawney. In case you don’t know, that’s the town where a large rodent named Phil is said to predict weather by looking at its shadow and grunting in the ear of a Chamber of Commerce member. We love the movie, and wanted to see the familiar landmarks.

5440 Punxsutawney

5440 Punxsutawney

Alas, none of them are here, because the film was shot in Illinois (as you can learn from the text links above). In case you’re curious what the town looks like as we were, you can click on the pic to get a clearer view in a larger version. Editorial note: I used to routinely upload larger versions of all pix, but found that almost none of them got clicked. I’m curious whether this and the next one will.

5442 Gobbler's Knob

5442 Gobbler’s Knob

The scene of the annual event where the town population grows tenfold for a day or two differs greatly from the scenes in the film. It’s clear to me why this spot wasn’t chosen for the film, being far from town and rather nondescript. Today it was serving as an impromptu baseball field. At the bottom-right you can see the gate posts holding a wrought iron sign, and there’s a more mundane sign at the road edge in front of the red and blue cars. Though I’m sure it’s equal to the many charming PA small towns, I hope we don’t find ourselves flying there every day in some parallel to the movie. We’re glad to have spared ourselves the drive and enjoyed scenes like this that are pretty much invisible from the road.

5464 Farm Fantasy

5464 Farm Fantasy

Or another bloom-rimmed meadow among the several more we saw. I guess the farmers create these for their own enjoyment, and perhaps family picnics.

5433 Tree Trim Trend

5433 Tree Trim Trend

A few minutes later we were back over Clarion where the courthouse and town square are now so familiar, along with many landmarks from our times here. At some point maybe we’ll look at these pix and try to pick out the B&B where we spent our first night here (unlike the movie, checkout was 100%). Hopefully tomorrow morning we’ll check out of the Comfort Inn where we’ve been more comfortable in anonymous ease with a larger room and less concern about disturbing other guests with activities like this midnight blog post. 🙂

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