Events of Saturday, November 6, 2010

          Today, we woke up warm and comfortable in the wonderful, hospitable home of the Fishers, Mom’s friends from Physical Therapy School at Boston University oh so many years ago. We dressed and had a fabulous delicious breakfast of egg casserole, grilled stickies, and hot cocoa. The Taylor family LOVES grilled stickies like they love California. They’re like cinnamon rolls, but long and skinny and grilled. Grilled stickies are a Penn State specialty, another one of the “things to do while visiting State College”. The others are climbing Mount Nittany, and getting ice cream at the creamery, both of which we did yesterday.

          After breakfast, we packed up the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV that the Fishers let us borrow and headed off to Penn’s Cave, the only all-water cave in America, so you have to take a boat to explore it. It was extremely weird for all of us to be back in a car. We were physically closer than normal because there was less space in which to spread out. We had certain luxuries we don’t have in the RV and certain luxuries we missed from the RV. Daddy’s driving was different, as he was so used to driving an RV. It was an enjoyable difference, though. We’re very thankful to the Fishers for the use of their car.

          We arrived at Penn’s Cave and bought our tickets and wandered the gift shop. Soon, it was time to head down the sinkhole via a paved ramp and forty-eight stairs (yes, I counted!) to the boat dock, where four or five boxy wooden red boats with gas-powered motors waited. We met our tour guide, whose name was Dave in the Cave and whose jokes were as corny as Kansas in August, and yet still managed to make Abby laugh her head off. We’re not sure about that girl. After he introduced us to himself, he introduced us to “the S rules”: no standing, swaying, smoking, slapping, swapping seats, sinking, swimming, swooning, or square dancing allowed. As we descended into the darkness of Penn’s Cave, Dave in the Cave pointed out many formations like the Statue of Liberty, dove’s wings, a shield, an alligator, a turtle, a hippopotamus doing a swan dive, the Little Mermaid, and many more. Then he introduced us to the Strait of Gibraltar, and Headache Rock, and other humorously-named formations along the way. The air in the cave was about 52° F, while the water in the cave was about 38° F.

          Then we maneuvered through an S-shaped passageway that was carved out of the cave by explosions and a lot of manpower to create a lake from which to harbor hydroelectricity. We went out “on the lake to take a spin and head back in”, as our tour guide Dave in the Cave put it. When we were on the lake, we saw a massive elk, and a fawn with a blue butterfly on his ear. There were also several mallard ducks with bright purple feathers under their wings. After exploring the lake, we went back through the cave backwards and said goodbye to our tour guide Dave in the Cave.

          We spent a few more minutes in the gift shop and then got our lunch from the back of the lovely Chevrolet Tahoe SUV. We took our lunch to this indoor picnic area where school groups probably congregate to eat their sack lunches on field trips. But today it was just us. So we ate our lunch loudly, because the place echoed and it was cool to play with our food and the sounds we could make eating it. After we finished, we visited the restrooms and the first entrance to the cave that man had entered. Dave in the Cave had told us that if we shouted down this entrance that wasn’t waterlogged, he would tell his next tour group that people were lost in the cave and it would be fun. So we yelled and we yelled, but we don’t think anyone was actually down there to hear us yelling.

          Then we drove back to the Fishers’ house and showered and blogged and did laundry and dishes and played ping-pong and LIFE and basically relaxed in a house. It was great. Soon, it was time for the big game, only not the Big Game we think of (Stanford versus Cal). It was a big game for Penn State. Apparently, if Penn State were to win this football game against Northwestern, it would be the head coach’s four hundredth win. This coach Joe Paterno is eighty-three years old, and still coaching and living his best. Even though we were right in town, we watched it on the Fishers’ TV instead of actually going to the game. The Fishers said that everyone will be coming to this game from miles around because it’s such a big deal if this coach wins his four hundredth football game.

          So Penn State actually won the game and JoePa, as they call him, was congratulated for his four hundredth career victory and gently carried on the shoulders of a few of his football players. Then we ate a fantastic dinner of vegetarian chili and played ping pong until it was time to watch Stanford play the Arizona Wildcats otherwise known as the Arizona Pussycats. This was a special game for us Taylors, because our aunt and uncles and cousins were actually there in the Stanford stadium maintaining our tradition of attending one game a year as a family. So we were there with them in spirit. Every time the camera panned the crowd, we searched with eagle eyes for our beloved family. Fortunately, the Stanford Cardinal won, beating the Arizona Pussycats, I mean, Wildcats, 35 to 10.

          I enjoyed watching the football games, even though I’m not that big of a fan of football. It was enjoyable because we joined the Fishers in cheering for their team, and the Fishers joined us in cheering for our team. We enjoyed making fun of the Arizona Wildcats’ head coach, as he was mostly always angry and at one time crossed his arms across his chest and pouted like a two-year-old not getting his way. We also had fun introducing the Fishers to all the strange oddities about Stanford, such as the Cardinal (as in the color, not the bird or the dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church), the key-jiggling before kickoffs, the “All Right Now” fight song played after every touchdown, and above all, “The ONE, the ONLY, the INCOMPARABLE… Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band‼‼‼‼”. It was a blast! But then the TV station switched to the Texas Tech game, with only nine minutes left in the fourth quarter of Stanford’s game.

          The Stanford game started at 8pm EST, so I guess Mom knew it was going to be a late game. However, since it was Daylight Savings Time, she gave each of us the option of spending our extra hour on sleep or on watching the football game. Daddy and Lindsey opted for sleep, while the rest of us watched the game. Gradually, we all went to bed late, one by one, some later than others, but all content with the knowledge that our favorite college football teams had won or was presently winning their games.