Road Trip:State College

We decided to make a short day trip to State College Pa and even with the baggage that I have towards this place,I always enjoy going here-go figure.

Mike Oravec had never been to State College and his list is even longer than my extensive list so that's saying something!
That means that this noon start was circled on the calendar early in the season for Mike.
We drove north and picked up Fred Landucci and drove to State College and breakfast at IHOP.
I've always liked IHOP although I don't eat out at ours very often-mainly because you can get whatever you want (I've noted in the past that I am not a big breakfast fan),I ordered something called the Denver Omelette Burger and it was decent enough.
It's funny,I like most breakfast foods,but I'm not a fan of breakfast-strange,I know.

After breakfast,we drove the few miles to Medlar Park through what appeared to be orientation park at Penn State,
It is the paradox of my visits to State College-I dislike Penn State,their "We Are" culture and particularly the looming giant that is Beaver Stadium across the street,yet this is one of my favorite ballparks to visit.
I love the way I'm treated by the staff (as long as I don't wear Buckeye gear,LOL),there isn't a bad seat in the place and it's a great graphing park for both pre and post game.
In other words,Medlar Park is a jewel.

Medlar Park is always a great graphing stadium,which isn't always the case with fairly new stadiums.
You can graph both teams from the same spot and get a lot of things finished at once-a plus when you are only doing a stadium for one day.
We graphed the visiting Auburn Doubledays and warned their players about their promotion to Hagerstown and what awaited them them as far as the Muni goes.
I didn't have many cards for Auburn-actually just a few for one player-pitcher Yonathan Ramirez,who I had in the Hagerstown Suns team set.
Ramirez asked Mike and I,if he could keep a Suns card and Mike said sure,if he signed all his cards.
It was odd though,when Ramirez got to the last card and started to sign it,I told him he didn't have to sign it since it was his.
Ramirez signed it anyway,smiled,said thanks and then put it in his clipboard and smiled as he walked away.
I only needed a few for the home Spikes,which was Bryce Denton on a newly acquired Perfect Game card and Scott Hurst on a USA card and then after a while,we were off to CC Peppers.

CC Peppers is a local cheese steak joint that must be a hit with the Penn State crowd as two tables down sat two assistant coaches from their perennial doormat men's basketball team.
It was a sparsely decorated place with posters of mostly Penn State,but had one that always is a must have picture!
The Richard Nixon picture that most oddballs such as myself go to for their Nixon of choice is the classic Nixon with Elvis Presley,but that's the "tourist" version.
The real Nixon aficionado uses the Nixon bowling on the White House lanes and that is what poster was featured at CC Peppers.

I ordered the special of the day,which was a steak sandwich,fries and a soda.
The ordering system might confuse a newcomer or two,but the steak was very good and as were the fries.
The place could have done a better job clearing tables,but it seemed to be more along the lines of just too much traffic to keep things running and that's not a bad way to go..
If you ever hit the Spikes,try CC Peppers-it's a little out of the way from the stadium,but nothing awful and worth the drive.

We went home soon after and I made it home to do the Hickory Crawdads in Hagerstown.
But another fun road trip with y friends and well worth the time-even if I did have to go to State College....