01 February 2007

A visit with Punxsutawney Phil

How cool to live so close to a phenomenon! Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog prognosticator, has made a little town in Jefferson County famous. My friend Sue (of Polar Bear/Pittsburgh Zoo blog post fame) and I visited Punxsutawney last year for our annual adventure. A giant groundhog welcomes you . . .

There are Phil statues throughout "Punxy," all dressed differently. We visited several (you can get a map of their locations at the Chamber of Commerce office on Rt. 119, which travels through the center of town.)

We had lunch in the Pantall Hotel, where Bill Murray stayed while filming the movie Groundhog Day in 1992.

"Don't drive angry."
Of course, we had to try on some of the groundhog outfits in the official groundhog store!

7 comments:

Mike Greiner said...

Kittanning truth: if Punxy Phil shows up in a farmers field around here, no one will care if he sees his shadow. Instead, the farmer will shoot him in the head and stuff him back down in the hole.

:O)

Anonymous said...

I agree with mike. what a risk of sprained ankles those pesky critters can make! my dad would go out every so often with his pistol just looking for them :-) and once cooked one, even!
anyway, when I lived in Texas, my coworkers were fascinated that I grew up 20 minutes from Punxsy and my supervisor gave me a groundhog beanie baby!

Margie said...

Actually, Pastor Mike, I think they'd probably mount him and take him to Harvest for the game dinner decoration! :)

Anonymous said...

Hey, I have been to see Punxsutawney Phil many times and had my picture taken with him at least once! Now isn't that exciting.... Hey remember, I grew up on a farm and that was exciting!!!! It is a family tradition to just have a good time watching all of the crazy things that people do. Our most recent trip has been several years ago now when a bunch of the Indiana State cousins brought in their friends from college, slept on our living room floor and then got up at 5am to freeze and watch a groundhop predict the weather. We had a blast, and made lots of memories. Hey, next year Groundhog day is on a Sunday, seems like we should be having a Harvest road trip with our church service being conducted nowhere else but GOBBLERS KNOB! Sounds like a plan...now who all is IN?

thechickenwithherheadcutoff said...

Ah, Pam . . . great idea, I was all ready! But I thought stuff was only ONE day later the following year, and wouldn't that make Groundhog Day Saturday in 2008? Oh, well, then we can plan for 2009--but wait . . . I think 2008 is a leap year. Sigh. Foiled again. And it was SUCH a great idea.

Anonymous said...

Mindy,

What a great time I had with you up visiting Phil last year. The Phil statues are amazing. Oh, and don't forget we got to see Phil nestled in the library!

Sue

Anonymous said...

Bummer.....I added the extra day because of leap year next year, but it won't affect the calendar till after Feb 29th, so we will lose the Sunday Groundhog day. So sad........