Back To Happy Valley

I’m back this morning after what will have to suffice as my major vacation of the year which did include a couple of very nice beach days and most importantly the ability sleep past 3am. However the focus was getting our daughter ready for her sophomore year at Penn State which begins today. My wife and Alex did quite a bit of running around last week which was highlighted by our now traditional final night dinner at The Crabs Claw Inn where Alex worked for the third straight summer. She looked forward all week to munching on King Crab Legs which she claimed would be her last good meal until she comes home for Thanksgiving.

Anyway our fully-loaded van departed at 3am Saturday for the trip to Penn State which was a pleasure with little traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Despite two stops for gas and coffee we arrived in State College in less than 4 ½ hours. We were told move-ins could begin at 10am but on a hunch we went straight to Alex’s dorm complex and within 10 minutes had her room key and began the task of moving in bins and bins of clothes and stuff. Then came the first of several trips to Target and Wal-Mart and when we returned to the dorm it was a different story as the masses had arrived. All in all things went well as we got her room ready…I even managed to assemble a desk chair and organizer…jobs that would have taken the average person about 20 minutes while I needed more than an hour. I’m telling you the pictures in the directions just don’t match up. Her roommate Nicole arrived early in the afternoon and I was happy when her handyman father took care of assembling the futon which I would probably still be working on.

Jane and I went out to a late dinner by ourselves because Alex and her Kappa Delta sisters already had plans for their first night back on campus and those plans did not include us. We did meet for a nice breakfast Sunday and then it was off for some last-minute needs and yet another trip to Wal-Mart and some final touches on the dorm room just around the time a massive thunderstorm hit….a storm we would pretty much follow from Happy Valley all the way home. I was not very happy with the six-hours it took to get home because of rain and traffic but it’s great to know that Alex is at a school and place she loves with great friends. Here’s to a sensational sophomore year….and spot on the Dean’s List!

On an unrelated note, professional soccer player Carolyn Blank will be signing autographs and taking pictures with fans tonight at Modell’s Sporting Goods in Toms River from 5-6pm. The former Toms River East and West Virginia standout is in her first season with Sky Blue FC in New Jersey after playing last year for St. Louis and Atlanta.