Penn State and State College visit

The Nittany Lions last won the National Championship in 1986, they played Miami in the Fiesta Bowl that championship year and won 14-10.

The legendary Nittany Lion has been Penn State's mascot since 1907

Allen and the coach (Joe Paterno) with our sunglasses

Joe in bronze leading the team onto the field

Beaver Stadium home of Penn State football

Stadium has a seating capacity of more than 107,000

The Stadium also houses the All-Sports Museum honoring student-athletes and coaches from Penn State's history

The word Nittany is derived from the Algonquian language word Nit-A-Nee meaning "single mountain". In Penn State folklore, Nit-A-Nee is also the name of an Indian maiden whose actions caused Mount Nittany to be formed.

Penn State's mascot was named after the lions that inhabited Mount Nittany.

A nice shot of the campus which is comprised of 6,000 acres

Bryce Jordan Center seats 15,000 for varsity basketball games, other athletic competitions, and a variety of entertainment events.

This building (BJC) also held the Penn State Dance Marathon (THON) which raised more that $5.2 million for kids with cancer in February 2007.

Bell is from the U.S.S. Pennsylvania 1916

Berkey Creamery, the famous Creamery ice cream is cow to cone in 96 hours and is served in all of the dining halls.

It is the largest university creamery in the nation. Each year approximately 4 million pounds of milk pass through the Creamery's stainless steel holding tanks. A total of 190,000 gallons of ice cream is produced annually for University use and sales to the general public.

Students working the Creamery

The Creamery is a working laboratory for food science students in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Death by Chocolate was Allen's choice. It was so good, one of the best chocolates for me

Donna stuck with her lifelong favorite peanut butter vanilla and was not disappointed

Classrooms

The HUB, offers exhibit areas, recreation rooms, lounges, ballroom, auditorium, pool tables, and eating areas for the students

Inside of the HUB showing tables and eating areas

Old Main is the home to the Office of the President and other University administrators

In the earlier days this building housed classrooms, offices, and housing for the students

Built in 1930, using limestone blocks from the first Main of 1863.

Front entrance of Old Main, inside are frescoes by Henry Varnum Poor

Carnegie Building was Penn State's first library, is now home to the College of Communications

Pattee and Paterno Library, more than five million volumes are housed in Penn State's Library

The Library is named for Joe and Sue Paterno to honor their generosity, hard work, and leadership in fund raising.

West Halls student housing

College Avenue, the center of the activities for students and residents

Look what we found on College Avenue, Five Guys is famus for one thing: their burgers.

Juicy, greasy and delicious Five Guys burgers are some of the best in the country. With an unlimited amount of toppings and the joy of watching it made right before you.

Donna is stepping up to the counter

If you are watching calories and the greasy stuff, this isn't for you. Bring on the Lipitor

The sign says it all

Notice how the juice of the meat soaks into the bun on the bottom or is that grease? Yummy

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This is students interpretation of Harley art

More Harley art, the gallery had many more but thought two would be enough to whet your appetite.

That's it for our visit to Penn State.


Penn State loves Joe Paterno and his good works as an Ambassador and football coach. The campus is a 6,000 acre multi-campus public research university that improves the lives of the people of Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world through integrated, high-quality programs in teaching research and service.

New York Jets football training camp

We found out the New York Jets were training in Cortland, NY which was about 50 miles away from our base in Verona, NY. We decided to go down to see if we could see Mark Sanchez (USC) practice, however, we found out that the only players on the field that day was the "special teams". That's OK, we went anyway.

Jets made the kids welcomed

Beautiful campus at State University New York (SUNY)

Jets going through their practice under new coach Rex Ryan

The kicker get his "kicks" in

It was rather warm that day so the players were earning their pay

I thought #4 Brett Favre retired?

Even though we didn't see Sanchez, we saw live football. This will do until the real season starts.

Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

"To the pioneers who were the moving spirits of the game in its infancy and to the players who have been elected to the Hall of Fame, we pay just tribute. But I should like to dedicate this museum to all America." - Kenesaw Landis on July 12, 1939

National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

Main Street Cooperstown, NY


Cooperstown Pizzeria

Rickey Henderson was one of the recent 2009 inductees

Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers

Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants

Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves

All of the inductees have a plaque like this. These are but a few of the great players in the Hall of Fame

Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers 1947 -1956

"Rapid" Robert Feller, Cleveland Indians

Joe Di Maggio 1936 - 1951, "The Yankee Clipper"

Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees 1951 - 1968

Babe Ruth, New York Yankees

I assume the runner was "safe"

Note the location of this game, Fresno, California

Lou and Babe

Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves

The team returned to Atlanta, and on April 8, 1974, a crowd of 53,775 showed up for the game, a Brave attendance record. In the 4th inning, Aaron hit career home run number 715 off L.A. Dodgers Al Downing.

While cannons were fired in celebration, two white college students sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Aaron for part of his circuit around the bases, temporarily startling him. As the fans cheered wildly, Aaron's mother ran onto the field as well.

Every kid that played baseball had their favorite baseball player, mine was Jackie Robinson.

When I was fourteen (14) years old, the movie “The Jackie Robinson Story” played at our local theater where I saw it two times in one day.

We all know the story of how Robinson broke into baseball at a time of the segregation era, to us, who cared; we loved him as a baseball player. Growing up in Ventura, California, we didn’t care what you were as long as you could hit and field the ball. However, if you played for Lincoln School, we didn’t care much for you until we came together in Junior High School.

Jackie Robinson's #42 is retired in the Dodger organization

Stan "the man" Musial, St Louis Cardinals

When the first Hall of Fame vote was taken in 1936, Ty Cobb was named on 222 of the 226 ballots cast, to lead all candidates for enshrinement.

The kids in Cuba love their baseball too.

Baseball fans are from all walks of life world wide.

“Field of Dreams” released in 1989, is a movie that has inspired millions and became an Academy Award nominee for "Best Picture of the Year." Donna and I drove to Dyersville, Iowa to see and experience the charm and magic of the field.

As said in the movie “build it and they will come”, that was 20 years ago and they are still coming….

Baseball under the cloud

Baseball under a rainbow.

A long road home from Cooperstown to our base in Verona, NY but well worth it.