The real day
Today was my last full day in Pennsylvania and it also happened to be my dad’s actual birthday, even though we celebrated it in a grand fashion on Saturday night. I once again woke up relatively early. It’s deceiving in PA because it gets light and gets dark signficiantly later and earlier than in Naples. I was happy to see it was actually “warm” today with the outside thermometer reading 23 degrees. It was snowing pretty steadily. I still bundled up before heading out to the shop to restart the fire to warm things up for the animals.
I also intended to do the sheep’s food and water since I watched Teresa do it all the day before but she came out just as I finished getting the fire started so I only assisted in the chore, scooping hay out of their water while refilling it with the hose they have inside. It’s so funny watching the sheep line up to chow down on their pellets followed by hay. The funniest thing of all to witness was when the llama laid down amongst the sheep while eating. His long neck still put his head well above the rest of the flock and he used it to lean over and grab hay from his casual position.
After dad got back from his coffee and paper run he was almost immediately back out the door to go get an oil change done on the Subaru. He said it shouldn’t take long at all. Well not long at all turned out to be almost the entire morning. He was so late getting back that Teresa and I were getting a bit concerned.
Well a little after 11 we hear the door open. Dad had returned and we immediately asked what was up. Dad started on a somewhat awkward explanation about why he was delayed. Evidently during his trip to the vet Monday evening with Clara he clipped a deer with the car. He was late because he was getting an estimate to repair the damage.
The damage however was secondary. Dad share’s my love of animals and he was really upset about the incident. The way he described it was one deer darted in front of the car which he missed. As he was hitting the brakes hard a second deer followed and got clipped by the driver side corner bumper. He said the deer was dazed in the road but on the return trip the deer was no longer there. I have heard sometimes of deers getting dazed but then recovering. Both my dad and I hoped that was the case. The damage to the bumper wasn’t huge with a few cracks but it will need to be replaced. The total estimate for the repair was less than 1k. Dad and Teresa said they try to avoid driving the roads near them at night for this exact reason. Deers dart out all the time and depending on their timing the end result can be disasterous.
So anyway I wished dad happy birthday officially this time. I felt bad he had to have his day darkened by the deer strike but I could totally relate, I would have felt terrible about it as well. Since it was approaching lunch time dad suggested we go out for one last meal together at the Bucktail Hotel in Marienville. I have never eaten there before. Teresa didn’t seem that thrilled with the idea because of past experience but I said I was fine with it, even if it was less than stellar. Marienville is sort of all about experiences that are less than stellar.
The hotel restaurant reminded me of a common theme in town, it was once much more active and populated than it is now. The hotel had a huge amount of space in their two dining rooms yet only two tables were occupied, if you include our own. The laminated menu looked like it was created in Wordpad but had enough variety to fulfill most pallets. I ordered something with my fish sandwich I may not have had for a decade or more, potato soup.
The food was not spectacular but I didn’t expect it to be. I still enjoyed just sitting in the old building adorned with old decorations and old furnishings. A trip to Marienville is much cheaper than renting a time machine. The waitress who my dad and step mom knew by first name suggested we go into the main dining room to check out the Xmas decorations that were still up. Evidently our waitress was part of decoration team. The empty room did look beautiful indeed, too bad it doesn’t seem like many people get to see the fruits of their labor.
So as we headed back to the house we noticed school busses dropping kids off which was odd since it was only mid-day. A lady at the restaurant said they closed school early because of the potential for freezing rain and ice. We saw that potential realized on the drive home. The rain was dropping from the sky with an air temp that read 28 degrees, not a great thing since I planned to make the 80 mile drive to Pittsburgh in an hour or two.
Things at the house were looking pretty shady. It did not take long for the vehicles and the ground to have a crunchy coating of ice on them. I did not panic as I knew the forecast was for the temps to keep rising and I knew closer to Pittsburgh it was much warmer. I took a shower at dads and then turned on the rental car to let it warm up for quite awhile, the windshield was encased in ice at that point.
The last minutes before a visit with my dad, stepmom, and the dogs is always somewhat sad, whether they are down with us or vice versa. I know they enjoy having family visit and the circumstances this time around with it being dads 70th birthday made it more special than normal. We sat by the fire and just chatted for awhile, most of the time I was reaching down and petting Clara who was laying in the dog bed next to me.
After taking a group picture with my phone timer I loaded up the luggage and said my farewells. It was a whirlwind trip in some ways but in others it was relaxing. I got to read tons of my Warcraft novel, blog, and just enjoy and appreciate the stark differences between where I was and where I normally am. Sure the cold was awful but even that didn’t cause as much of an issue as I thought it could. After handing out hugs and belly rubs I was out the door. I tapped the horn as I pulled out the crunchy driveway, unsure of the next time I will be back in the Marienville magic.
The first part of the drive was indeed hairy. I consistently stayed 10 mph under the speed limit even though I did not sense any slipping of the tires. The temperature reading 28 degrees kept me on my toes at all times. As time passed my white knuckle grip on the wheel relaxed. Soon it became clear the roads were just wet. I made one pit stop along the way at a Dunkin Donuts to help keep me alert. By the time I pulled up to Patricks place it was a balmy 46 degrees.
Pat is not home quite yet so I decided to put the time to good use punching out this entry, in the dark, parked in front of his house. Leaving for my 11 AM flight tomorrow will be logisitically much simpler from this closer vantage point as opposed to if I tried to make it all happenfrom Marienville in the wee hours of the morning. I look forward to a hassle free trip home tomorrow, like that was even a possibility….