Punxsutawney, PA...all we thought it would be (and more)!

In case you haven't heard the shocking news yet, Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow this year, which is a rarity. This news of an early spring had all the country folks in "Punxsy," PA fired up Friday morning, February 2 (Groundhog Day).

"Can you believe that he didn't see his shadow this morning? When was the last time that this happened?" This was the conversation that I overheard from the booth behind us at the Punxsy Family Diner.

Yes, that's right. For those of you who didn't know, my crazy-Groundhog-Day-lovin' hubby planned a trip to Punxsutawney, PA with our good friends, the Somervilles, this weekend to see the prediction of the world's most famous weather caster, Phil. The WHOLE trip was one big adventure. We left Gaithersburg, MD Thursday night at 8pm and arrived in Punxsutawney, PA around midnight. Mike and Gene dropped Jessica and me off at the Community Center to "sleep" for a few hours while Mike and Gene roamed the town (they just had to stay up all night). So, Jess and I entered the Community Center, and for $5 we slapped our sleeping bags down on the hard laminate flooring next to a row of lockers (it was like an abandoned middle school building) beside a snoring father and his son. I felt like I was in some sort of twilight zone movie. It was like one big sleepover with a bunch of crazy country hicks. At one point I just stood there laughing at the sight before me. It was a "U-shaped" hallway with people lined up on both sides, head-to-toe in their sleeping bags....and a family at the end of the hallway in their tent (they must be regulars). In the room next to the hallway was an auditorium that is now used as the town's theater. A few hundred people were gathered there at midnight to see a showing of...what else....but Bill Murray's "Groundhog Day."

So, Jess and I managed to get a few minutes of sleep in while we waited for our husbands to come back from the cold to get us. At about 4:00am the four of us walked down to the corner of the street from the Community Center to catch the bus, which took us 1.5 miles up to Gobbler's Knob where Phil would eventually make his appearance at 7:24am. Jess and I tried to prepare ourselves for the cold weather, but even 4 shirts, three pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, three hats, a scarf, and gloves didn't prepare us for the 14 degrees that awaited us atop the hill.

You're probably wondering what one would do for 3 1/2 hours while you await the arrival of a furry rodent?! Well, check back tomorrow as the story continues with Gene's account of "Atop Gobbler's Knob".......