A Visit to Penn State

My little sister Julie and her daughter Kaylee had plans to come to Penn State for a tour of campus. Kaylee just finished her junior year, and she will visit a bunch of different schools in the next few weeks. Yes, I know. How could time have flown like this? What right does this child have to be at this age already?

But I, being a good Penn State auntie, and knowledgeable about campus and its environs, agreed to meet them at Shields Building for an information session which was to be followed by a campus tour. The info session was 30 minutes in an air-conditioned building. The tour was a 90-plus-minute walk around campus in 90-plus-degree heat.

My husband dropped me off at the Arboretum about an hour early, and I spent the time happily photographing some of my favorite scenes. First I went into the Katz Law School library, which is an awesome bit of architecture (and it was completely deserted, yeehaw!). Then I headed to the gardens. There's not much going on yet at the lily pond, but there are flowers blooming, in spite of the dry conditions.

Above is a view from Childhood's Gate, the children's garden at the Arboretum. The tree you can see is the Witness Tree, aka the Hosler Oak, which was the first thing installed in the gardens. It was brought there via flat-bed truck, which is an amazing story in and of itself.

So I saw the Arboretum, did a quick walk-by of the Business building at the corner of Shortlidge and East Park, walked through the Berkey Creamery to check out the flavors, and then met them at Shields for the info session and tour.

The tour took us from Shields Building, into the Intramural Building, through an East Halls dorm room, down by the Natatorium, into the Joab Thomas Building, through the HUB (Hetzel Union Building), and past Old Main, where I took the snapshot of Julie and Kaylee that you may see in the extras. From there, we walked past Pattee, up by the old Palmer Museum location, and ended up at the Creamery.

Our tour guide, Abby, an undergrad student, gave us the official version of things. I provided the behind-the-scenes view. For instance, let's do Forum Building.

Abby: The acoustics in this building are so good that all of the Penn State a capella groups go there to practice.
Me: This is the building where they used to show X-rated movies on campus in the 1980s!*
(You tell me which tour YOU would rather be on!)

At the Creamery, we all enjoyed some cool treats before Julie and Kaylee hit the road. They didn't have our favorite flavor, Grilled Stickies, either for dipping or in half-gallons. So I settled for Peachy Paterno, a stand-by favorite. Julie and I had dishes and Kaylee had a milkshake, and then we took our leave of each other and they headed back home.

I have to admit that as someone who went to Penn State for two degrees (bachelor's in English and History in 1986, master's in Media Studies in 1997), and who worked at Penn State from 1985 through 2020, it was an absolutely surreal experience for me to be there with a niece who is considering Penn State.

As we walked campus, I remembered so many people and events in my life that happened there. Who I fell in love with. Who I kissed. My best friends and all the fun we had. The heartaches. The intrigues. And then my work life. The departments and people I met. The adventures we had. The good work we did. So much Penn State PRIDE!

It seemed like big sister Barb should be there, as Barb was there to help with many of my initial Penn State events for me. So at the end of our info session and tour, I presented Kaylee with some Penn State lion's paw earrings courtesy of Barb. It seemed a right and fitting end to our day.

I need some soundtrack songs, and so I've picked two. One is for the gardens: John Denver, with The Garden Song. Two is for two of my favorite girls in the extra photo, whom I love to the moon and back (as Barb would say!): Savage Garden, with To the Moon and Back.




*Now, in regard to the Forum, I can't speak to the acoustics, but I can tell you just one tiny tale about the X-rated flicks. There were actually about 7 of us 4th-floor Runkle gals who went to one, sort of daring each other, and mostly just to check it out. But our friend Dottie made it about 10 minutes into the movie before she flipped out and ran out screaming, taking the rest of us with her. I guess that she'd seen something she'd never seen before (most of the rest of us, I think, had had a glimpse of one or two of those at that point), and she just WAS NOT HAVING ANY OF IT, NO WAY NO HOW. I always sorta wondered how her husband fared. And that, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.