So, it was inevitable…Charlie is finally finished with his PhD…and we are moving to State College, PA where Charlie will join the faculty at Penn State University. Penn State has a great Econ program and Charlie is very excited to be joining such a great school with a great staff. Now, we just need a place to live!
We went up to State College this weekend to visit and check out some housing options (If you have any suggestions/connections, please let us know!) and explore the town a little. As always, we had to check out some of the food and entertainment!
In between some presentations that Charlie attended for his new job and some home/apartment visits, we walked around campus a bit and stopped in the Palmer Museum of Art. It is a very nice museum, quaint, with about 6 or 7 rooms/sections. They had a little bit of everything from Chinese porcelain, to Italian Renaissance, to Judy Chicago. It was free and a very nice break in the day. Next, we walked to Berkey Creamery. This creamery/ice cream shop is located on campus and is run through the Ag school. The serving sizes are huge and the ice cream is delicious! I can absolutely see why there was a line out the door. Of course, we stopped by the Nittany Lion Shrine and took a photo with the school’s mascot. The statue is right outside of Charlie’s new office so I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him! For dinner, we checked out the somewhat new Happy Valley Brew Pub. I didn’t have the highest hopes for food in State College (mainly because we are so spoiled in Charlottesville), but the food was delicious and the atmosphere in the restaurant was great! I have a feeling we will be visiting this place quite a bit when we live here. Apparently, the owner of the Happy Valley Brew Pub owns 2 other restaurants in the area that are also good so we’ll be sure to visit them soon!
On Monday, we continued our house/apartment hunting, but stopped off at Zola for lunch. Supposedly, this is the place to eat in State College, but we were not very impressed. The food was very under flavored and Charlie’s burger was very overcooked. I’m sure we will give it another try, but the brew pub is in the lead for sure! We also stopped by Meyers Dairy for an afternoon snack. Their ice cream is delicious and I’m very excited to try some of their fresh milk (available for pick up in glass bottles!) once we move here (or visit again). The last update is on a fun beer – Otto’s Apricot Wheat beer. It was delicious! The apricot flavor was actually very refreshing, light, and not at all overpowering.
We have one more day left to explore (and hopefully find a place to live) and I’m sure there will be plenty more adventures come fall!
the.soon.to.be.murrys 