Springmills Sunday Shoot

On Sunday September 27^th, my grandparents and I went sporting clays shooting at the Spring Mills Fish and Game Association.  Spring Mills holds a shoot once a month, six times a year, and is located about 30-40 minutes outside of State College.

For those who do not know what sporting clays is, it is a category of competition for shotgun shooting.  This category allows for the most variation of the targets as there is nothing set in stone about sporting clays, unlike Olympic trap, skeet, five stand...etc.  These other categories of shotgun shooting follow a specific order, and anywhere you go to shoot these disciplines should be within given parameters. Sporting clays is meant to simulate hunting, and the course designer is at liberty to adjust target speed, trajectory, have them curve, go behind trees...etc, they try to surprise the shooter with each new target.

Spring Mills is not a full time sporting clays location; the closest one is Hillendales, which is located about 40 minutes from State College.  The targets at Spring Mills were defiantly the most interesting targets I’ve ever shot at.  Since, their events are simply a fun thing to do, and not a major business for them, they have the liberty of making certain stations pretty difficult. 

In our shooting group at the event were my, grandfather, grandmother, Mick and myself.  Mick is a master class sporting clays shooter, which is the highest rating given in the discipline.  Mick was having trouble as well at this course, which is a testament to the course. 

The course was made up of eight stations and fifty bird, comprised of minis (small), midis (medium), regular and rabbit targets (bounce along the ground).   Also at certain stations the trapper (person who clicks the button to set off the targets) was at liberty to mix up the targets.  So no person shoot at the same fifty targets. 

Our group shot two rounds of fifty and the first time through my score was much higher I even beat my grandpa(who has multiple world championships in NSSA Skeet Shooting), second time through not so much.  I am not making excuses but I will say I went 0/6 on the second station in the second round and that was the difference.  That station was one of the ones were you never knew what was coming, and I did poorly. 

	Max	Grandpa	Grandma	Mick
1st round	39	38	21	41
2nd round	32	38	23	42

Penn State actually has a Trap and Skeet club, which I will be joining next semester.  Funny thing is on their website Mick Markel is in the picture on the left as a coach, and on the right is Mark Saucer who I also know.  I had not looked at their webpage until writing this blog, but I have talked with both coaches.  This club is open to anyone, you do not have to be an experienced shooter or have any experience at all.  They hold practice on Sunday at Shenacoy.  I know they are a pretty active club and go to multiple shoots a year.  Along with fundraising to cover the cost of ammo.    

Rutgers Vs PSU Concessions

September 19^th the Penn State Football team played the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.  This contest had teased out a lot of sentiments from both sides of the Field.  There were rumors of added police and other precautions for this game, due to a rivalry that while not long standing is still intense, Rutgers is from New Jersey and many a joke was passed around about the crime associated with the team.  I heard someone exclaiming we mine as well be playing the State Penitentiary today. Also, a stripe out.... it seemed an ironic thing to be held when we were playing a team that had six players arrested.  This game promised to be a good one especially when it seemed PSU had a good chance of winning and I had a free ticket in.  There was a catch though, my ticket was not to the game, it was to be a worker at a concession stand... at least I was there.

For the NROTC program, being a freshman, I am required to work two home football games at the concession stand to help raise money for the program.  The Rutgers game would be my second weekend of working concession, so I would be done in till next year. 

For the 8:00pm game I was required to arrive at the Wagner building (right by the IM building) by 3:30pm when our group of workers would be heading to the concession stand.  When we were all gathered we walked over to Beaver stadium to the employee entrance, there I encountered a problem I had left my student ID in my room.  I live in Atherton which is a solid thirty-minute walk from Beaver stadium, but I had to do it.  I ran to Atherton and since I did not have my ID had to wait for someone to open the door.  It was amazing to me how I waited for like 10-15 minutes and nobody came out of the door, everyone must have been out tailgating.  I finally got inside, grabbed my ID and ran back to Beaver stadium. 

I had not missed much it was about 4:30pm when I got to our concession stand 270 (NROTC always works this stand).  Not much was happening everyone was just standing around and a few people were starting to cook some food.  Then somehow I was tasked with the job of making pretzels.  Honestly it is the chilliest job at the concession stand, which entailed a lot of sitting around.  

Once I had stocked the front with pretzels I had some free time to just sit out in Beaver stadium and watch the teams warm-up.  It is one of the coolest things looking out over the vast empty stadium.  What is even cooler was the stripe out.  

Once the stadium started to fill it was time for me to work, since I was in charge of pretzels I was also tasked with helping with the drink fountain and fetching ICE.  It was an intense period from about 8:30-11:30pm as there were 100,000 plus people in attendance.  The time flew right by; we sold out and closed up before the game was over.  So I was able to catch a solid bit of the last quarter.  Which was a nice plus of working concession. 

A PSU football game is something all college student should enjoy, of course it is not something that would be a hidden gem of the area it is the gem of the area.  This was my weekend and if anyone has not gone I strongly suggest going.  I have been to many a game and they are always a joy. 

Messiah College Soccer Game

Last Friday, on September the 11^th, my best friend growing up was playing a soccer game at Messiah College. So naturally, I got my work in order and made plans to attend.  

At 4:00pm Friday I met my Grandparents at the Boalsburg Military Museum, to head to Messiah for the game that stared at 7:00pm.  As we headed out of State College on US-22 east we noticed a flood of cars heading toward State College.  It was an unusual amount, and then we remembered there was a PSU football game that Saturday.  It made for an easy trip being we were one of the only cars leaving State College on a Friday before a football game.  Messiah College is just South of Harrisburg (Pennsylvania’s Capital) and about two hours from State College (Messiah Colleges Address).   

When we arrived at Messiah, we noticed a steady stream of people heading toward the athletics complexes, which were located in a clearing outlined by the Yellow Breeches River.  To cross the river to enter the athletic complex was an ancient red covered bridge,  I had never seen one that cars actually drove over.

In general Isabelle fashion we arrived an hour early at Shoemaker field.  We were greeted by two banners that ran the length of the stadium.  My friend Julian had not told me anything about Messiah soccer, these banners told me all I needed to know.

It was a perfect night to play soccer. It was a clear day and when the sun went down a light sweater was needed to cope with the chilled air. 

As it approached 7:00pm the whole stadium became filled, along with tailgaters on the surrounding hills and fields, all for a soccer game.  It was an awesome atmosphere before the game had even begun.  It turned out that this was Messiahs first home game of the year and it seemed as though the whole college had showed up for the game. 

My friend is a freshman and starts as a Center back on his team Randolph College.  They are from around Lynchburg Virgina.  As soon as the game started I could tell, as foreshadowed by the championship banners, Messiah was the superior team.  They controlled the game, albeit they did not have that many attempts on goal, partly due to my friends play.  After forty-five minutes the first half was over with a score of 2-0, Messiah ahead.  The second half went the same as the first, two goals for Messiah.  It ended 4-0. The student section did not sit down for the whole ninety minutes. They were crazy.

After the game, my grandparents and I headed over to talk with Julian and give him some homemade chocolate chip cookies, courtesy of my Nana.  After a good talk we said our goodbyes and started the drive back to State College at around 10:00pm. 

This blog post might have strayed from my idea of things that can be done in close proximity to State College PA, but it still illustrates a great activity for any college student.  PSU soccer games are played at Jefferey Field and that would definitely be a blast to attend, if you are a fan of the game.

                                                                                                           

Howard Lake

School has only been in progress for the last two weeks but I will admit Labor Day was needed.  The complete life change that college has been these first two weeks has been enjoyable, albeit tiring.  My Labor day was vary productive...  I was happily lounging at my dorm catching up on some sleep; when I was invited to go boating with my cousin.  The decision was to get off the college campus for some fun in the sun, or loaf about,  it was a no brainier.

I was picked up right outside my dorm ready to go, it was a beautiful day.  I was told we were going to Howard Lake or Bald Eagle Lake depending on whom you talk too.  Apparently the lake is part of the Bald Eagle state forest, but it is in the township of Howard (I found that interesting).  It turned out to be about a 30 minute drive North East of State College.

As we drove by the lake, the first thing that struck me was how active the lake seemed to be.  There were kayakers, tubers, skiers, boaters and fishermen all sharing this lake, on a Holiday weekend.   When we arrived at the boat dock, where my cousin’s boat is stored, we went to work prepping the boat and we were under way in about five minutes.  

As we idled out of the little cove that the boat docks inhabited and the lake opened up I though to myself this is a beautiful place.  To me the pinnacle of beauty is found in nature and this location does not disappoint. 

The Lake can be separated into two half’s by a bridge that bisects the lake.  This bridge also seems to separate the lake by activity, on one half there is the crazies flying around on there boats, on the other it is peaceful and more for the swimmers and loungers.   For a while my cousin and I were part of those crazies.  Driving the boat around as fast as it could go with the wind in our faces, just enjoying it.  That can only be done for so long, as we retired to the peaceful side of the lake to enjoy the sun.  

I am a southern boy and for the past month I have been missing the sun and the beaches of North Carolina.  Of course we did not just lounge for hours there was swimming, listening to music, and fishing for my cousin.  Unfortunately, a fishing license is required and on this particular day I did not feel like risking it as we had seen the game warden driving around.

The water was surprisingly warm.  I have swum in other bodies of water in Pa and they all tend to numbingly cold, but this water was just perfect.  When it was time to head back we finished by taking a tour of the lake.  We then docked the boat put the cover on and headed back to State College.

I had a really good time at Howard lake it was a great experience.  To enjoy the lake you do not need a boat, there is a man made beach a swimming area, along with boat and kayak rentals.  One thing I would love to do is go boating on Howard lake when it is a clear calm night.  I hope to do that at some point.