For those of you who don't know - this is Jim Thorpe. Well, it's not actually him, it's a statue of him, just to clarify.
HEY - before I explain my weekend adventure, I'd like to brag about the great hotel I'm staying at. I'm not going to lie - I'm sometimes afraid I'm going to see Big Foot walking along through the woods behind my "house/room". Other than that - it's AWESOME! Check out these pics....
Gated entry....saweet.
Once you enter through the gate, you have several ways to go in the 1/2 mile village! Usually - you'll stop by the clubhouse to check in, which is along the pathway below! YAY for the light posts. LOVE THEM.
In the club house there is a theatre (which I watched the last game of the World Series on...as you can see in the picture below...), a billiards room, air hockey and something else (can't remember if it's ping pong of fuseball), his and her sauna/locker rooms, HUGE lounge area and a "spa bubble". Okay - I am the only one that calls it a "spa bubble"...but it's really the coolest thing EVER. I'm going to try and take a video of it tomorrow to prove how awesome it is.
Theatre. Those chairs recline. Nuff said. (The first night I was here, they actually got a Walk In. The couple sat in the theatre and chatted a while with me. They were from the tiny town of New Bern, NC, where Nicholas Sparks is from. The woman had met him and we talked for almost two hours about him and his novels.
This is my building (the closest one in the picture). Since I'm the only one here, I feel like I own it. Kinda nice. There are like seven buildings, and they are only building more.
My dining room/kitchen area. Directly to the right (about the middle of the picture) is the master bedroom).
This is what both bedrooms look like. Pretty fancy, if you ask me. I like it a lot. Now - a guest can purchase just one of these, one bedroom with the kitchen and living space included, or both of them together. If that makes any sense. It does to me, because I'm here...sitting on the couch, writing about it. Kind of hard to explain though. You just need to come, visit, and check it out! It's pretty cool!
I found this little walking path (I guess that's what it is) on my drive to work. Yes, I drive up the lane to go to work. It's cold - shut up. I think it's cute...but this is where the deer hang out, so beee carefeee!
But - the coolest part of it all, is that the hotel is directly across the street from the Pocono Raceway. How cool is that?!
Allow me to recap my weekend for you (the last one, to clarify yet again).... I haven't had a weekend onsite where it's just me, and I literally only had to work like 2 hours. OMG. It's hard to explain, if you're not "one of us", BUT... When you're onsite, you know no one, you have no idea where the Hell you are on a map, and you have no work to do - it can get VERY interesting! My usual hobby during these times is to sleep. I never, ever, ever, ever have a regular sleep schedule. Just last night I was up until 3:45 and had to wake up at 7. Not cool. I'm tired in the afternoons, but wired at night (probably the reason why I find time to blog). Sorry - I digress...
My weekend:
Friday night I can't even remember really. I think I worked until like 7-ish and then talked on the phone for the rest of the evening. OH wait....I talked online until really late that night, I believe. (Thanks a lot for keeping me up, Jeffy.) On
Saturday, I made it in to do some work at about 10am, and left there by noon. Again - Saturday is a blur, as I really don't remember doing anything at all.
Sunday was exciting! I woke up at 1pm, to make it to the Blakeslee Inn, about ten miles down the road for brunch. OMG - it was great. Not only did they have a SLAB full of fresh fruit and king crab legs EVERYWHERE, but they had this crab mac & cheese that was TO DIE FOR! Next, I came back to my "house" to grab my camera and pee (yes, I have issues peeing in public places. I don't want to talk about it!) Then, I went back to the town of Blakeslee, in search of a magnet and postcard (I buy a magnet for myself everywhere I go, and I send a post card to a really great friend of mine. She's keeping track of my travels...like the Beatles......err....something.) I stopped by a place that had ski gear and a purple wall. I walked in and immediately started chatting with the Apalachian locals - my what fun they are!!! Mike picked out my magnet for me, and Mark looked up the score of the Colts game. Unfortunately, I think my $5 was the only money they made that day. :( While I was checking out, Mike was telling me that I should drive down the mountain and go visit the Jim Thorpe Memorial. I didn't even know I was on a mountain, so that intrigued me...not to mention what he had to say about this man named Jim Thorpe.
Here's the link to find out who Jim Thorpe is:
http://www.cmgww.com/sports/thorpe/bio.htmI got a kick out of hearing Mike talk about how Jim Thorpe's wife drove across the United States looking for a town to name itself "Jim Thorpe" and build a memorial to him. Wow - must have been quite a guy to make you think it was okay to prostitute out his dead body. I had to go visit this poor schmuck. So - I went.
Just FYI - I didn't even know I was on top of a mountain in Long Pond, PA (population about 3000), until I drove down to see Jimmy (that would be Jim Thorpe to those who don't know him). WHOA. That was a steep drive, but it was AWESOME! Here's my photo documentary...
Through the rear view. That was when I thought I had gone down the mountain already. Believe me - that was nothing.
The statue. On the plaque it has a quote from a guy who was a King back in the day. The King said to Jim Thorpe, "Sir - you are the greatest athlete in the world." Err...something like that.
The thingy with his body in it...
The town of Jim Thorpe...
Interesting mix....but beautiful horsies.
This reminded me of Central Park, for some reason. If you notice - the leaves are all the way up to the bottom of the benches.
I was losing the light, but that is a railroad. They had an actual active rail road going straight through the old town. Notice the mountains in the background. What was up - had to come down!
Cool building...
The plaque in front reads, "ANTHRACITE - This black diamond is a piece of the mammoth coal vein found in the Panther Valley. It was placed here on August 28, 1976 as a monument to the enterprising spirit of men such as Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, whose early pioneering efforts produced the second American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution. This monument was made available through the generosity of the industry and the miners. Anthracite was first discovered near here in Summit Hill in 1791. Weight: 15,100 lbs, Content: 99% pure carbon" The county it sits in is called Carbon County.
This mansion is a museum - but I think they're remodeling it.
And at my back, while watching this old town work, was this neat little river.
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SHEW!! That felt like a book - but I think this place is great. I should be traveling back to Indy on Wednesday. I have travel right now to leave on the 22nd of November to work a site in Aspen over Thanksgiving. It won't be so bad to work during that time, because I'll be able to hang out with some of my friends in Aspen. The pictures of that trip will be awesome, at least!!
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I hope you're enjoying the semi new music I've uploaded to my playlist. My favorite right now is the song by Jason Mraz called "1000 Things". I do love "Everything I Can't Have" by Robin Thicke too. ENJOY!
View from the Tiki Bar in St. Pete Beach, FL. 
A few from the Tiki Bar...
Purdue won and everyone rushed the field!! AWESOME!
