Long time, no posts. I'm sure there are posts I could have made, but just didn't take the time to. So a brief recap...
At the end of June, I went on a day trip around some of the state parks of Pennsylvania. Ravensburg, Little Pine, and Hyner View were the three locations I visited/hiked. Ravensburg and Hyner View were the most picturesque, although Hyner View, which sits above the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, would have been the most beautiful if a front hadn't sent more stratocirrus at sunset. Still was a wonderful way to end the day.
July came and was a half month for me. Central PA's 4th Fest fireworks were a bit overhyped in my opinion, but I heard that they weren't as good as other years. It was still an impressive show though.
Around mid-July, I released several scripts to automate processes for work. They make things quite a bit easier and while it was frustrating at times, they have worked well. September 1, I declared them fully operational as no major problems had occurred since the release, just a few small bugs that were easily fixed.
Mid-July brought the start of the "Taking Back Iowa 2008 Tour". In other words, my vacation. This was my first time back home since starting my position at Penn State. It was great to see family and friends, especially through Chris Karsten's wedding. A lot of those folks I would have not seen down in the Ames area. It was also pleasant to be away from work, and literally have my first Saturday's off since the beginning of December.
August has flown by as it is now September. August was a fairly quiet month, although I did do some more hiking. I hiked Mount Nittany. A 600 foot climb to the top. Boy was I tired after I did that, but once on top of the mountain it fairly level. There were some scenic outlooks, but nothing spectacular like I had thought. Being that it was midweek, I ran into no one else except when I hiked up and down the mountain.
I also spent another day last week going around to a few state parks. Whipple Dam State Park, Lake Perez, and Jo Hays Vista were 3 stops. Whipple Dam, while just under 20 miles from State College, felt like you were far away from the city. A beach and a fairly sizable lake were there for all to enjoy. I did a little hiking, probably around 2 miles.
Lake Perez, which is part of Penn State, is currently closed due to repairs that have been completed on the dam at that lake. It was nice to go and see the park while fairly few people were around, but hopefully the lake will get back up to its orginal level and I'll take in a bit more.
Jo Hays Vista, which overlooks State College, is a beautiful location to see the "Happy Valley" and Bald Eagle Ridge.
Outside of those hikes, the only other news is that State College has once again become a bustling metropolis as the students returned for fall semester.
September has started. Yesterday, I went for about a 15 mile bike ride around State College. It was definitely a hot day (high: 89) and was quite tired afterward, but it was a pleasant ride all in all.
Tomorrow, I'm back in the saddle at work. It should be fairly interesting to see how Boston's weather pans out with the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna. In State College, latest WRF has most of the precipitation just to our east, although we could use a good soaking as August was relatively dry.
