Rock Me, Mama, Like A Wagon Wheel

My dear friend Erin and I visited Jim Thorpe this weekend so we could see Old Crow Medicine Show perform at Penn's Peak. This is a venue I've heard my friends Annie and Brian talk about for years, and from the way it was described, I knew I needed to see a show there. Who better to see than Old Crow?

Although it was my fifth time seeing the band, it was Erin's first, so that was really fun for me!

The venue itself is beautiful. Essentially in the middle of nowhere, it's got a cabin vibe because everything is open and wooden. Erin and I were able to get pretty close to the stage, too, which was fantastic because it gave us a great view of Cory Younts (my favorite musician crush). Knowing that Cory plays piano and spends most of each show on the left side of the stage (his left; my right), we stood on that side. While there, we made friends with some nice teachers who live in that area and talked about educator-related things.

Here's a video of Old Crow playing "Wagon Wheel." I zoom in on Cory each time so you can enjoy his face in more detail. (He has such a nice face!)

And here is a video of Cory whistling, because he is such a good whistler!

After the show, Erin and I headed back to our hotel, drank some beer, had deep talks, played "everyone's favorite hotel game" (Erin needs to be the one to explain this), and went to sleep... and the next day, we explored Jim Thorpe! What a cool little mountain town! If you've never been, you should go because there are a lot of fun shops to explore and EVERYONE is friendly.

Erin and I visited a coffee shop called Muggles' Mug, which was Harry Potter themed, where we each got a latte and a scone. My scone was lemon-poppyseed and it was delicious! The latte was really good too! After that, we explored an oil-and-vinegar store where we sampled just about everything there was to sample! I bought some white peachy-pear balsamic that can be added to iced tea. I'm so excited to use that!

There was a very cool paper store in Jim Thorpe. It specialized in cards and stationery, and was marketed as selling cards for bad people. The merchandise was hilarious! Erin and I laughed a lot.

I forget all the little gift shops we went into, but Erin bought some oil that she can rub into her skin after a shower. It smells like roses, I believe, and has real rose quartz in the bottle. When she finishes the oil, she's supposed to carry the stones in her pocket for healing purposes... and when we later shared this with her husband Matt, he said, "Just be sure to carry a slingshot in your other pocket." I liked that response.

I bought my mom a funny thing for her birthday in one of the little shops, but I can't put it in this blog because my mom reads my blog and today is her birthday (Happy birthday, Mom!) and I haven't given her the gift yet. Visiting that shop was was a fun experience, though, because the lady working the register was hilarious! I asked if she was a reader and her answer was, "Do I read?! I read like a nut!" I told her that I write like a nut and gave her my business card. She's going to check out my books; she said I have an author's name.

One of my favorite parts about Jim Thorpe was the winery. It was Erin's idea to go there and we arrived exactly at noon, which is when they opened. I got a flight and she got a sangria. The girl who served us was named Hannah (spelled the right way, with an H on the end) and said that she hopes to someday be an English teacher. She, too, is going to check out my books. I hope she likes them.

The best part about the winery was that they serve wine in to-go cups! Naturally, we got some drinks to go and continued exploring the town. One of the places we stopped into was a record store and I made Erin take a picture of me holding a Herman's Hermits record. In high school, Herman's Hermits was one of my favorite bands. (Reel Big Fish was the other one.)

See that to-go cup I'm holding? It's wine!

Around this time, I received a text from Nate, who was currently at my house. He and Scotty, my two favorite students, are my go-to guys for watching my animals. Augusta seems to do well with them, which is important since she is funny around people who are not me, and both Nate and Scotty seem to like my dogs. Plus, they always send me a selfie of themselves with the dogs, which I absolutely love!

Anyway, Nate was checking in to let me know that everything had gone according to plan with the pups and the only casualty was a chewed-up baseball cap. Scotty's, courtesy of Arlo's teeth.

Knowing this, Erin and I set out on a mission to replace said baseball cap... and came up empty-handed. We did discover a shop that was run by two cats, though! The cats sold sweatshirts and t-shirts and socks. There were no humans to be found, but Erin and I hung out with the cats for a good five minutes or so.

From there, we grabbed some food at Molly Maguire's, a recommendation from Danielle on my trivia team. I had my first-ever wedge salad, which was quite scrumptious, and then we got on our way home. As has become tradition on overnight concert excursions, we ran into a tremendous rainstorm on our way back to Mechanicsburg and got stuck in traffic as a result.

That was my weekend. The end.