Last weekend, Em and I went to State College in Central Pennsylvania for a wedding. We decided to turn it into a whole State College trip for the weekend! Here’s a video of our trip!
State College is, of course, known for being the home of nearly 50,000 Penn State undergraduate students, but I didn’t realize how much else there was to do in and around State College.
Although I have worked at the University of Maryland for the past 3 years, we’re from Pennsylvania so we will always remain loyal to Penn State. :) Central PA is a beautiful area. There are so many fields, trees, and rolling hills. When driving to State College, it almost comes as a surprise that one of the nation’s largest campuses is located in the next valley.
The campus itself is massive! Penn State’s main campus is one of the top 10 largest campuses in the United States. It has many iconic, photo worthy sites, such as Beaver Stadium, the Arboretum, Old Main, the Nittany Lion Shrine, and the newer We Are statue. One of our favorite places is definitely the Berkey Creamery. It is actually the largest university creamery in the world, with fresh and very tasty ice cream. It is clear that there is a lot of pride on campus, which makes sense since apparently Penn State has the world’s largest alumni base.
Thanks to Em’s grandparents, we also had tickets to the first Penn State basketball game of the season. Our seats were literally right on the floor! We were so close to the court and the players that I had to watch my feet to make sure that I wouldn’t trip the players. Our seats were right in front of the student section, so with each block or dunk it was like we had our own surround sound cheering section behind us.
After watching a game so close to the court, it will be hard to watch a basketball game any other way. Penn State won the game with ease and it will be exciting to see how Penn State basketball does against their BIG10 rivals this year. Talk about Penn State pride…after the game was over, the players, coaches, and students all sang the Alma Mater. It was really neat!
That same day, we visited Penn’s Cave & Wildlife Park, the only all-water Cavern & Wildlife Park in the country! It was such a neat experience! The cave is less than a half hour drive outside of downtown State College. The cave is so big that the boat tour took about 45 minutes to complete!
The tour guide did a great job explaining the history of the cave while weaving in various myths and legends about the cave. Because the cave is so well naturally insulated, the cave stays the same 52 degrees no matter what the temperature is outside!
But the cave isn’t the only attraction. There is also a large Wildlife Park full of bison, elk, and a real live Nittany Lion! The park also offers a corn maze, cave rock mountain tour, gemstone panning, and a huge visitors center. While we were in the visitors center, we each had one of their bison burgers. Penn’s Cave raises and prepares all their bison meat on their own farm, with no added growth hormones or use of antibiotics. All I know is that it was really tasty! If you are ever in the State College area, a visit to Penn’s Cave is a definite must.
That night was the wedding. The reception was held at Toftrees Golf Resort, the hotel that Em and I were staying at. The reception area was incredible, the food amazing, and the wedding a lot of fun!
The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful view overlooking the golf course and surrounded by Central PA’s rolling mountains. Our room was massive, with a dining table that seats six and a balcony and two full size, deluxe bathrooms! The Golf Resort is located less than 10 minutes away from Beaver Stadium, but you would never know that with how quietly tucked away from the campus it appears to be.
Before heading home, we ate lunch at the hotel’s new restaurant called The Field Burger & Tap. The food was unbelievable and the view unbeatable. The restaurant also did a great job of paying attention to detail. We had mason jars for cups, cutting boards for plates, and the burger buns were branded with the restaurant’s name!
For a starter, Em and I split The Field’s crab fries. The waiter literally covered our table in fries and then poured a crab sauce with chunks of crab meat all over the fries. Even writing this right now, I am hungry for more of those fries!
The restaurant had a wide variety of specialty burgers. Em and I finally decided on the Huntsman and Surf & Turf burgers. My burger, the Huntsman, had tender venison meat and was piled high with sauteed wild mushrooms & onions, grilled tomato, local swiss cheese, field greens, amd herb aioli sandwiched between an artisan whole grain roll. It was so big that I couldn’t even finish it (and just ask Em, I always finish a good burger!)
Em’s burger, the Surf & Turf, had wagyu beef, lobster meat, roasted tomato jam, and frisee greens, on a brioche roll. And I haven’t even yet mentioned the mint milkshakes we had for dessert! The restaurant was so good that on the way home, Em and I were looking for excuses to stay for dinner so that we could eat again at he restaurant! :)
If you are considering taking State College trip, I highly recommend it! And if you haven’t yet considered it, you should!! State College is only about three hours from Baltimore, and not far from many other East Coast Cities. It makes a great weekend getaway! Check out VisitPennState.org for a list of even more amazing places to eat, stay at, and experience.
Special thanks to Penn’s Cave & Wildlife Park, Toftrees Golf Resort, and the Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau for the most incredible weekend for our State College trip!
