Helter Skelter in the Summer Swelter
A good weekend should be relaxing. A great weekend should be a little bit tiring—the kind of weekend that leaves you wondering how you are ever going to get up for work on Monday morning. Yes, there is something to be said for a quiet night on the couch to recharge after a rough week. Labor Day weekend isn’t about that, though. Labor Day weekend is about grabbing summer and wringing out every last drop of sun-tanned, sandals-wearing, party-going, family-uniting, outside-enjoying fun possible.
I tried my best. In four days, I hit one of my favorite restaurants in Carlisle, went to the Penn State game, watched the fireworks in Negley Park, went to a pig roast, hung out on the deck at Dockside Willies and went to Kipona. I slept well last night.
CHECK OUT MY PICTURES OF THE FIREWORKS, DOCKSIDE WILLIES AND KIPONA ON FLICKR
Friday night, I got dinner at the Back Door Café in Carlisle which was fantastic, as always. I’ll write something short about it for Restaurant Round-Up tomorrow. Saturday was awesome, too. I always love heading back to Happy Valley, but the game was an absolute slaughter. I honestly think you could field a team made up of Penn State students who aren’t on the football team who could have beaten poor Coastal Carolina.
The fireworks on Sunday were predictably very enjoyable. My friends and I made the trek from my apartment up the hill to Negley Park and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s no better place in the area to watch fireworks in Harrisburg. I think the City generally puts on a pretty good display both on the Fourth and at Kipona, but Sunday night had some new stuff that I’d never seen before. I especially liked the square red ones. The best part? Unlike the fireworks at the Olympics, these were real.
I was both amazed and somewhat disappointed by the lack of atmosphere at Dockside Willies afterwards. Since most people had off on Monday, we figured that it would be jammed with people trying to cram in one last night of drinking on the deck. Not the case. The place was absolutely dead, and when we left at 12:30, we basically closed the joint down. Beyond that, the bartender was sarcastic to the point of being nasty. I’m not sure if he was trying to get home early, but they were supposed to be open until 2:00, so I was a bit put off by his annoyance every time we ordered a round of drinks.
Sunday, I hit Kipona with my family and fiancée. It’s my favorite of the three Harrisburg summer festivals, and the weather was phenomenal. Parking was a nightmare between Kipona and the Senator’s game, but other than that, it was a nice afternoon. I had Camp Curtain BBQ (shock of all shocks) and watched the canoe races. I kind of wish I would have entered. Maybe next year.
As always, I took some pictures. You can check them out on Flickr.
Darn! No comments yet.
You know it's really sad when people ignore each other and right now I feel really ignored. Would you like to help start a conversation now?