Look at the Source: A Look Back at Groundhog's Day 2004

Hello to all of my faithful readers and those of you who are new to the blog. In honor of Groundhog's Day (February 2nd), I decided to post an entry from my old blog written days after I along with three of my friends made a homage to Gobbler's Knob to witness the prognosticator of prognosticators, the seer of seers, Punxsutawney Phil.

Ground-hog, Grroouunndhoog!!!

This was the chant that the four of us heard at 6 AM in the morning on Monday, February 2, 2004; or the day known to all of us as Groundhog's Day. When the possibility of attending Groundhog's Day first arrived, I jumped on it right away. However, I almost did not get to go, because there was not enough cars; and for those of you know the history of my car, driving it for close to 2 hours somewhere is not an option. However, at 12:00 Sunday night after watching the South's rep in the Super Bowl lose, I was cheered up by Jimmy coming into my room to let me know that I did indeed have a spot. I immediately told all of my friends on IM and quickly ended all conversations so that I could get up way before sunrise to participate in this historic festivity.

My alarm went off at 3;30 in the morning and thus began Groundhog's Day 2004. Several people dropped out and it ended up being me, Michael, Jimmy, and Alison as the lone Punxsutawney faithful. Jimmy's Honda Civic pulled out of GCC at 4:15 in the morning and we were on our way. Around 5:40-ish we arrived in Punxsutawney and parked at the Wal-Mart in town to be shuttled to Gobbler's Knob. After getting my hand stamped with a stamp that is still on my hand 4 days later and a free top hat we boarded the school busses departing for the knob.

After taking some pictures in front of the 'Welcome to Gobbler's Knob' sign, we decided to tour this historic site. By the way, if you have ever seen the movie Groundhog's Day starring Bill Murray, the real knob looks nothing like the movie. It is sort of like a natural amphitheatre. The stage sat down at the bottom of a hill and all of us spectators stood on the hill, with a great view from any angle.

This morning happened to be a rather chilly morning. I think it was no more than 17 degrees. All 4 of us who were very cold went over to the bonfire, pushed our way to the front, and tried to warm up. Around 6:40 we left to get a prime spot to view the morning's activities. During this whole time music was blaring, people were dancing on stage, and someone, who could not sing, would frequently sing a line or two of the song playing. And what Groundhog's Day would be complete without groundhog cheers and songs.

Around 6:50, Zambelli put on one of the best fireworks shows I had ever seen. Next to those beautiful 4th of July shows in Pittsburgh, this ranks a close second. It was worth the drive and no sleep just for this show. Then only a couple of minutes after the fireworks show, the sun rose. This caused it to get a little warmer, but not that much. Around 7:00, the members of the Groundhog Club marched down through the crowd and took their place on stage. By this point none of us could feel our toes. The members were introduced and the ceremony started. One man taped on the knob, then another reached in and pulled the most famous of all groundhog's, Punxsutawney Phil out of his knob. He was then displayed for all in the cheering crowd to see. After this, he was placed on top of his knob to determine whether or not he could see his shadow. He then talked in groundhog-ese to the only man who could understand it; this being something that has been handed down through the man's family, and the prognosticator of prognosticators, the seer of seers advised this man to read the scroll on the left. Another man read this wonderful little poem ending with the saying 6 more weeks of winter. This response drew boos form the entire crowd. We then all hustled to the buses. The time: 7:20. After crossing paths with several drunk people we arrived safely back at Wal-Mart and headed for home.

We made a stop at McDonald's for breakfast and arrived back on campus at 10:00. Had I not gone I would have just been waking up around this time. The day was full of excitement and I can not wait to go back next year. Though my mom made fun of me, how often do you get to participate in an event like this? Who knows how and why it started, but all I do know is that it rocked. I had such a blast with my friends. Who would have ever thought that I would go to Punxsutawney on Groundhog's Day? Certainly not me, especially those many years ago when I used to listen to the ceremony on the radio before I left for school.

For more info check out this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/02/02/groundhog.day.ap/index.html

And for those that are more visually stimulated...