It was a beautiful fall weekend in Happy Valley for the first home Penn State football game of the 2024 season. It was a highly anticipated weekend for the Battista family’s plan to get all five of us (six including Barkley) together for a fun time back “home” with family and friends (and to do the annual family Christmas photo). It was also a time for us to showcase the Nittany Valley for a special guest from The Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Well, we had to call an audible on the family Christmas photo when our daughter, Brianna, got the proverbial “offer she couldn’t refuse” to go see her good friend Jessie Pegula (WTA World No. 6) play in the finals of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York City. It was Jessie’s first ever appearance in a Grand Slam event final, so of course we supported Brianna’s change of plans.
Back to our guest from “Mini-Soda,” Miss Audrey Carson. I’m not talking about someone from a visiting athletic team mind you. I’m talking about a native Minnesotan who attended Eden Prairie High School and graduated from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School with a supply chain management and operations degree this past May. She just so happens to be dating our youngest son, Ryan, a 2022 supply chain graduate from our very own Smeal College of Business.
This was Audrey’s first visit to Pennsylvania, and it started with a late-night flight into Da’Burgh where she was treated to the iconic view of the skyline of “Dahntahn” Pittsburgh as you emerge from the Fort Pitt Tunnel. A trip to the famous Oakmont Bakery, a dinner on Mount Washington overlooking the city and a Pirates game at PNC Park were all just previews to the real jewel in her trip east: a visit to the vortex we call Happy Valley.
So, what do you do with a Golden Gopher in Happy Valley?
Well, we did our best to make all State College and PSU alums proud by hitting as many of the key spots as we could during the three-day visit. Based on Audrey’s reactions and comments, and the fact that she slept most of the way back to Pittsburgh after her whirlwind visit…mission accomplished.
First stop was Way Fruit Farm in Port Matilda for a relaxing brunch and so my wife could stock up on apples to make homemade applesauce. Audrey had the egg and bacon croissant and an iced vanilla latte which she said was “DELICIOUS!” I was happy, too, because I got fresh peaches and nectarines, which allowed me to sneak in my chocolate whoopie pie.
So, what do you do after you fill up on sweets at Way Fruit Farm? Well, you climb Mount Nittany, of course! It seemed like a good idea at the time, and while Audrey wasn’t necessarily thrilled about the steepness of the climb, she was awed by the view of the valley and campus from the Mike Lynch Overlook. My wife served on the Mount Nittany Conservancy Board for years, so it made her smile. It was an amazing late summer afternoon, and Audrey was fascinated by the history of the mountain and the legend of Princess Nita-Nee and the valley.
So, after expending all that energy, you naturally need some food, and so we met up with our oldest son, Jonathon, at our old go-to, The Waffle Shop on West College Avenue Naturally, we ran into several old friends. Audrey quickly learned that we couldn’t go very far without running into friends and colleagues, and that just continued all weekend. Next stop was Meyer Dairy for ice cream and chocolate milk. Audrey was forewarned that she would be asked to compare Meyer Dairy ice cream to the Creamery, which was on the agenda for Sunday.
We passed the Memorial Day statue in Boalsburg and filled Audrey in on the village’s claim to be the founding place for the holiday. Next, we stopped at A Basket Full where Heidi caught up with her friends, owner Pam Bair and Robin Brouse. We linked up with our host, Julie Bartolomea, and all went to the Boal City Brewing for happy hour and Kelly’s Steak & Seafood for a late dinner. We older adults retired for the evening, but our intrepid Gopher Girl continued her journey with our son and his alumni buddies with a visit to Champs Downtown, where she helped cheer on an Eagles victory over her Vikings’ nemesis, the Green Bay Packers.
Welcome to Happy Valley! Now that’s packing in a lot for one day for anyone.
Eventually Audrey returned with Ryan to the home of good friends Bob and Marylou Martin, whose son Zach “Marty” Martin is one of Ryan’s lifelong buddies and had visited Audrey’s stomping grounds just recently.
So how do you top that? Ha, you ain’t seen nothing yet! While there was some light rain on Saturday morning it did nothing to slow down the Happy Valley Experience for our Golden Gopher. While football is very popular at the University of Minnesota, she was treated to the next level of college football, including tailgating Nittany Lion-style.
Audrey couldn’t get over the rows and rows of RV’s and the elaborate tailgates. We visited Scott and Sandi Balboni’s tailgate just south of Beaver Stadium and Audrey got to meet my goddaughter Taylor Balboni and her older brother AJ. We stopped at a couple other spots before heading over to Pegula Ice Arena for the hockey alumni tailgate.
Now, football may be king at Penn State, but hockey rules in Gopher-land, where the U of M has won five NCAA Championships and finished as runners-up eight more times. Having said that, Audrey was overwhelmed with Pegula Ice Arena. Mariucci Arena in Minnesota may be bigger, but the layout and design of Pegula just blew our young Gopher grad away. She got to meet men’s coach Guy Gadowsky and a number of former players, but perhaps the highlight was seeing her fellow Eden Prairie grad Carrie Byrnes’ name on the Penn State women’s hockey alumni wall. A close second, however, was seeing a three-year-old Ryan with me in the 2003 ACHA National Championship photo in the alumni trophy case section.
It was time to head into the second largest football stadium in the country. It would have been impressive enough sitting in our family seats outside in section WG, but we were able to treat her to seats in the Pegula Suite at Beaver Stadium. Turns out the Pegulas had some conflicting event at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York for daughter Jessie! When Audrey saw the band come on the field and the drum major do his signature flip, she yelled out, “That’s SOOOO cool!” The game was closer than we all expected but it certainly kept things interesting.
Post-game tailgates included stopping by football letterman Dan and wife Michelle Delligatti’s spot, where we were all glued to the TV to watch Jessie Pegula’s tennis match. Audrey and Ryan also stopped at Matt Steyer’s fiancé Lindsay Carmack’s family tailgate behind Medlar Field. Eventually their whole gang ended up at Doggie’s Pub. We “mature” alums retired to dinner at Julie Bartolomea’s, where we had her world-famous meatballs.
Sunday started early for our young Gopher as Ryan was anxious to cram in a full campus tour. We all met up at Elixir for coffee before journeying down to see our friends at Rapid Transit Sports. My wife ONLY buys her sportswear from Terry Losch and the guys at RT. I also splurged on a shirt and some decals for my golf cart. Audrey and Ryan stopped by Irving’s before heading up to campus. I hope she had her wearable tech on to capture the number of steps. Among the highlights were Rec Hall, the Nittany Lion Shrine, the Smeal College of Business and eventually the Arboretum, where we picked them up for the journey home.
Oh, how could I forget? They also stopped for a cold treat at The Creamery. Her flavor choice? Death by Chocolate, which is also Heidi’s go-to flavor.
As we departed Happy Valley, I put our young Golden Gopher on the hot seat. “What did you think of Happy Valley?” She gushed with a heartfelt “It was AWESOME! Everyone was so friendly, and the town is so cute. The campus is laid out so well. Minnesota’s is nice but it’s so spread out.”
Finally, I asked the toughest question about ice cream, “Well, which did you like better?” She almost apologetically said, “Oh they were both so good, but I have to go with the Meyer Dairy sundae!”
There you have it folks. At least one Golden Gopher loves Happy Valley. In full disclosure, Heidi and I just visited Ryan and Audrey and her parents in Minneapolis three weeks ago. We Nittany Lions give “The Land of 10,000 Lakes” a roaring approval as well.
