Off To The Governor’s House

As I mentioned yesterday, I was out of the office all day today. I still got up at the same time, left the apartment around the same time, but instead of heading east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike I made my way west. While the travel time was twice what I am used to in the morning it was a smooth trip with little traffic on the road. In fact, I made it to Hershey in well under two hours.

What brought me to Hershey? While I don’t go to a lot of event of this type, more than some, a lot less than others, I was given a unique opportunity during this meeting of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. While I had to drive to the Hershey Lodge, it was only a temporary stop during the morning as I was soon on a limousine bus on my way to the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
 

  

We arrived at the Governor’s Residence in the middle of numerous discussions started as soon as the bus began to move. As we chatted our way toward the main gate we all put our points on hold as we had our names checked off by security.

Once in the door, we checked our bags, got our nametags, and were warmly greeted, one by one, by Governor Corbett. By the way, the Governor seems to be getting in shape for the campaign tour.

After a quick chat, it was time to get a cup of coffee and walk around the house a little bit. iPhone in hand, I took some photos of the many rooms including the stairway…

…the two sitting rooms…

… the formal dining room…

…and a couple of pictures of the Governor’s office (this is what I would like my office to look like).

Heading back to the reception area I noticed that US Senator Toomey had just arrived so I made my way over, introduced myself, and exchanged a few pleasantries. While I may disagree with Senator Toomey on some issues, I give him credit for being consist and his office credit for always responding to correspondences in a timely manner.

Not wanting to hold up the building line, I went back into the reception area, poured a second cup of coffee, and stood around one of the small high top tables and had a nice conversation with Lieutenant Governor Cawley.  

 

Noon snuck up on all of us and before we knew it, we were all retrieving our coats and bags and we making our way back out the door, through the gates, and onto the last bus heading back to the Hershey Lodge. When we arrived, we picked up our lunches, sat around the tables, and either worked on our computers (including me) or continued conversations started early this morning. Following an abbreviated meal, I took advantage of the quiet time while everyone was in the first session to get some work done. Once a number of items were taken care of I joined them in the middle of the second session. I only attended one more after that, got a few more last minute items done on the computer, and made my way back out the door to meet my wife for dinner before heading home. But, before I left, I pulled out my phone and took one last photo of the event.