Thankfully
I took yesterday off because the alarm began blaring early this morning. By the
time I got out of bed I knew that my schedule was probably not going to hold
up. I had arranged to pick up my mentee by 7:00 am but thanks to some heavy
eyes and a few undesirable drivers on the road, I didn’t pull up to his front
door until quarter after. With a MapQuest estimate of 2 hours 30 minutes we got
on the road with just about 2 hours to make the stated meeting of the
Pennsylvania Lodge of Research in Scranton.
As
soon as we got on the highway and began heading north, it seemed as though we
had a chance to make the meeting on time. We had a great conversation over the
many miles and I kind of surprised myself as to how much I have been able to
absorb over the past year that I was able to relay to him. Of course, it was
also nice to have a few things in common so that we were able to talk about
firearms, politics, and may other topics that would make some other people
cringe.
With
a few miles to go I glanced over at the clock and was shocked by the time that
was being displayed… we had over 30 minutes to spare (yes, I stayed close to
the speed limit the whole way)! A couple of turns off the highway and we were
turning down the block to find parking near the Hilton which we found
immediately across the street for five dollars (all day rate). I can’t remember
the last time I turned into a parking garage and found rows and rows of open
spots as soon as I turned the first corner. You could tell that Scranton party
town on Saturday morning.
Once
we were able to stretch and walk around to recover from the drive we made our
way into the hotel and up the stairs to the meeting were we found a few other
brothers from around the commonwealth to chat with for the last few minutes
before the gavel sounded. The meeting itself was in a form that we were well
familiar with the presentation of a couple of very interesting research papers
that I look forward to reading at a later date. The meeting ended about an hour
earlier than we were both expecting and, instead of trying to get a couple of
last minute tickets for the hotel lunch, we walked down the block a little bit
where we came across the numerous statues that surround the Lackawanna County
courthouse.
We
continued down the street reading the inscriptions and enjoying the different
vantage points of the beautiful building.
Before
we knew it we had gone around the block and passed what seemed to be a common
Rite Aid store until we glanced at the plaque just below the high windows of
the pharmacy...
…that’s
right, it wasn’t just any Rite Aid, it was the first Rite Aid.
We
walked a couple more blocks, enjoyed the clean streets and some of the very
well preserved architecture…
…before
stopping at City Café Mediterranean Restaurant just as they were opening their
doors for lunch. The food was good, not great but good, and the prices were
excellent. It was a great way to conclude our time in Scranton as we were only
a half block away from the parking garage. While it took us much longer to get
back than it did to drive into the mountain town, there was good reason for our
delay but I will write more about that little detour on Monday. In the
meantime, I look forward to returning to Scranton. This was my first time there
and I hope to do some more exploring the next time I am in town (maybe next time I can go up there during the week and stop by Dunder Mifflin).
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