July 2008

One of the places I have always wanted to visited while in the US is Punxsutawney. This is a little town in the center of Pennsylvania, about a 4 hour drive from Gettysburg and was made famous in the movie "Groundhog Day".

Yes - every February they do hold the famous Groundhog Day celebration and festival in which the famous prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil is asked to predict whether Spring will come early or not by telling whether or not he saw his shadow! It sounds like a whole lot of fun and there really is a Gobblers Knob, and  Phil really does exist. In fact there are a whole family of "Phils" who are housed in fine style in the local library (which has a Phil zoo) and they seem to spend most of their time sleeping - a Groundhog looks like a cross between a wombat and a hamster!

I was sad to discover that the movie was not shot in Punxsutawney but in a town in Illinois, and so the movie town doesn't really look anything like the real Punxsutawney. But still - we can say we actually went there :)..... and the real Punxsutawney is a beautiful town to visit!