Lehigh Valley InSite

Blog - Dog Walk

The Center for Animal Health & Welfare of Easton held their Sneaks for Paws 5K event on Saturday at Allentown’s Little Lehigh Parkway. Since my wife and I love to support animals, we registered to walk in this event several weeks ago and had been watching the forecast closely. Luckily for us the weather on Saturday morning was fantastic. The sun was shining and the temperatures were in the low 60s. Perfect weather for both 2- and 4-legged participants.

When we arrived at the registration table, we were greeted by a variety of dogs including Pugs, English Bulldogs and French Bulldogs. The dogs seemed more excited about the run then their human counterparts.

Halloween Haunt

Last Friday Michael and I attended the faux, spirited nuptials of Elemina Faust and Soloman Dorney. The wedding and reception were held at the Mansion House Hotel at Dorney Park in Lehigh Valley. The event served as the kick-off to Dorney Park’s 2010 Halloween Haunt.

The ceremony was officiated by Rev. Cliff Herring and it wasn’t long before the bride and groom were wisked away to spend their night at the Mansion House Hotel. Meanwhile, the guests were treated to a fabulous menu at the reception. My favorites were the shrimp cocktail served in a coffin made out of ice, the duck breast, the petite lamb chops and the assorted desserts.

Hit Down Dammit! Golf Instruction newsletter

This year will be the first in eight or nine years that I will not be competing in the annual Lehigh Valley Amateur at Green Pond Country Club. But I’m still pretty close to the action, as my cell phone bill for September will show.

Whoever said “a man with many friends is truly blessed” obviously did not own a cell phone. Many of my friends are playing in this year’s LV Amateur – where the rough is high, the greens are fast and the pressure of competing is wicked – so all week long I’ve been getting texts from them that say things like:

Crayola store james benetzky

Whenever I’m in Easton, I have to visit The Crayola Store at Two River’s Landing, Lehigh Valley’s most colorful retail outlet. Just walking through the doors puts a smile on my face!

I love to watch families marveling at the world’s largest crayon then searching for that perfect souvenir to bring home after their factory tour. I usually seem to find something I’d like to buy too.

2010 Allentown Fair Demo Derby - credit Jamey Holben

Last Monday, I was seriously in the mood to crash my car into every vehicle I passed. I wasn’t in a bad mood or anything. After nearly three hours at the J&J Demolition Derby, the last big hurrah every year at The Great Allentown Fair, I was so psyched from watching cars ram each other, I couldn’t help it! Lucky for everyone driving through Lehigh Valley, I didn’t give in to the urge to use my Subaru as a battering ram.

My buddy Jon and I arrived about a half hour before the demo derby was scheduled to begin. Seating at the derby is first come first serve and, by the time we got there all the good seats (the ones closest to the center of the grandstand) were filled. Armed with a Flip video recorder and a digital camera, we were on a mission to get some great shots of this event anyhow, so we didn’t mind standing on the walkway between the grandstand and the track, where the cars and trucks were “performing.”

The joes

I thought it was gonna be just another Friday happy hour with friends in Lehigh Valley. I always look forward to these gatherings with friends to unwind – have a few drinks, relax, forget about the week – but sometimes they need a little jolt. Not this night. I could feel and see the energy coming from Krocks Pub while looking for a place to park.

There were so many people there, my immediate thought was how am I gonna find my friends? Are they at the inside bar downstairs? They might be at the outside patio bar … which was 3-deep. Maybe they’re playin’ volleyball or checking out the live band The Joes. (The drummer’s a NY Jets fan… cool.  They’re playin’ “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” … cool Tom Petty tune. Great band, The Joes.) I thought about calling them, but it was too loud for them to hear the phone ring. Relieved, Jayne and Jill then tapped me on the shoulder.

Club_at_morgan_hill_8

I am a golfer. In fact, one might say that I am addicted to the sport. I thoroughly enjoy the game (most days). I have a great year going too; several wins in Lehigh Valley tournaments and my handicap has come down six strokes. Kudos to my instructor (who you can read about here).

Last week, one of our vendors invited me to play at The Club at Morgan Hill in Easton to show their “customer appreciation”. Let me tell you, this was one of those days that I hated golf. I was in great company, but even if you take the 97 degree blistering sun out of the equation, the course ate me up! Had we been playing a scramble format I might not have minded it so much.

Rush concert at the allentown fair

Free admission + temps in the 80s + no rain + over 10,000 Rush fans = LOTS of people in attendance at the first night of The Great Allentown Fair. What a great way to kick off this annual Lehigh Valley event!

I have seen many shows at the Allentown Fairgrounds over the years. For last night’s Rush concert, I had fantastic seats on the track, six rows from the stage (and the speakers, hence the hearing issue I’m having today). And you’ll never guess who sat behind me! The mayor of Allentown! When’s the last time you saw the mayor of your town at a rock concert?

AllentownFairLogo

Back in April I blogged about how classic/prog rock band Rush was going to open up the 2010 Great Allentown Fair’s grandstand show lineup. Well, tomorrow is opening night of the Fair, which means the wait is finally over. I still think they’ll end up having the most impressive visual show of all the acts, with a lot of screens and lighting that is usually only found in arenas.

Keith Urban, Justin Beiber (still sold out) and Jeff Dunham are still slated to be taking the stage September 3, 4 and 5. Since my initial blog post, the final two shows have been announced, so here’s my take on them:

Photo of Tennessee Ernie Ford from http://wesclark.com/burbank/

I had quite an interesting experience this past weekend and it all centered around the sport of golf.

I’ve been an avid golfer for the better part of nine years now. There isn’t an excuse or a reason that I haven’t conjured up to get myself on a tee box somewhere. Heck, I’ve even made the personal and financial commitment that goes along with being a member of not one but two Lehigh Valley golf clubs this season – Allentown Municipal Golf Course and Blue Ridge Country Club.