So last Friday, when Mike came home from work we were both lamenting about how we haven't gone ANYWHERE all summer. We were both itching for a road trip, to just get out of town for a bit. I looked at my class' syllabus and realized that I did not have much work to do and since I was already caught up I figured we should go SOMEWHERE! So we decided to go to Scranton, Pennslyvania since we are both fans of The Office. We started watching the show later than most people, but nonetheless we still wanted to go to Scranton to see some of the places mentioned in the show. Luckily, our awesome friend Debra had stopped in Scranton a while back and sent me a bunch of tour guides for Scranton so that helped us figure out what places to visit.
So Mike booked a hotel room in Dickson City because the Scranton Radisson was actually completely booked! We left Saturday morning around 9:30am and got to Scranton around 3:45pm. We got to the hotel and the power was out and within five minutes of being in the hotel, the power popped back on. Thank God, because it was hot and kind of smelly in the hotel with the air conditioning off. The hotel was a Days Inn in Dickson City's red light district, LOL! There were adult bookstores everywhere! We chilled in the hotel for a bit and Mike mapped out where everything was so we could head out to Scranton!
Our first stop was the Steamtown Mall since it's right off the highway. The Steamtown Mall houses the famous Scranton sign from The Office opening. Steamtown Mall was as dead as Parmatown, LOL!! We found the sign and did our obligatory pictures in front of it. We walked the mall a few times and bought a few souvenirs from the Dunder Mifflin stand in the middle of the mall . The stand just sells all The Office stuff you can purchase from the nbc. com store at the same prices. I purchased a Scranton shot glass and a Dunder Mifflin lanyard (these items I did not spot in the online store). I did buy an awesome pair of boots that were really cheap at the Steamtown Mall's Shoe Dept. Store!! So I have an official receipt from the Steamtown Mall and the Dunder Mifflin stand! I of course, had to get a picture of the Victoria's Secret there too!
After the mall we decided to grab dinner at Cooper's Seafood Restaurant. It wasn't far from the mall and we got there after the dinner time rush so no wait! The food is a bit pricey, but it was delicious. I got the homemade pot roast and it was totally worth the money. The meat was so succulent and it melted in your mouth! Mike got crab and lobster tail and it was yummy too! The service was outstanding and I definitely want to stop there again!
So after dinner we decided to find the bar where The Office characters like to hang out at called Poor Richard's. Poor Richard's is in the ghetto of Scranton, LOL! It wasn't bad though. It's very close to Alfredo's Pizza Cafe. Poor Richard's is located in an bowling alley called the Southside Bowl. It is definitely a local's kind of bar. What was funny was that they were doing promotions fro Svedka Vodka at Poor Richard's and we love Svedka Vodka, so that was pretty cool. It's basically a sports bar, some people would call it a dive bar, but when you're like Mike and I who mostly frequent the Spitfire and Now That's Class, Poor Richard's was pretty nice. The female bartender was so sweet. She was very talkative and was excited to have Office fans there. She even gave me a free drink! The bartender used to work at Alfredo's Pizza Cafe so she was telling us what we should order and even gave us directions to the Penn Paper Tower from the opening credits. We had fun talking and she definitely made us feel like local Sranton-ites! LOL! Poor Richard's has karaoke on Saturday nights and we saw some crazy people coming in for the karaoke so we decided to leave before that madness began! We got lost going back to the hotel from Poor Richard's, but luckily Mike's phone guided us back to Dickson City.
The hotel must have been hosting some event because parking was ridiculous. We had to park like a mile a way in the darkeset part of the parking lot near the woods. Guests for the event took up the hotel guest parking spaces, which was really frustrating. I was hoping our car would still be there in the morning, and of course it was! The music was really loud and it was some Spanish speaking event because that's all I heard in the hotel lobby and the music reminded me of the music from Mexican restaurants. We turned up the tv in the hotel room to block out the music and watched some reruns of Ghost Adventures until we fell asleep.
Sunday morning we woke up and packed up. Our car was way back in the parking lot and we decided to head out to Alfredo's Pizza Cafe. The service was top notch, but I did not like the food that much. We got the square tray pizza they are famous for and Mike loved it, but I did not like it very much. I thought of it as Kevin from The Office would say "a hot circle of garbage", but it was a "hot square of garbage". Maybe it's because I'm super sensitive to dairy and gluten now that we are mostly paleo eaters, I don't know, but Alfredo's did not impress me. According to the show, Alfredo's Pizza Cafe is the good pizza place, but not in my opinion! After Alfredo's we stopped by the Penn Paper Tower and took a few photos, it was really deserted over in that area. Then it was time to make the 6 hour journey back to Ohio. We were pretty tired by the time we made it home and Artemis was very upset by us leaving him alone for 36 hours! He puked everywhere and was upset the rest of the night. By late Sunday night he was back to normal! What a drama queen! So that's Scranton! It was a blast, and hopefully we can go back with some friends and have more Scranton adventures! The trip was a nice short trip, but I really need to go on a long trip soon! Hopefully, it will be New Orleans in October!!!
Remember, you can see my Scranton pics on my facebook page!
