Happy Ground Hog Day

Its February 2 today, which means it is time for Second on the Second over at Elizabeth's blog.

Here's a post from back in 2011 called Travel Journal. 

Before my husband had his end stage kidney failure, we used to go away during my February school break. Its been 2 years now since he found out he had his anti-GBM disease which wiped out his kidneys,
 so now with dialysis 3 times a week its hard for us to plan any trips together.
But back in 2011 we flew in and out of Las Vegas. The main goal of our trip was to visit Death Valley over in California.  Its about a 2 - 21/2 hour drive from Las Vegas.
I really enjoyed this National Park. We spent 4 days there and stayed in a cabin at the main visitors area of the park. We did lots of light hiking and saw some amazing desert sites.
Here's a few views of my travel journal from that post.

I really loved the wide open spaces of Death Valley. When we left and drove back to spend 2 days in Las Vegas, it felt a little too crowded for me. I'm not really a big Vegas kind of gal anyhow, but I really wanted to go see the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show. It was an excellent show and the perfect way to celebrate my birthday, which happened to be the same day. If I ever do this trip again-I am just going to stay out at Death Valley National Park.

And February 2 is also Ground Hog Day here in the US. I didn't know but it is something celebrated by Pennsylvania Germans (Dutch). According to Wikipedia:

In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge,^[2] social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime, or quarter per word spoken, with the money put into a bowl in the center of the table.^[3]
The celebration began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries. It has its origins in ancient European weather lore, in which a badger or a sacred bear is the prognosticator, as opposed to a groundhog.^[7] It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc (the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 2 and also involves weather prognostication^[8]), and to St. Swithun's Day on July 15.
The largest one is celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, then  we shall have 6 more weeks of winter, but if he emerges and doesn't see it, then spring is just around the corner, Of course what is more vague than saying just around the corner.

Anyhow, I have never been to a groundhog day celebration but it is just fun to see what happens if Mr. Groundhog sees his shadow. 
So have a happy groundhog day! Don't forget to stop by             and add your own second on the second post. And thanks for stopping by my blog.