Seen the Groundhog Day HOUSE, Phil? Feat Lori Miarecki

What if you could walk into a movie and stay the night? We head to Woodstock, Illinois—the real-world stand-in for Punxsutawney—and sit down with Lori, the innkeeper behind the Cherry Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast, the house fans know as Phil Connors’ wake-up spot. She tells us how she tore down the no trespassing signs, opened the door to anyone peeking through the windows, and built a year-round tradition where hundreds stream through on Groundhog Day weekend to relive the magic.

Lori breaks down the on-screen illusions: why the film’s staircase sits differently, how stained glass and a corner fireplace were recreated on set, and what it feels like to live “inside” a celebrity house. We get the wild story of the 2020 Super Bowl Jeep commercial, from a snow-drenched shoot to Bill Murray and Stephen Tobolowsky rewatching scenes under a tarp to improvise lines. Along the way, we hear about celebrity breakfasts, a waitlist that stretches a decade, and visitors from nine countries who arrive with personal connections to a film that quietly teaches us to do today a little better than yesterday.

The town itself shines. Independent shops circle the square, the opera house draws touring acts, and holiday movies now film on the same streets where Phil’s loop unfolded. For geocachers, an acclaimed Adventure Lab threads the filming locations and ends at Lori’s door with a top-rated bonus cache. Whether you come for road trip nostalgia, small-town travel, or the perfect log on your stats grid, Woodstock rewards curiosity with detail, warmth, and repeat-worthy charm.

Subscribe, share this episode with a movie lover or geocacher, and leave a review to help more travelers find hidden gems like Woodstock.

Cherry Tree Inn LINK

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Groundhog Day Setup
• 2:23 Why Woodstock Stands In For Punxsutawney
• 3:25 Meet Lori And The Iconic B&B
• 6:45 Delays And Upgrades: Trophies And Tech
• 10:09 Opening The House To Fans
• 13:30 Movie Magic: Inside Vs. On-Screen Layout
• 20:12 Guests, Celebrities, And Repeat Visitors
• 25:06 The 2020 Super Bowl Jeep Commercial
• 31:36 COVID, Renewed Fandom, And Teen Pilgrimages
• 34:12 Woodstock’s Pride And Local Businesses
• 38:00 Global Reach And Groundhog Philosophy
• 42:18 Geocaching Fame And Adventure Lab
• 45:24 Visiting Details, Holidays, And New Films
• 49:22 Patron Perks And Giveaway
• 51:40 Year-Round Visits And Final Farewell

Transcript

SPEAKER_10: 0:34

Do you love to travel?

SPEAKER_18: 0:35

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_14: 0:36

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_30: 0:41

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of That Town as the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_14: 0:47

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching and Munsey. Join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_30: 0:58

On today's episode, it's Crabhog Day. Wow. We actually harmonized a little bit then at the end.

SPEAKER_38: 1:08

Did you hear that?

SPEAKER_30: 1:09

For me, that's a big deal, Mike.

SPEAKER_14: 1:11

I don't know if we'll match it up, but uh we certainly tried. We'll see how that comes out in post.

SPEAKER_30: 1:17

We gave it a uh a red hot crack. We'll just say that. So there you go. Mate, uh, what are we talking about at Groundhog Day? It is actually Groundhog Day as this goes to air, but what what do you mean it's Groundhog Day?

SPEAKER_14: 1:28

Happy Groundhog Day. I hope this day is good for us because we might have to repeat it over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_30: 1:37

Now, obviously from Australia, I know what Groundhog Day actually is. You know, we saw the movie as well. There's no undenying it was a great movie, like fantastic movie. I love it. Um, love the movie, had to watch it again. And um, yeah, so we know what it's all about, but we don't actually celebrate Groundhog Day per se, like with the punks of Tony Phil and the Groundhog scenes. We don't have Groundhogs in Australia, so they don't see their shadows in Australia. See how long winter's got left. Because the other thing is, winter in Australia is in June, July.

SPEAKER_14: 2:07

Yeah, so you guys don't you guys like if you celebrate Groundhog Day, you'd be like, how soon is winter? And that just isn't the same thing.

SPEAKER_30: 2:14

Yeah, exactly. They're like, Well, why talk about winter for when it's in the middle of summer now? Like in uh in February. So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 2:21

Yes, you know 2nd of Feb. Yeah, you know, Craig, in our intro, I said, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, and then you you say exploring charming towns scattered throughout the United States. And so one of the things we're doing today is we're going to explore a charming town, a town I love, which is Woodstock, Illinois, which is not Punxitawney, Pennsylvania, but it is Punxitawney, uh, Pennsylvania stand-in because of the movie Groundhog Day from 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_30: 2:52

Yeah, 93 it was. And so you're what you're saying is that the actual movie Groundhog Day was filmed in uh Woodstock in Illinois, uh, but it was portrayed to be uh Punxitoney in uh in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_14: 3:06

Yeah, but Woodstock, Illinois fully embraces it. You can celebrate Groundhog Day right in their town square in the exact same way, very similar to how you do it in Punksa Tawney. But anyway, we are going to be talking. This is awesome. We're talking to a celebrity house. It's a celebrity house. Yeah. Yeah, because in the movie Groundhog Day, Phil, Phil Connors, yeah, he wakes up in a bare Airbnb in Punksawney slash Woodstock every single day for who knows how long. And so that's 33 years. Yeah, well, nobody really knows, but okay.

SPEAKER_30: 3:43

I got that from you off your video. Oh, really? 33 years. Yeah, 33 years. Lori, her name is yes, Lori.

SPEAKER_14: 3:51

Yeah, so Lori knows. So we're speaking to Lori, who is the owner and the person who runs the Airbnb that is that amazing house in Woodstock, Illinois. So and I've actually stayed there, Craig. You know, I have. It's one of my best, my favorite, maybe not my best, one of my favorite geocaching vlogs that I've ever created. And we'll talk a little bit about that because Lori is stars in it. She's awesome.

SPEAKER_30: 4:17

Absolutely, she's stars in it. She actually does some acting in it as well.

SPEAKER_07: 4:20

She does some great acting, yes.

SPEAKER_30: 4:22

She really does better than you, but anyway, we won't go there. But Josh, before, before we bring Lori in, before we chat to Lori, before we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Groundhog Day, we need to talk about uh delays and upgrades for the last couple of weeks. So, Josh, what was your uh do you want to start you with yours, the your delay or your upgrade?

SPEAKER_14: 4:46

My upgrade was last night because I got a package at my door and I was so excited about it that I tried to FaceTime you and you were probably busy. Like last night. Oh, really? Funny. Yeah. But our good friend, listener, and patron, Nezmuck, has created something for us.

SPEAKER_30: 5:08

Yes, yes. He's been in he's been in talks with us actually. I know. And he's he has sent us a three, a few photos back and forth. Oh tell me, uh, when you've got it in your hands right now, the the fully solid piece of whatever it is, how does it? Oh wow, I'm looking at it right. We are not, we are not doing a video podcast, it's audio only. So I'm not gonna explain. Oh, it's magnetic. I'm not gonna explain. And and uh let me know, Josh, the sides are magnetic as well, aren't they?

SPEAKER_14: 5:38

No, the sides, like you can change the uh this the the outside of it, you can change these out. Um they're not magnetic, the sides aren't, but just the top is, but you can make it a tower, like you can make it, you can put them all together and make it like a giant trophy. And and the listeners don't know what we're talking about, but what we I have in my hand, and the patrons are gonna get a video of this because I took a video of me opening it last night. Nice, nice. But you know, our patrons they get golden nuggets, right? Little little nuggets of goodness, little nugs that a little special content that only our patrons get. And so Nesmuk, our good friend, patron, and listener, created actual golden nugget trophies for us.

SPEAKER_26: 6:24

That looked fantastic.

SPEAKER_14: 6:26

The best way I can describe it, imagine like a trophy stand with a thing that says the golden nugget like on the front plate, and then on top, imagine a McDonald's uh little dip cup with a chicken nugget that's actually gold dipped inside of it.

SPEAKER_30: 6:46

That's not real gold though, it's gold uh gold colored. Uh it's not actually it'd be a bit heavier if it's real gold. Could be gold paint, who knows? I do I do like Josh as well. Uh, you know, it is a black standard is with gold writing, it's got uh white writing on some of the other places on the parts of it because uh some other parts can say you're proud of your town, other parts says, you know, a treasure of our town uh on it. It's a rare, it's a damn rare thing these days on it as well. But one of my favorite parts is on the other side, Josh. Uh-huh. It says you and I, but it's got me first, Craig and Josh.

SPEAKER_14: 7:18

Yeah, I can I can change out, I can take it out. Like they gave me another one. I see, I took your name out of what mine. Um then there's a one that says patron award. It's amazing. It's amazing. Not only that, Craig, he so it's 3D printed. He printed me all these like um keychains that have like different things on them. We have one that says Munzy. They like look like real keychains. Check this out, Craig. He doesn't even know. He doesn't even know. Oh no. And yet he's he did that. He didn't even know. Premonition. Um, there's yeah, there's what we're looking at is 3D printed um treasures, 3D printed keychains. Keychains, yeah, with that are license plates, but the license plates all say different things that are all like related to things I love. There's even some back the future ones. Wow, it's so awesome. That was my major upgrade. Thank you so much, Nesmuk, and patrons. Wow. Um, I I did a little video last night of me unboxing it. So you're gonna get to see these golden nuggets, real golden nuggets in all their glory.

SPEAKER_30: 8:29

Nice job. And again, yes, thank you so much, Nesmuk. Uh, great job with it, too. It was his idea as well. We didn't approach him, he approached us with the idea. Um, he he said he was listening to one of our shows one time because I spoke to him at length, Josh, when I was at a uh a geocaching event uh in Colorado. And and that's where he asked me, he said, Oh, if you don't mind, and he's pitched the idea to me there. I was like, that sounds brilliant. And uh so since that Colorado uh event, he's been on it and uh he's done it, he's come through with a fantastic job. We may uh have we got a spare one to give away to a patron just one package.

SPEAKER_14: 9:03

He gave us two. Okay. So either I give you one and I keep one, or one of us keeps one and the other we give. I don't know. We haven't talked about this.

SPEAKER_30: 9:15

Well, I I know exactly because one is on its way to me. So you do have a spare status.

SPEAKER_14: 9:21

We're gonna have to figure out how to give it to somebody. Maybe it maybe March Madness, like maybe if they like if the the suggested March Madness, if if a certain person goes far the farthest, they get furthest, maybe they get the golden nugget. I don't know, just some ideas.

SPEAKER_30: 9:37

That's really cool. That's really cool. Well, stay tuned. And if you're not a patron, then uh we'll tell you at the end of the show exactly how you can become one and and be part of the inner circle, so to speak. What a great upgrade, Josh. But any delays for you this uh this last couple of days.

SPEAKER_14: 9:51

All I'll say is this we don't talk about the weather on this podcast.

SPEAKER_20: 9:55

Of course not, but I'm really cold.

SPEAKER_14: 9:59

It's uh it's cold. Yeah, that's all right. That's all right. And we're just that's all I'm gonna say. Done. Yeah what done Craig is your upgrade.

SPEAKER_30: 10:07

Well, I'll start with my upgrade first because this is fantastic. And it is plastic as well, just like the uh the golden nuggets, and that is I have a brand new drone. That's right, a drone. It's made by the same company that makes Insta360s. You know those 360 cameras that I have as well? It's the same company that makes that. It's called Anti-Gravity 360 drone. So you think about this, Josh, with that 360 camera that I have on the pole, I don't need the pole anymore. It's got wings, Josh, and it flies through the air. And uh, so as I fly through the air, it's capturing 360 degrees all at the same time. So I can do whip pans in it. I don't have to frame every single shot. I don't have to get the shot as we as I actually fly it. I can just fly in a straight line and then pick up whatever shot I want after that. So absolutely brilliant this thing. I I had a go of it uh like yesterday and today. Um, it comes with goggles as well, so like FPV goggles. It's like it's like Josh, it's like I'm actually in a little plane going around everywhere as well. Like uh it's really, really cool. Um, one of the best things as well with the goggles, the goggles, they're related to the 360 camera. So what that means is I can be just leave the leave the drone midair, just sitting there stable, doing nothing. I move my head around the goggles, and it's like, Josh, it's like I'm looking around a glass ball. Up I can look up at the sky, I look at the ground, I can look at myself and wave to myself, I can look to the right, to the left, you know, forward, backwards. And the drone just sits there. The drone doesn't move, but I can look all 360 around. Unbelievable stuff.

SPEAKER_14: 11:39

So technology today. You know, Craig, maybe maybe you should share maybe with the patrons like a test run. You could put it up on our Patreon so they can kind of see a little bit what this is like and maybe what it looks like. I don't know. We just yeah, we gotta give now that we have real golden nuggets, we gotta give even more golden nuggets on our more golden nuggets.

SPEAKER_30: 12:01

That sounds good, and more than just uh audio golden nuggets through their ears, something through their eyes at the same time. So that's my upgrade, Josh. Now I I struggled with this delay for today. It's not a bad thing when you struggle to come up with a delay, is it? Let's be honest. It means your life's pretty good. Right. So my delay, Josh, is that last night I missed bin night.

SPEAKER_14: 12:22

Oh, that's the worst.

SPEAKER_30: 12:24

You put the bin out and and you miss it. All I'll say is I'm not used to it, Josh. I've been traveling full-time in van life for 12 months. You see, so this is the joys of living sticks and bricks again. So I missed the bin night. So now I have to wait a week and prioritize what goes in the bin, what doesn't. What can I sort of, you know.

SPEAKER_14: 12:44

So for those of you that are not Australian, I'm gonna translate this for you. Craig missed the garbage. Craig missed the garbage truck.

SPEAKER_22: 12:52

Yeah, the trash trash night, the night the trash bin comes, the trash man comes and takes out the trash. So yeah.

SPEAKER_14: 12:59

That is such a pain, too, because then it starts overflowing the next week and oh and it all gets rotted, it's smelling, it's bad.

SPEAKER_30: 13:07

And you know, you of all people know Josh too, because you remember what it was like when you had the three kids living at home with you too. So they don't really care, and so they just keep on just disposing of things, disposing of things, disposing, and you're like, come on, come on, come on, guys, just like sit, settle down. Now we just gotta tighten the belt for a week.

SPEAKER_14: 13:25

Yeah, no kidding. Now that the kids are gone, we hardly have any trash. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_25: 13:30

I was gonna say, your bin's never full, man.

SPEAKER_14: 13:32

I can miss bin night bin night every week, every other week. For a month.

SPEAKER_04: 13:39

Very, very true, very true. Oh, but you know what?

SPEAKER_14: 13:43

It's groundhog day, Craig. It really is, and I'm so excited to talk to Lori. Should we bring her in?

SPEAKER_25: 13:49

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_14: 13:50

We are so excited to have Laura Merecki, the owner of the Cherry Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast in Woodstock, Illinois, which is featured on the amazing movie, Groundhog Day. Hey Lori, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_37: 14:04

Hi, Josh, we're doing good. Wow, it's Groundhog Day again.

SPEAKER_30: 14:13

I'm so I do apologize to all the listeners out there because this is an audio only podcast. And Lori just jumps in with her very own groundhog. Uh it looks real. I'm taking it's a puppet. It does look real, but it looks like it's yawning and it's making some different things. Wow, Lori. What a great nice to meet you, Lori. Thank you so much for joining us as well. Thank you. This is like one of the busiest times of the year for you, isn't it?

SPEAKER_37: 14:36

Well, it's absolutely insane when it comes to the amount of people that will show up at the door every day, all day. Yeah, from tomorrow on. So we got trial by fire when we bought the house because we had no idea. Looking over the the prompts, I was like, oh yeah, no, we had no clue. We were told to expect 16 to 60 people for a walking tour once a day during Groundhog Day events. And I had 160 people before 9 a.m. Our first day. And I was like, you lied.

SPEAKER_14: 15:20

It's it's really interesting because it's one thing to be a celebrity, it's another thing to live inside of a celebrity.

unknown: 15:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_37: 15:28

And there was, I mean, it was like I completely clueless. I wanted a bed and breakfast. This was made for me. It was ideal. It was in my husband's hometown. And we came and stayed as guests. I spent three days planning everything I would do if it were mine. On the fourth day, found out it was for sale and said, How much? And on the fifth day, I'm like, I'm buying the house. And my husband's like, sure, if you can find the money. Well, I he said sure. That's all I heard.

SPEAKER_30: 15:59

Found the money. No, exactly. Lori, Lori, I will say there's other places out there, other movie locations, TV series locations, et cetera. Unlike some, uh breaking bad Josh, remember your video of Breaking Bad as well, whereby the people bought the Breaking Bad house and hate people coming around because they throw pizza on the roof, et cetera. Yeah. You you, however, you've embraced that. You've embraced the uh publicity of it as well. Tell us a little bit more in regards to how long have you had the house for and and and the people that come through on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_37: 16:28

Yeah, so we bought the house in 2017. So we stayed here in June, closed August 31st. My first job as owner was rip down the no trespassing signs. Like I literally signed the closing on the house, picked up my son from school and kicked him out of the cart before we pulled in the driveway. Ripped down the no trespassing signs, opened the gate, and um the next day they came and hooked up our internet. I launched our Facebook page live and our Google page live. And um, our first family showed up in front of the house to take pictures from the UK with their three kids. And he was actually an author writing a book of um I think called The Decades, I think. I've had so many people through here, so many writers and musicians and just people that like I can't keep track of them all. Like I need I need to start making a list of people that have been through here. But anyway, he brought his daughters. He's like, Oh, can we stay? I'm like, no, because we're actually living in the BMB because our apartments were weren't furnished yet. So they came back three weeks later and stayed when we opened up officially. Um, but our first day we gave five tours on Saturday, and Sunday we gave seven tours, and I said, I think we'll be fine. So we didn't know that every day, all day, people would show up in front of the house to just take pictures. If we see them, we invite them in. Um it it is hard to live inside a celebrity when sometimes it it literally I can't walk by a door or window, and I have to look away if I don't have time to invite somebody in. Because inevitably, if I look out a window or the front door and there's a lot of windows in the house, I'll see somebody and I have to invite them in because it it's the joy, you know. I get to live in something that just is here to bring nothing but joy and happiness to somebody, and that's an honor.

SPEAKER_14: 18:39

You know, so yes, that's how I feel. You are you are so welcoming. I I experienced it very my first hand myself. I I got to stay in the what's what's the Bill Murray room? What is it called? Magnolia?

SPEAKER_37: 18:53

The Magnolia suite, the Bill Murray room. So people are like, oh, I want to sleep in the bed Bill Murray slept in. I'm like, well, two things. Bill Murray's never slept here. It was a house when the movie was made. It's called Movie Magic. And I don't own the bed. Although the people that actually bought the bed from the movie had contacted me about the bed. I'm like, I will buy it from you. It was they got it from a studio sale that ended up at an auction. Um actually it was used in um the TV show Bonanza. So so the mil Bill Murray bed was in Bonanza first. So movie magic. So they got it from from one of the movie prop houses. But um, yeah, so the magnolia suite, I I I'm like truth in advertising. Bill's never slept here. Um his brother Andy has. So Andy, the first thing Andy did was took a picture out of the Magnolia suite and sent it to the family text and said, guess where I am? And Bill's response was Ponzi. So like he knew immediately where where Andy was at. So he was here for a wedding, a friend's wedding. And, you know, that's the Magnolia Suite gives you that perfect. You've got chairs sitting there looking down over the iconic archway, you know, that final scene and what everybody pulls back the curtains, but it's really a build of, you know, what would be our third floor, which is our apartment where we live, and people are like, can we go up there? I'm like, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_14: 20:26

So the window that they shot the actually out as Bill Murray looks out into your street is actually your your apartment. It's not the actual.

SPEAKER_37: 20:38

What they did is piece together the scenes from the interior of the house with what they recreated on the stage to look just like the interior of the house.

SPEAKER_02: 20:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_37: 20:45

So the actors, when they've been back here, and and the writers and producers and everybody involved, they're like their minds are blown because they're like, this is the one place that we can go. We film all these different places all over the world, and they're pieced together, and we're filming all over the place. And Woodstock's the one place you can come. And they feel like they step back in time 35 years to we're back in Groundhog Day. And so, especially with you know, Stevens coming back again this year, and uh he just loves it, and we love him, and everybody everybody loves having Ned. You know, it's a big deal, but you know Ryerson! Yeah, needlenose Ned, Ned the Head, one wrestling belly button tray.

SPEAKER_14: 21:33

Phil? Phil Connors?

SPEAKER_30: 21:36

So Lori, obviously you're a fan. You're a fan of the movie. Were you a fan of the fan? I was a normal fan. Oh, you're a normal fan. I was a normal fan. Now you're a super fan.

SPEAKER_37: 21:45

No, no, no, no. Fanatics.

SPEAKER_30: 21:47

Fanatics.

SPEAKER_37: 21:48

Okay, so where's your accent from?

SPEAKER_30: 21:50

Australia. I'm from Australia.

SPEAKER_37: 21:52

Okay, so our guest for this coming in this year is from Australia.

SPEAKER_03: 21:57

Oh, wow. How cool.

SPEAKER_37: 21:58

And he got it because the other guest from Australia had to back out for this year.

SPEAKER_14: 22:04

So yep.

SPEAKER_37: 22:05

But um I think Lori Summer Alone in five weeks, I had seven different guests from Australia and New Zealand alone. And I had nine different countries in like three weeks. So it's world renowned, and I had no idea.

SPEAKER_14: 22:24

Yeah. Lori, I think you texted texted me last year because you maybe had a cancellation on Groundhog Day, and you said if you can get here, and I unfortunately couldn't. But just so you know, Lori, if that happens again, you got my phone number. I will, I would love to make it there for the actual weekend. That is uh on my bucket list.

SPEAKER_37: 22:44

Yeah, the list is long. So getting anybody in in Groundhog Day, especially here in the main house because we have the secondary smaller BMB a block away for now, um, is that everybody wants to be here. Yes, of course. And I'm like, I have an open house, we'll have anywhere from 300 to 1,000 people a day through the house, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Um things I've learned because uh I call myself Innkeeper Extraordinaire, but I say I've made codependency a success story. So I'm really bad at saying no. And I've like, well, I just get to meet make people happy. So I've had to create boundaries. So now tours are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. So I've narrowed it down. So y'all come up on the smart yeah, because otherwise they start showing up at six in the morning and they're here until 11 o'clock at night. And that was our first couple of years, and went, Oh, maybe I need to make a schedule just for the sanity of the other people in the house.

SPEAKER_14: 23:58

Exactly. And I I, you know, you're talking a little bit about the the interior of the house and how it matches it matches the movie, which the actual interiors of the movie were were not in your home, but they're very similar. But what I really loved, I got to watch Craig, I got to watch Groundhog Day with Lori, and we're like, she's like pausing it and she's showing me this is what that is, and this is what this is. Um, but just so people can understand, could you just break down a little bit what they're seeing on the movie and how it sort of matches the interior of your home?

SPEAKER_37: 24:33

Okay. So the inspiration being that Harold Ramis loved the interior of the house so much that he just recreated what he saw on set. So when you walk in the front door and you come into the grand entry hall, right, in in the main house, in the real house, in our house, the stairs are to the left. In the movie, the stairs are kind of straight ahead and to the right. And that was for continuity of their shots because they needed to repeat it over and over again. But in the movie, there's a stained glass window on the second floor landing on those stairs. Well, that's because here there was a giant stained glass window on the second floor landing. So they just recreated what they saw, and things are moved over a few feet or a few inches as far as the way they did it. But it's almost to scale the way that you see it in the movie. So people, even though I tell them they don't understand that it's like this, this isn't it, but it feels like it is. So, like the dining room in the movie is our parlor. So when she's pouring coffee, it's like, oh, you know, do you ever have a deja vu, Mrs. Lancaster? And people ask me that all of the time. Like, yeah, every day. I live in Groundhog Day. This is my every day. And so um, but that's our parlor. But when she's pouring coffee and there's the big buffet, well, where the big buffet didn't never existed in the house, but there's missing doorways and hallways that you see in the movie that you don't see here now. Because when it was built, originally it was a four-bedroom, one and a half bath house, and now it's eight bedrooms, eight and a half bathrooms. So where she kind of indicates, he's like, Hey, oh, do you ever have deja vu? I'll check with the kitchen and the kitchen's over here. Well, I I'm currently in the bedroom that's the kitchen in the movie on the first floor because I had to take a bit of a fall. So I'm now residing in the first floor bedroom for a bit. So um, and then in the movie, the parlor, when he's answering the questions for Jeopardy, what's Lake Titicaca, swilling down whiskey, that's our dining room. And you'd never know that there's a corner fireplace on the interior wall in the dining room, but they have the almost identical, because salvage, you know, restoration salvage places exist around here. Um, they were able to get almost the identical one from Sears and Robuck. Um same tiles, everything, and they placed it in a kitty corner on a wall. And there's no reason to do that, other than Harold went, just copy it like it is, and they made it work. So, like when um he's coming down the stairs and says, Don't mess with me, pork chop. And there's the archway, and it's right there with the windows at the end of the hallway. Well, they have that at the top of the stairs and kind of scooch over a little bit four more feet, and that's where the archway is in the actual house, and where that hallway was, and those windows are now two bathrooms for the magnoli and the black walnut suite because both the magnoli and black walnut look down over the archway. So circling back to the movie Magic, they sat the cameras on the roof to get those shots down.

SPEAKER_05: 27:58

Oh, yeah, that's that's a funny.

SPEAKER_37: 28:00

Because we still have the original wavy glass windows. Most of the windows in the house are still original.

unknown: 28:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_14: 28:06

From 1894.

SPEAKER_37: 28:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_14: 28:09

So if you're a person listening to this and you're like, I want to experience the Groundhog Day house, I mean, this is as close as you're gonna get. This is Harold Ramis was like, this is it. This is the house that I want to replicate, at least the interiors. Um, so that's that's fascinating. That's really cool. And it was a really fun sitting with you, Lori, and having you explain this as I'm actually watching the movie. That was a real treat for me.

SPEAKER_37: 28:36

Yeah, I don't, I mean, I can talk a lot, and I've had guests that have been here dozens of I have hundreds of repeat guests since since we opened. So many that I've done. I currently have I currently have a guest. This is their fourth time here, I think. Wow. Um, I have another guest that just left. She comes two or three times a year for two to three weeks at a time. Um, her and another guest are in competition who gets who's been here the most times. And I'm like, well, Cheryl will always win because she's here the longest. Like you can come three times a year for three or four days, but Cheryl still wins.

SPEAKER_14: 29:15

Cheryl's the winner. And yeah, yeah, and we're gonna talk a little bit about Woodstock too, because Woodstock is just a lovely town. And the whole town is is uh is basically a character in the movie Groundhog Day. Your house is a character, the downtown square is a character. Um, that's what's so cool is that Harold truly, truly used this town. And he didn't want it originally. Really? Yeah, he didn't. Where did he where did he want?

SPEAKER_37: 29:41

He wanted to be able to do it. And so I'm from Pennsylvania, and so I always knew Groundhog Day wasn't made in Pennsylvania, but I was one of those people. I didn't know people cared where movies were made. I had no clue. Like I'm still like dumbfounded that people from all over the world, I I have WhatsApp on my phone now. I'm messaging with somebody from Syria, France, um, a few from Australia, New Zealand, um just worldwide. Everybody's trying to the I I hold one room for an international guest every year. So I try to make it as fair and as far reaching as I possibly can. But if you're willing to come from another country, I feel like, you know, I'll hold you a room.

SPEAKER_14: 30:35

Yeah, that's true. Do you book out years in advance?

SPEAKER_37: 30:39

So my wait list is over 10 years long. And so our repeat guests, guests who have stayed with us previously, get priority. So last year, one of our guests who's probably stayed with us for the last six or seven years, two, three, four times a year. I think they've stayed three times since April this year already. And so last year on Groundhog Day, they come every year to do the Groundhog Day walking tour. Even though they've done it every year with Bob Hutchins, Bob is the location scout for Groundhog Day. And so they come up every year to do it. And last year, um, with the big crowd for Bob's birthday, I announced that his birthday present last year was that this year he gets to stay on Groundhog Day in the Magnolia Suite. Oh so you know, if you can make people happy, and everybody has their reasons. It's uh it was everybody's first date. They got married on Groundhog Day, they were born on Groundhog Day. There, you know, so I wish I could make everybody that has this, you know, great reason, and and some are very, very deep and profound reasons that they connect with Groundhog Day and they want to come and stay. I still only have five rooms. There's still 365 days out of the year, and Groundhog Day happens on one of them. So I'm like, I want to make everybody happy, but I can't.

SPEAKER_30: 32:12

Yeah. It's one of those one of those days of the year, Josh, as well. That's very minimal. And that is every country around the world says the date the same, the second of the second, whether you say February 2nd, like you do in America, or in Australia, we say 2nd of February, see? So you've got to say 2-2 each time. Um, but speaking about everyone around the world, Lori, you said before you're hosting people from Australia, New Zealand, that sort of thing, too. Is there any most memory apart from apart from Josh? Don't don't mention Josh. Anyone else and that you're allowed to mention, uh, is there a your favorite guest story that you're allowed to say who stayed there and what happened?

SPEAKER_37: 32:48

Okay, so okay, so my most recent fun one is um oh my god, this is okay. I'm horrible with names. Like, like so bad. I've watched 23 years of Gray's Anatomy. And if somebody booked under their real name, I'd be like, oh, they must have stayed with me before. Sounds familiar. Like I would be like, until the door opens, I'm like, hmm, you look familiar. Have you been here before? And I've done that with actors who have shown up here before. So my thing is if you come and stay privately, I will never tell anybody that you stayed here. You know, if you're coming in for something on, you know, business fun, or you're promoting, posting your own stuff about staying here, then I ask for permission. I never ask for a photograph, I never ask for an autograph. If you offer, I'll accept. Um, but the fun one is there's a comedian called Kristen Kaye. And if you don't know her, she's hilarious. And she's called the Lesbian Army. So you're gonna have to look up Kristen Kay. So she was performing at the opera house, and my friend who's on the Groundhog Day committee, and she's uh on our city council and everything, and she messages me and she's like, Is Kristen Kay staying with you this weekend? I'm like, I don't know. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't know if I'm staying with me this weekend. I'm like, I'm like, hold on, let me look up the list of, you know, I've got nine rooms. Who's staying here? And I said, Well, that's not one of the names, but sometimes when performers are coming in, their booking agent will book under their name, something like that. So I went down through and I'm like, I don't think so. And so I go to the show and I'd forgotten that I'd wanted to go to the show because I found out about it while I was in a hospital bed and I was like, Oh, I have to get tickets, and forgot there was one ticket left. So I got to go to the show. And I'm up in the right, and apparently if if performers ask questions and you answer them, I don't think it's heckling. But if my kids were there, they'd be like, Mom, shut up, you know. But so every time she said something, she had to Google from the green room. And so I have a video of her going, Where am I? Like she didn't understand. She had to Google it because she felt like she was on a movie set. But she was thinking of practical magic. She's like, no, but she's like, like, this is the town from Groundhog Day. I'm like, no kidding. I was like, tell me about it. So afterwards, I go down and they're like, wait, you mean we could have actually stayed with you? And I was like, well, I'm kind of booked up full, and everybody who's here in the or everybody that's staying at the house are your fans. And they're like, can we come back and see the house? I'm like, absolutely. So I hung out afterwards and did stuff and brought her back. And she got a whole private tour of Groundhog Day. She's like, I can't believe this is really happening to me. So it's like, it's crazy that these celebrity fans go bonkers when they come here. But then, you know, we've had some bigger name people that I can't mention that are just like, I am the biggest Groundhog Day fan. I am the biggest Bill Murray fan. I didn't know that it was possible. And we don't do advertising. Like, you know, people come and it's word of mouth, and it's just, you know. Yeah. And um I kept saying I couldn't be busier than I already was unless I had help. And then got helpers.

SPEAKER_14: 36:40

More and more rooms.

SPEAKER_37: 36:41

More room. Well, I'm not I'm not adding on to the house. Um, don't touch it. I bought another house a block away, and that wasn't good enough for people. They're like, Do you have any more? I'm like, let me hook you up as maybe's in town. Um, but trying to get as many people in. Um, I'll tell you who didn't stay here, and I'm really sad. The Fonz.

SPEAKER_02: 37:05

Oh.

SPEAKER_37: 37:06

Arthur Fonsarelli was in town, but he was meeting with his whole family, and they did a whole thing down in Chicago. So he just did a show here and left.

SPEAKER_14: 37:16

And Henry Winkler is a great, he's a great human being. He's the nicest guy.

SPEAKER_37: 37:21

Amazing human, absolutely phenomenal human, and getting to go see him. And the second he walked out on stage. I mean, I I am not some I treat everybody the same. Like, I like you get you get crazy mama Lori, you get crazy Aunt Lori, like, like you don't know what's happening. Like all the young people are like, oh, this is the first time I've ever been at a BNB. I'm like, I'm sorry, I've just ruined you for life. Because I'm like, I'm your crazy aunt that you didn't know that you had, and you can't wait to go back and spend a summer with her and see what she did next. Um, but when Henry Winkler walked out on stage, I was like, oh, I just cried. I just like I love him, you know, loved him my entire life. And there's there's a handful of people that I would be like, you're here, you're actually here. And that's just he was, but I got his book, you know, I got his book, and that's cool. And the the house has brought us people and friends that we never would have encountered. Um, I always say I have a strange life where I have the cell phone numbers of celebrities and I can text them and they text me back. So it doesn't make me a scholar.

SPEAKER_20: 38:45

That's a flex.

SPEAKER_37: 38:46

And and I don't, and I don't use it often. I don't, I don't abuse it. And right, that's smart.

SPEAKER_14: 38:52

You know, you want I mean, you want to keep you want to keep that connection, you don't want to lose it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_37: 38:57

But that's like, you know, Ned Cumming and I had big Groundhog Day fans getting married, and he was actually willing to come out and give away the bride. Oh my gosh. Um the husband was a musician and he was traveling in Europe for three months, and we had stuff going on. And and I told Stephen, I'm like, I I haven't heard back from them in so long. I'm like, I'm not even sure the wedding's happening. Like, I've I was like, I'm like, don't give up a paying gig if I'm like, I gave them five days to answer me and they didn't. And I said, um, here's what's gonna happen. I said, I'm going to ask him to video record a toast for you. And he did, you know, and and that's just the kind of people that surround you know, that that the fla I call it the philosophy of Groundhog Day. If every day you wake up and you choose to do today better than you did tomorrow.

SPEAKER_39: 40:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_37: 40:00

Right. That's the whole point. Nobody's perfect. You're going to screw it up. You're going to go, well, all right. Today, today maybe I'll do it better than I did yesterday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_30: 40:10

You're going to learn to play the piano, that sort of thing as well.

SPEAKER_37: 40:12

I just got a piano.

SPEAKER_30: 40:14

I just got a piano.

SPEAKER_37: 40:15

And the little key stickers, because I haven't played since I was like eight years old. The little key stickers. I'm using my five-year-old granddaughter as an excuse for it. But I'm like, I'm going to be being twinkle, twinkle, little star. All over again.

SPEAKER_30: 40:33

Laurie, I'm I'm intrigued now as well. You said you got uh, you know, these these A-list celebrities in your phone. Don't tell, obviously, you're not gonna say who they are or whatever. Just please tell me a rough ballpark number of how many a I'm we're talking a celebrities here that you've got in your phone. Just a ballpark. Um more than 10.

SPEAKER_37: 40:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_30: 40:54

Oh wow, more than 20.

SPEAKER_37: 40:56

Maybe.

SPEAKER_30: 40:58

Maybe because we're talking a great celebrities.

SPEAKER_37: 41:00

Yeah, but here's the thing like I forget that I have them.

SPEAKER_30: 41:05

Yes, because you know who you want.

SPEAKER_37: 41:07

I I typed in Josh and a musician came up.

SPEAKER_30: 41:11

Well, I mean, I wouldn't talk Josh as a great celebrities.

SPEAKER_39: 41:15

I was like, oh, I forgot I had his number.

SPEAKER_30: 41:18

Can you get lower than Z? Lizette.

SPEAKER_14: 41:20

Yeah, oh come on. Maybe I think I'm in the I think I'm in the J's, maybe. Yeah, J's for Josh.

SPEAKER_37: 41:28

But what was fun is um last year on Groundhog Day, you know, Steven Tobolowski, Ned, as everybody lovingly knows him, um it was a really tight schedule for him. They they really keep him busy and on his toes. And of course, one of the TV stations wanted him to do an interview. And I actually had a few people from LA and a musician that were here on Groundhog Day last year that I was able to get everybody in. And I just kind of did a breakfast round table and gave everybody a chance to introduce themselves to Steven and tell them why Groundhog Day was important to them and why it was important for them to come and stay here on Groundhog Day. And I don't tell people, you know, when there's going to be somebody special at the table. Right. So none of the other people knew that somebody else was special was gonna be on the breakfast table. So that was kind of fun. But that's really cool.

SPEAKER_14: 42:33

Can you imagine that, Craig? You're you're you're go down for breakfast, and Ned Ryerson shows up on Groundhog Day. That's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_37: 42:42

It took me three days to figure out one of like my teenage show crushes was here. A, we're all in our 50s now, so you know. I'm like, you look awfully familiar. And then it's like basically I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_30: 42:59

Just just more wrinkles.

SPEAKER_37: 43:01

What TV show were you on in the 80s? Because like I know I know you, and I could Google you, but you know, go ahead, fill me in. Because I'm like both him and his wife, and they were both actors, uh, teen and teen and twenty actors, and and shows that we were all watching back then. And it took me three days to figure, figure it out. So, you know, you never I never know who's gonna show up at the door. And yeah, and because we're so close to Chicago, I mean it's an hour and 15-minute hop on the train straight from Ogilvy to get out here. Um, there's a lot of TV shows and movies being filmed in Chicago all of the time. And when they get their two days off and they want to run away and just do a quiet little escape, and they find us. And so that's that's the easy draw to bring in people that I just was like, Oh, welcome back.

SPEAKER_14: 44:07

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_37: 44:08

You looked familiar. I assume you've been here before because I've had so many guests I can't keep track of.

SPEAKER_14: 44:12

I'm sure I'm sure. So Steven is a regular, he shows up, he's showed up a several times.

SPEAKER_37: 44:19

Is there anybody else from I was gonna say this is his third time with us on Groundhog Day since we've owned the house? But then, of course, we filmed the Groundhog Day Jeep commercial for 2020. Super Bowl. That was I remember that. Um, did I tell you the story about how Bill Murray almost got me locked in a nut house?

SPEAKER_14: 44:42

You did you told me, but I forgot it. Please, because I because yeah, Bill was there for the Jeep commercial. Did he did he did he come by the house or no?

SPEAKER_37: 44:51

Yeah, he was here. But the thing was, I had had a minor surgery that turned into a major issue because, as with me, everything has to be extra. So I'm in a hospital in Florida, and my friend's like, you get a message from somebody for Jeep that wants to use the house for a commercial, right? Okay, well, I've done that for other commercials before, so that didn't mean anything to me. And then I send a message to the person, I text, and um he says, Well, it's going to be a Jeep commercial for the Super Bowl. And I'm like, the Super Bowl that's happening in like two weeks? And he said yes. And I was like, You mean the Super Bowl that's happening on Groundhog Day in two weeks? Is it going to be a Groundhog Day Super Bowl? And he goes, No. I'm like, your no sounded an awful lot like a yes to me. So if you were to actually be filming a Groundhog Day Jeep commercial, then you know, here and I started listing all the people I know and all the places and all the props and and everything. He goes, That's very interesting. Can you send it in an email? So, so I knew it was going to be a Groundhog Day Jeep commercial. And I've signed NDAs before, I wasn't given one at that point. And then I'm telling the doctors, I'm like, all right, so we're not going to go back and do surgery again, right? It's like, no. I'm like, all right, so how do I get out of here in the next four days? And they're like, why would you want to be out in four days? I'm like, I have to be back to my house because they're going to be shooting a commercial. So even so they're like, why would they use your house for a commercial? I'm like, my house is really pretty and it's really popular. So I'm still not trying, like, I haven't signed the NDA yet, but I know it's coming. And I'm just trying to say, hey, you know, how do I get out of here? And so then all of a sudden, now it's three days before they're filming. Bill did not sign the contract until 10 days before the Super Bowl, by the way. So as soon as he signed the contract, the NDA came through. And I'm like, I got to get out of here because Bill Murray's going to be at my house in three days, but I'm not allowed to say that. So I'm like, I have to get back to Illinois because they're filming a Jeep commercial for the Super Bowl. And they're like, Well, why would they do that? The they film these commercials, those are millions of dollars. And they're like, I was like, oh, they think I'm crazy. So the nurse tells my doctor the doctor comes in the next day. She's like, now she's talked to me like a normal human for the last week and a half. And she's like, So I hear you're in a hurry to get out of here. Why is that? And I'm like, do not call for a site consult. I don't have time for a 72-hour hold. And she's like, How do you know it's 72 hours? I'm like, Grace Anatomy. So I was like, oh no. So I said, no, you need to Google, stop. Google the cherry tree in bed and breakfast. Google me. She's like, well, Groundhog Day was filmed in Pennsylvania. I'm like, no, it wasn't. It was filmed outside of Chicago. Because I'm like, I have to fly to Chicago for a Jeep commercial for Groundhog Day. And they're like, no, it's in Pennsylvania. I'm like, well, that's what you're supposed to think. It's movie magic. So I and at this point, I'm like, all right, I have to name drop. I'm like, no, literally, Bill Murray is coming to my house in three days. I'm like, here's my NDA. Like, I haven't lost my mind. I'm like, I'm not crazy. I'm like, well, I am in the ooh, isn't she fun sort of way? And at that point, my doctor's cracking up again. Because every time she walked in, she's like, every time I'm in here, you're always working. I'm like, here's the rule. If I'm not asleep and I'm not dead, I'm working on something. So I'm like, since you were in here last, I booked two weddings, a bridal shower, and somebody had called me about a cheap, about filming a commercial. And then it just spiraled down into the three days of don't block me up, I have to go. So I left on Thursday. Bill showed up on Friday, and they filmed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the cheap commercial. And yeah.

SPEAKER_30: 48:59

Technically, technically, you're not breaching your NDA because you're talking to your doctor who they alone can't kill another anyway. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_37: 49:06

We're all talking about. The next day the nurses are like, Bill Murray's coming to your house.

SPEAKER_02: 49:14

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_37: 49:14

Yeah. So tell him alone. But I mean, guess technically, because they were still on my care team. But I was like, I was like, don't lock me up. I can't go through that. I'm like, I have to be there. So yeah. So um, and we were so busy doing the things, they actually got a snowstorm, which is the dream, right? During the filming to have the snow happen. But during the commercial, it was non-stop snow. So there was two guys, their entire job was to like wash the snow off the Jeep. And Bill's brothers, like, he took the groundhog again. And like, they were reliving it. But here's the funny thing of filming it. They they had a storyboard, they had no script. They had Steven and they had Bill and they had Bill's brother. And they're just like, just do what you did before. And they're like, Do you know how many movies and TV shows and things we've done in the last 35 years? So they're under a tarp with a blanket over a computer watching YouTube clips from their scenes from Groundhog Day and then going and reenacting them. Because and where last year I had a six-year-old girl who sat on the stool and their family stayed for like the entire Groundhog Day movie and watched it, and she knew it verbatim the way I do the labyrinth. Like this little girl was reciting all of the lines for Groundhog Day. So I mean, it's with COVID, what happened is that became Groundhog Day became synonymous synonymous with living the same day over and over again. So everybody who hadn't thought about Groundhog Day in 35 years, kids are like, what's Groundhog Day, Mom and Dad? And everybody watched Groundhog Day and they've got nothing better to do than hop in their cars and go do road trips because you can't do anything else. And and that just restarted the whole everybody's thinking about Groundhog Day. And now I have, I had it, I had a train load of teenagers that came in from Chicago because they found out that Groundhog Day was filmed in Woodstock and called me from the train station in Chicago and said, if we come out there, how far is it to get to your house from the train station? And I said, a 12-minute walk. They said, That's awfully precise. And it's like, yeah, so they came in and they did the whole walk around the town and came up here and I gave them all sodas and snaps and sent them on their way back off to their train. And oh my gosh. Yeah. So it's just gonna keep going and going forever and ever.

SPEAKER_14: 51:56

What does what does um this movie um mean to the community? I mean, do they I know they embrace it on Groundhog Day, but do they is are they is there some pride and are they proud the fact that it's it's filmed there? Do they love the tourists coming in? Um what what does it mean to your community to have this movie?

SPEAKER_37: 52:19

I think it's really big to the community. Um, you know, I'm I'm an implant. I came because my husband grew up here. And the first thing I said was, I felt like I was on the set of Gilmore girls, and he said, What's Gilmore girls? So I was Googling that when he pulled up to the house and I was like, as a tour and a wraparound porch and a white picket fence, that's my house. Um But what I did is our last day here when I found out how much the house was for sale for, which was like way less than what I thought that they'd be asking. I was like, I'll sell them a house in Florida, bye. I'm like, pack up the two remaining teenagers. I'm like, this is what's happening. Bye. But um we ran downtown and I just started running into the businesses because every single business in town is an independent business. There's one chain restaurant on the square. That's it. And everything else is independently owned. So I ran into Read Between the Lines and Arlene, the owner, was there, and I said, Hey, the bed and breakfast is for sale. Do you think it'd be a good idea? And she's like, Oh, I think it'd be wonderful. I ran into DNA salon, and the owners were actually expanding into a new part, and they'd only been there for a year and they were already expanding. So, you know, trying to get an idea of whether it was a dream versus the reality of doing it. Every single store that I ran into and talked to the owners, they're like, this town is amazing. I actually came here. My waitress brought me here when we didn't know what what Woodstock was. And after her shift, she brought us to Woodstock and drove us around and we saw all the Christmas lights and went into stores and went shopping and went like this is the perfect little quintessential Americana town that is easily used in movies because now we have two Christmas movies, too, you know. So it and there's been other movies and shows and commercials and stuff shot here because it's just so perfect, it's so pretty and and idyllic. And I say I can't save the world, but I can make my perfect little postage stamp of what I want the world to be. And I feel like our town embodies that too. And anything that's good, kind, loving, positive, and accepting is what you get when you come to Woodstock. And and the fact that one of the most favorite movies of all times and has been filmed here, they take a lot of pride and and appreciation in that. Even though everybody will be like wide-eyed and like, oh my god, this is happening again. Didn't I just do this? I'm like, how is it groundhog? I'm like, I need two more months. It can't be Groundhog Day again. I'm like, I just got through building waterfalls and ponds in the yard. I'm like, we haven't recovered from from the summer, and now it's groundhog day already.

SPEAKER_30: 55:25

So by the sounds of it, Laurie, as you said, like the whole community and the local businesses have really embraced it. Please, please, I haven't been there. I want to go there, I want to be part of it as well. Um, and Josh, you could probably even answer this for as well. And that is the local businesses, they they've embraced it to the point where do they actually have things like a like is there a brewery, for instance, that has the groundhog beer or the coffee shop has the groundhog brew? You know, that's something too. Do they actually embrace it to the point where they can actually make some money from it as well?

SPEAKER_37: 55:54

Well, so here's the thing. Honestly, all of us little small businesses, so I got my little groundhog right here. This this is a folk menace puppet. I grew every year my kids got a folk menace puppet. They never had a groundhog. Now we have groundhogs all over the house. Um, but my my granddaughter, the first thing she does is comes in and grabs, grabs the puppet. It's really sweet. Um, but we have groundhog day fans that custom make our groundhog day swag. So it's all made by friends of ours or doing the embroidering for our t-shirts and our hats. And um then I have Alexi, who's originally from um Russia. Uh side note, huge Russian following of Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day was the first American film shown in Russia and in all the former USSR comedy. Yeah. And life-changing. Uh I can tell you a story about during COVID um a father, there was a father, wife, and four kids outside in the archway crying. And I didn't know why. So they kind of got stuck over here. Um, he was over, he actually became a Protestant um priest because of Groundhog Day, like the philosophy of being good, kind, loving, and generous. He thought that's the way the world should be, and I need to be a part of that. And um, our first guest, our first year, came from um Thailand to go to the Buddhist temple. And and they're like, oh, it's a very Buddhist philosophy. And so everybody has their own reasons and connections and how spiritually it fits into their lives, whatever your spiritual beliefs are, because when it's grounded in goodness, kindness, love, and generosity, and if you do something today to make somebody else's life better, your life becomes infinitely better. Well, ta-da, that's it. That that's all we need to be doing. And um so when a Groundhog Day fan messaged me that he made uh Groundhog Day clock, 3D printed clock, and you press it and it does the radio show intro, and then I've got you, babe.

SPEAKER_39: 58:26

Cool.

SPEAKER_37: 58:27

And he's like, Oh, I want to send one to you. And I said, Do you want to sell them? He said, No, I want to gift it to you. I'm like, Oh, that's fine. Send me gifts all the time. I just got a box of somebody's teacups from their grandmother the week before. Um and I was actually flying out and I got back and hit it, and before it was done, I texted him, like, this is fantastic. Do you want to make them and sell them? Because if you want to make something that's groundhog day, people will buy it. And so Jim made these cute little six o'clock groundhog day buttons, and guests loved them. And then every time I'd go, hey, want to do keychains, want to do something. Um, but the reason was is he became he got a debilitating spinal cord, spinal cord injury, and he was miserable. And he was making his life and everybody's life around him miserable. And he wrote me a story about it uh that I just passed on to somebody for for a story for them so I can share it. And then um he had he had been trying to figure out after watching Groundhog Day again in 2023, what could he still do? Because when you're disabled, because I am and and I live my life true to it, you know, that I can't control what's happening in my body, but I can control how I react and how I treat others. And you can either, you know, Bill was miserable in the beginning, and he tormented. Everybody else and made everybody else miserable until he realized, oh, it's my choice. And Jim realized it was my choice to do it better. So he started listening to inspirational things. And he got himself a 3D printer and he printed himself off a little 3D six o'clock keychain for himself. And then he made the clock for himself. And then he sent me the clock. And now it's turned into like a full, full replica clock that plays cool. Plays it. And I've got you, babe. And now we've got a snow carved Rita that he did for me this year. And he did, he just did a couple Ned Ryerson's and a Phil Don't Drive Angry with Bill Murray, with Phil, with the card. Like I I should have the props here so I could show you because it's so cool. But uh Josh, I'll send you a picture of the the store that's currently being set up in my kitchen at the moment.

SPEAKER_14: 1:00:48

Oh, yeah, I would love that.

SPEAKER_37: 1:00:50

Yeah, there's just so much.

SPEAKER_14: 1:00:52

So, Lori, we almost have to wrap up here, but we can't end this interview, we can't end this discussion without talking about the fact that Woodstock in your home has become a destination for geocachers because of the adventure lab, because of the adventure lab that is uh throughout the town that leads, spoiler alert, spoiler alert, spoiler alert, that leads to your home at the end. And I don't know if you know this, Lori, but uh us geocachers, we are really into stats. And so there are different types of geocaches, and the geocache that is at your house is called unknown type, which means it's kind of like a mystery. And it it is the number 11th, the it's the 11th most popular geocache of that type in Illinois, and it is the number one adventure lab bonus cache in Illinois. And it might be in it might be in the United States. I don't know any other adventure lab bonus that is amazing as yours. So my question for you. It is cool. My question for you is what has been your experience with geocachers that have stopped by your house?

SPEAKER_37: 1:02:00

Well, so uh you know what's surprising is how many I invite in and they decline. I mean, so many are happy to come back and do it, but some are like they're they're on a mission, they're like, Oh, I have to get to Michigan in the next six hours, you know. That's true. We're tasting daylight with their geocaching.

SPEAKER_27: 1:02:20

One of our patrons, Scott Burks, would be like that.

SPEAKER_30: 1:02:22

He'd be one of those ones who wouldn't uh wouldn't stop and smell the flowers. He was another cache who he had.

SPEAKER_37: 1:02:27

But there was another one, and I have no idea who it was. And I invited them in, and the wife said, Oh no, my husband won't get out of the car for anything. And um she went and told him that it was the house from Groundhog Day, and he didn't even park the car. I was like, No, you gotta pull all the way in now. Like he was just in the middle of the archway in the driveway for her to get out and do the geocache. And then it was like, oh no, this is the BNB from Groundhog Day, and then they were here for like 45 minutes. So, you know, and it's just it's just another level of enjoyment that you know, people and I geocached. Um, I'd never heard of it until I met my husband in 2011. He's like, Oh, this is something fun we could do with the kids, and we're living in Orlando, Florida. So we're we're traipsing around ponds at night looking for for little tiny pill bottles hanging from tingling fences where alligators are napping or something. You know, sounds about right. Yeah, I mean, one of our favorite geocache stories was when I sent my husband up into a tree. I figured out where it was at our dog park, and it said the last thing you'd you'd want at the dog park. And I'm like, it's gonna be a cat. And he's like, why would it be a cat? I'm like, it's the last thing you want at a dog park. And so we're looking for it, and and I'm like, listen, there's a hole in that tree up there. I'm like, it's gotta that that's the only place it can be. So he climbs up, goes in, and here's this like ratty, reined-on, stuffed cat. And he reaches the cat grabs the cat and he screams. So we don't have the kids with us this time. So we come back like a week later, and he doesn't tell my son, he picks my son up into the tree to reach into the tree to grab grab out this wet Marley cat at the doctor. So, you know, so our geocaching experiences um have been fun and and I highly encourage people. But when we have um guests that come with their kids just to tour the house and stuff, um I I tell them all about geocaching. There's so many people that have never heard of it, and I get them to download it and like it's a great thing to do with the kids. It it's it's just fun, it's easy, it's gonna cost you gas and snacks, and you know, there's so many to do locally wherever you are. You can open the app anywhere in the world and you'll find geocaches. And so it's just you know, one more layer. There's many layers to the groundhog day house onion.

SPEAKER_14: 1:05:25

That's true, that's true. And it's so funny.

SPEAKER_37: 1:05:27

Yeah, we have the two Christmas movies.

SPEAKER_14: 1:05:30

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_37: 1:05:30

Yeah, so yeah, we we filmed a Christmas movie in April where Santa Claus is out in my driveway and it's 82 degrees the year before, same exact day, snowstorm. Welcome to Illinois.

SPEAKER_11: 1:05:43

Wow. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_30: 1:05:45

But Laurie, if I was gonna say, Laurie, uh wrapping up a little bit now, if someone were to want to come and visit your your Airbnb, um, you know, how do they go about that? And if they can't visit, but they still want to see things on social media and stuff as well. How do they how do they go ahead and follow you, see some photos, see some video, that sort of stuff too from you?

SPEAKER_37: 1:06:03

So easy. Cherry Tree In I-N-N-B-N-B boynancyboy.com is the website, same thing for Facebook, same thing for Instagram. Um, I am so busy doing the things, I am not posting that much. You'll see I did did I make a post about Christmas? I don't even know. Uh I I can pop on and throw up a story right quick, but um, we were so enthralled with getting in our ponds and waterfalls and koi ponds over the summer and everything getting done that by the time we got Christmas up and and everything out, I'm like, well, it's Christmas again, and here's our Christmas movie. We have a new Christmas movie. So we've got X's of Christmas past that we did last year or in April that came out this year, and then reporting for Christmas two years before that. And so now we have Christmas movie fans that are coming that and that's international too. I had no idea. We're actually they're more popular over in other countries than it is here. So Hulu and Roku and Amazon and all of those things.

SPEAKER_30: 1:07:16

Well, Lori, I'll put all those links anyway in the uh in the show notes. So the all the links for that would be in the show notes either way, Josh. So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 1:07:23

Yes. Well, it is very clear, Craig, that Lori is proud of her house and she's proud of her town, and that's a damn rare thing these days. Yeah, and and Lori, that's I always get that in every single episode. Oh, yes. So Lori so much.

SPEAKER_37: 1:07:43

You and you should be because well, my husband George bragged about his hometown for a very long time. He just wasn't expecting that when he brought me here for the first time ever, that I would take over his entire town.

SPEAKER_38: 1:07:59

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_37: 1:08:00

That that that part, and I was like, it's like you didn't read my dating profile at all. He went, oh, she's cute. She's cute, she's not looking for a relationship. Perfect. Now here we are since 2011. I've taken over his entire lifetime and and Groundhog Day every day.

SPEAKER_30: 1:08:21

See, Josh, every day. Lori's more proud of anything else than just her town. Uh, but but speaking of being proud, Josh, as well, we did say at the start of the uh the episode in regards to our golden nugget stuff as well. And the golden nugget from Nesmuck. Uh, thank you again, Nezmuck, for these golden nuggets. Josh, uh, one of these is going to be available to a patron very, very soon. So one of these is going to be available to a patron very, very soon. How can people become a patron if they want to become a patron, Josh?

SPEAKER_14: 1:08:47

Yes. If you'd like to become a patron and support us, uh, just simply go to patreon.com backslash treasures are a town. You can go there and they're golden nuggets, and you might win a real golden nugget. Yes. And uh you can find us there. We really appreciate your support. Um, keeping this podcast free, no annoying commercials or anything like that. So that is amazing. And before we wrap up, Lori, I just want to say this. Um, you you know, you talked about uh groundhog day is coming up, you're booked for 10 years out, but don't let don't let if you're listening to that, don't let that scare you because you can come, you can go experience groundhog day any day. Any day, right, Lori?

SPEAKER_37: 1:09:25

Any day, year round. It is Groundhog Day here. Um, I I feel my my poor Joe from Australia. I'm messaging him and going, How are you adjusting to the cold? There were a lot of text about layering and what to do. Um, but then we have guests that come from um Siberia and it was like four degrees outside, and they sat outside in the rocking chairs for like two hours just enjoying the weather. So, you know, there's there's any time of year, I'm really proud of my gardens. My gardens are my legacy. I've yeah, I spend a lot of time dreaming. Um, that was my big plan when I bought the house. I said this is a lot of wasted floral real estate, and I wanted to put in garden after garden after garden so you could just stroll around and have different experiences. And this year, for the first time ever, blue butterflies. I had no idea there were blue butterflies in Illinois, in America, really. So I'm planting more for the butterflies.

SPEAKER_30: 1:10:33

Josh, we we we you and I have a mate, they're both gonna have to get there sometime soon. Uh, but otherwise, Josh, wrapping it up now. How can people find contact us if they wish to contact us otherwise?

SPEAKER_14: 1:10:42

Yes, just reach out to us at treasure for townpodcast at gmail.com, or you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or our Buzz Sprout site.

SPEAKER_30: 1:10:50

So that's it for our show today. Please subscribe, rate review on your favorite podcasting app. And as always, Josh.

SPEAKER_14: 1:10:56

May your travels always lead you to the most unexpected and amazing hidden gems around the world over and over and over and over and over and over until you get it right and make every day better than the last one. Lori, thanks so much for being on our show.

SPEAKER_37: 1:11:16

And happy groundhog day.

SPEAKER_13: 1:11:18

Happy Groundhog Day.

SPEAKER_18: 1:12:00

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_14: 1:12:01

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_30: 1:12:05

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town as the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_14: 1:12:11

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching and Munzi, join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_30: 1:12:22

On today's episode, it's Ground Hog Day. Wow. We actually harmonized a little bit then at the end. Did you hear that? For me, that's a big deal, Mike.

SPEAKER_14: 1:12:36

I don't know if we'll match it up, but uh we certainly tried. We'll see how that comes out in post.

SPEAKER_30: 1:12:41

We gave it a uh a red hot crack. We'll just say that. So there you go. Mate, uh, what it what are we talking about at Groundhog Day? It is actually Groundhog Day as this goes to air, but what do you mean it's Groundhog Day?

SPEAKER_14: 1:12:52

Happy Groundhog Day. I hope this day is good for us because we might have to repeat it over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_30: 1:13:02

Now, obviously from Australia, I know what Groundhog Day actually is. You know, we saw the movie as well. There's no undenying it was a great movie, like fantastic movie. I love it. Um love the movie, had to watch it again. And um yeah, so we know what it's all about, but we don't actually celebrate Groundhog Day per se, like with the punks at Tony Phil and the Groundhog scenes. We don't have groundhogs in Australia, so they don't see their shadows in Australia. See how long winter's got left. Because the other thing is, winter in Australia is in June, July.

SPEAKER_14: 1:13:31

Yeah, so you guys don't you guys like if you celebrate Groundhog Day, you'd be like, How soon is winter? And that just isn't the same thing.

SPEAKER_30: 1:13:39

Yeah, exactly. They're like, Well, why talk about winter for when it's in the middle of summer now? Like in uh in February. So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 1:13:46

Yes, you know 2nd of Fib. Yeah, you know, Craig, in our intro, I said, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, and then you you say exploring charming towns scattered throughout the United States. And so one of the things we're doing today is we're going to explore a charming town, a town I love, which is Woodstock, Illinois, which is not Punxitawney, Pennsylvania, but it is Punxitawney, uh Pennsylvania stand-in because of the movie Groundhog Day from 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_30: 1:14:17

Yeah, 93 it was. And so you're what you're saying is that the actual movie Groundhog Day was filmed in uh Woodstock in Illinois, uh, but it was portrayed to be uh Punxitoni in uh in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_14: 1:14:31

Yeah, but Woodstock, Illinois fully embraces it. You can celebrate Groundhog Day right in their town square in the exact same way, very similar to how you do it in Punksa Tawney. But anyway, we are going to be talking. This is awesome. We're talking to a celebrity house. It's a celebrity house. Yeah, yeah, because in the movie Groundhog Day, Phil, Phil Connors, yeah, he wakes up in a bare Airbnb in Punksa Tawney slash Woodstock every single day for who knows how long. And so that's 33 years. Yeah, well, nobody really knows, but okay.

SPEAKER_30: 1:15:08

I got that from you off your video. Your video. Oh, really? 33 years. Yeah, 33 years. Lori, her name is. Yes, Lori. 33 years.

SPEAKER_14: 1:15:16

Yeah, so Lori knows. So we're speaking to Lori, who is the owner and the person who runs the Airbnb that is that amazing house in Woodstock, Illinois. So and I've actually stayed there, Craig. You know, I have. I it's one of my best, my favorite, maybe not my best, one of my favorite geocaching vlogs that I've ever created. And we'll talk a little bit about that because Lori is stars in it.

SPEAKER_30: 1:15:41

She's awesome. Absolutely, she's stars in it. She actually does some acting in it as well.

SPEAKER_07: 1:15:45

She does some great acting, yes.

SPEAKER_30: 1:15:46

She really does better than you, but anyway, we won't go there. But Josh, before, before we bring Lori in, before we chat to Lori, before we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about uh Groundhog Day, we need to talk about uh delays and upgrades for the last couple of weeks. So, Josh, what was your uh do you want to start with yours, the your delay or your upgrade?

SPEAKER_14: 1:16:10

My upgrade was last night because I got a package at my door and I was so excited about it that I tried to FaceTime you and you were probably busy. Like less than a few. Oh, really? Funny. Yeah. But our good friend, listener, and patron, Nezmuck, has created something for us.

SPEAKER_30: 1:16:32

Yes, yes. He's been in he's been in talks with us actually. I know. And he's he has sent us a three a few photos back and forth. Oh but tell me, uh, when you've got it in your hands right now, the the fully solid piece of whatever it is, how does it oh wow, I'm looking at it right. We are not, we are not doing a video podcast, it's audio only. So I'm not gonna explain. Oh, it's magnetic. I'm not gonna explain. And and uh let me know, Josh, the sides are magnetic as well, aren't they?

SPEAKER_14: 1:17:02

No, the sides, like you can change the uh this the the outside of it, you can change these out. Um they're not magnetic, the sides aren't, but just the top is, but you can make it a tower, like you can make it, you can put them all together and make it like a giant trophy. And and the listeners don't know what we're talking about, but what we I have in my hand, and the patrons are gonna get a video of this because I took a video of me opening it last night. Nice, nice. But you know, our patrons they get golden nuggets, right? Little little nuggets of goodness, little nugs that a little special content that only our patrons get. And so Nesmuk, our good friend, patron, and listener, created actual golden nugget trophies for us.

SPEAKER_26: 1:17:49

That looked fantastic.

SPEAKER_14: 1:17:50

The best way I can describe it, imagine like a trophy stand with a thing that says the golden nugget like on the front plate, and then on top, imagine a McDonald's uh little dip cup with a chicken nugget that's actually gold dipped inside of it.

SPEAKER_30: 1:18:11

That's not real gold though, it's gold uh places gold colored. It's not actually it'd be a bit heavier if it's real gold. Could be gold paint, who knows? I do, I do like Josh as well. Uh, you know, it is a black standard is with gold writing. It's got uh white writing on some of the other places on the parts of it, because uh some other parts can say you're proud of your town, other parts says, you know, a treasure of our town uh on it. It's a rare, it's a damn rare thing these days on it as well. But one of my favorite parts is on the other side, Josh.

SPEAKER_14: 1:18:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_30: 1:18:39

It says you and I, but it's got me first, Craig and Josh.

SPEAKER_14: 1:18:42

Yeah, I could I can change out. I can change, I can take it out. Like they gave me another one. I see I took your name out of what mine. Um then there's a one that says patron award. It's amazing. It's amazing. Not only that, Craig, he so it's 3D printed. He printed me all these like um keychains that have like different things on it. We have one that says Munzie. They like look like real keychains. Check this out, Craig. He doesn't even know. He doesn't even know. Oh no, and yet he's and yet he did that. He didn't even know. Premonition. Um there's yeah, there's what we're looking at is 3D printed um treasures, 3D printed keychains. Keychains, yeah, with that are license plates, but the license plates all say different things that are all like related to things I love. There's even some back to future ones.

unknown: 1:19:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_14: 1:19:38

It's so awesome. That was my major upgrade. Thank you so much, Nesmuk, and patrons. Wow. Um, I I did a little video last night of me unboxing it. So you're gonna get to see these golden nuggets, real golden nuggets. Real golden nuggets in all their glory.

SPEAKER_30: 1:19:54

Nice job. And again, yes, thank you so much, Nesmuk. Uh, great job with it, too. It was his idea as well. We didn't approach him, he approached us with the idea. Um, he he said he was listening to one of our shows one time because I spoke to him at length, Josh, when I was at a uh a geocaching event uh in Colorado, and and that's where he asked me, he said, Oh, if you don't mind, and he's pitched the idea to me there. I was like, That sounds brilliant. And uh so since that Colorado uh event, he's been on it and uh he's done it, he's come through with a fantastic job. We may uh have we got a spare one to give away to a patriotist one package?

SPEAKER_14: 1:20:28

He gave us two. Okay. So either I give you one and I keep one, or one of us keeps one and the other we give. I don't know. We haven't talked about this.

SPEAKER_30: 1:20:40

Well, I I know exactly because one is on its way to me. So you do have a spare statement.

SPEAKER_14: 1:20:46

We're gonna have to figure out how to give it to somebody. Maybe it maybe March Madness, like maybe if they like if the the suggested March Madness, if if a certain person goes far the farthest, they get furthest, maybe they get the golden nugget. I don't know, just some ideas.

SPEAKER_30: 1:21:01

That's really cool. That's really cool. Well, stay tuned. And if you're not a patron, then uh we'll tell you at the end of the show exactly how you can become one and and be part of the inner circle, so to speak. What a great upgrade, Josh. But any delays for you this uh this last couple of days.

SPEAKER_14: 1:21:15

All I'll say is this we don't talk about the weather on this podcast.

SPEAKER_20: 1:21:19

Of course not, but I'm really cold.

SPEAKER_14: 1:21:23

It's uh it's cold. Yeah, that's cold here. That's cold. And we're just that's all I'm gonna say. Done. Yeah, yeah. What done Craig is your upgrade?

SPEAKER_30: 1:21:31

Well, I'll start with my upgrade first because this is fantastic. And it is plastic as well, just like the uh the golden nuggets, and that is I have a brand new drone. That's right, a drone. It's made by the same company that makes Insta360s. You know those 360 cameras that I have as well? It's the same company that makes that. It's called Anti-Gravity 360 drone. So you think about this, Josh, with that 360 camera that I have on the pole, I don't need the pole anymore. It's got wings, Josh, and it flies through the air. And uh, so as I fly through the air, it's capturing 360 degrees all at the same time. So I can do whip pans in it. I don't have to frame every single shot, I don't have to get the shot as we as I actually fly it. I can just fly in a straight line and then pick up whatever shot I want after that. So absolutely brilliant this thing. I I had a go of it uh like yesterday and today. Um, it comes with goggles as well, so like FPV goggles. It's like it's like Josh, it's like I'm actually in that little plane going around everywhere as well. Like uh it's really, really cool. Um, one of the best things as well with the goggles, the goggles, they're related to the 360 camera. So what that means is I can be just leave the leave the drone mid-air, just sitting there stable, doing nothing. I move my head around the goggles, and it's like Josh, it's like I'm looking around a glass ball. Up I can look up at the sky, I look at the ground, I can look at myself and wave to myself, I can look to the right, to the left, you know, forward, backwards, and the drone just sits there. The drone doesn't move, but I can look all 360 around. Unbelievable stuff.

SPEAKER_14: 1:23:04

So technology today. You know, Craig, maybe maybe you should share maybe with the patrons like a test run. You could put it up on our Patreon so they can kind of see a little bit what this is like and maybe what it looks like. I don't know. We you know, we gotta give now that we have real golden nuggets, we gotta give even more golden nuggets. I don't know.

SPEAKER_30: 1:23:25

More golden nuggets. That sounds good, and more than just uh audio golden nuggets to their ears, something through their eyes at the same time. So that's my upgrade, Josh. Now I I struggled with this delay for today. It's not a bad thing when you struggle to come up with a delay, is it? Let's be honest. It means your life's pretty good. Right. So my delay, Josh, is that last night I missed bin night.

SPEAKER_14: 1:23:47

Oh, that's the worst.

SPEAKER_30: 1:23:49

You put the bin out and and you miss it. All I'll say is I'm not used to it, Josh. I've been traveling full-time in van life for 12 months. You see, so this is the joys of living sticks and bricks again. So I miss the midnight. So now I have to wait a week and prioritize what goes in the bin, what doesn't, what can I sort of, you know.

SPEAKER_14: 1:24:08

So for those of you that are not Australian, I'm gonna translate this for you. Craig missed the garbage. Craig missed the garbage truck.

SPEAKER_22: 1:24:16

Yeah, the trash trash night, the night the trash bin comes, the trash man comes and takes out the trash.

SPEAKER_14: 1:24:22

So yeah, that is such a pain, too, because then it starts overflowing the next week and oh and it all gets rotted and it's smelly, it's bad.

SPEAKER_30: 1:24:32

And you know, you of all people know Josh too, because you remember what it was like when you had the three kids living at home with you, too. So they don't really care, and so they just keep on just disposing of things, disposing of things, disposing, and you're like, come on, come on, come on, guys, just like sit, settle down. Now we just gotta tighten the belt for a week.

SPEAKER_14: 1:24:49

Yeah, no kidding. Now that the kids are gone, we hardly have any trash. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_25: 1:24:55

I was gonna say, your bin's never full, Mill.

SPEAKER_14: 1:24:57

I can miss bin night bin night every week, every other week. For a month.

SPEAKER_04: 1:25:04

Very, very true. Very true. Oh, but you know what?

SPEAKER_14: 1:25:07

It's groundhog day, Craig. It really is, and I'm so excited to talk to Lori. Should we bring her in? Do you love to travel?

SPEAKER_18: 1:25:25

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_14: 1:25:26

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_30: 1:25:31

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Out Town as the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_14: 1:25:37

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching and Munzi, join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_30: 1:25:48

On today's episode, it's Ground Hog Day. Oh wow. We actually harmonized a little bit then at the end. Did you hear that? For me, that's a big deal, mate.

SPEAKER_14: 1:26:02

I don't know if we'll match it up, but uh, we certainly tried. We'll see how that comes out in post.

SPEAKER_30: 1:26:07

We gave it a uh a red hot crack. We'll just say that. So there you go. Mate, uh, what are we talking about at Groundhog Day? It is actually Groundhog Day as this goes to air, but what what do you mean it's Groundhog Day?

SPEAKER_14: 1:26:18

Happy Groundhog Day. I hope this day is good for us because we might have to repeat it over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_30: 1:26:27

Now, obviously from Australia, I know what Groundhog Day actually is. You know, we saw the movie as well. There's no undenying it was a great movie, like fantastic movie. I love it. Um, love the movie, had to watch it again. And um, yeah, so we know what it's all about, but we don't actually celebrate Groundhog Day per se, like with the punks of Tony Phil and the Groundhog scenes. We don't have Groundhogs in Australia, so they don't see their shadows in Australia. See how long winter's got left. Because the other thing is, winter in Australia is in June, July.

SPEAKER_14: 1:26:57

Yeah, so you guys don't you guys like if you celebrate Groundhog Day, you'd be like, how soon is winter? And that just isn't the same thing.

SPEAKER_30: 1:27:04

Yeah, exactly. They're like, Well, why talk about winter for when it's in the middle of summer now, like in uh in uh in February? So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 1:27:11

Yes, you know 2nd of Feb. Yeah, you know, Craig, in our intro, I said, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, and then you you say exploring charming towns scattered throughout the United States. And so one of the things we're doing today is we're going to explore a charming town, a town I love, which is Woodstock, Illinois, which is not Punksawney, Pennsylvania, but it is Punxitawney, uh, Pennsylvania stand-in because of the movie Groundhog Day from 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_30: 1:27:43

Yeah, 93 it was. And uh so you're what you're saying is that the actual movie Groundhog Day was filmed in uh Woodstock in Illinois, uh, but it was portrayed to be uh Punxitony in uh in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_14: 1:27:56

Yeah, but Woodstock, Illinois fully embraces it. You can celebrate Groundhog Day right in their town square in the exact same way, very similar to how you do it in Punksa Tawney. But anyway, we are going to be talking. This is awesome. We're talking to a celebrity house. It's a celebrity house. Yeah, yeah, because in the movie Groundhog Day, Phil, Phil Connors, yeah, he wakes up in a bare Airbnb in Punksawney slash Woodstock every single day for who knows how long. And so yeah, well, nobody really knows, but okay.

SPEAKER_30: 1:28:34

I got that from you off your video. Oh, really? 33 years, yeah. 33 years. Lori, her name is yes, Lori. 33 years.

SPEAKER_14: 1:28:41

Yeah, so Lori knows. So we're speaking to Lori, who is the owner and the person who runs the Airbnb that is that amazing house in Woodstock, Illinois. So nice. And I've actually stayed there, Craig. You know, I have. I it's one of my best, my favorite, maybe not my best, one of my favorite geocaching vlogs that I've ever created. And we'll talk a little bit about that because Lori is stars in it. She's awesome.

SPEAKER_30: 1:29:08

Absolutely, she's stars in it. She actually does some acting in it as well. She does some great acting, yes. She really does better than you, but anyway, we're gonna go there. But Josh, before, before we bring Lori in, before we chat to Lori, before we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Groundhog Day, we need to talk about uh delays and upgrades for the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_10: 1:29:41

Do you love to travel?

SPEAKER_18: 1:29:42

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_14: 1:29:43

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_30: 1:29:48

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Out Town as the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_14: 1:29:54

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching and Munzi. Join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_30: 1:30:05

On today's episode, it's Ground Hog Day. Oh wow. We actually harmonized a little bit then at the end. Did you hear that? For me, that's a big deal, Mike.

SPEAKER_14: 1:30:18

I don't know if we'll match it up, but uh, we certainly tried. We'll see how that comes out in post.

SPEAKER_30: 1:30:24

We gave it a uh a red hot crack. We'll just say that. So there you go. Mate, uh, what are we talking about at Groundhog Day? It is actually Groundhog Day as this goes to air, but what what do you mean it's Groundhog Day?

SPEAKER_14: 1:30:35

Happy Groundhog Day. I hope this day is good for us because we might have to repeat it over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_30: 1:30:44

Now, obviously from Australia, I know what Groundhog Day actually is. You know, we saw the movie as well. There's no undenying it was a great movie, like fantastic movie. I love it. Um, love the movie, had to watch it again. And um, yeah, so we know what it's all about, but we don't actually celebrate Groundhog Day per se, like with the punks of Tony Phil and the Groundhog scenes. We don't have Groundhogs in Australia, so they don't see their shadows in Australia. See how long winter's got left. Because the other thing is, winter in Australia is in June, July.

SPEAKER_14: 1:31:14

Yeah, so you guys don't you guys like if you celebrate Groundhog Day, you'd be like, How soon is winter? And that just isn't the same thing.

SPEAKER_30: 1:31:21

Yeah, exactly. They're like, Well, why talk about winter for when it's in the middle of summer now, like in uh in uh in February? So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 1:31:28

Yes, you know 2nd of Feb. Yeah, you know, Craig, in our intro, it said, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, and then you you say exploring charming towns scattered throughout the United States. And so one of the things we're doing today is we're going to explore a charming town, a town I love, which is Woodstock, Illinois, which is not Punxitawney, Pennsylvania, but it is Punxitawny, uh, Pennsylvania stand-in because of the movie Groundhog Day from 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_30: 1:31:59

Yeah, 93 it was. And uh so you're what you're saying is that the actual movie Groundhog Day was filmed in uh Woodstock in Illinois, uh, but it was portrayed to be uh Punxitony in uh in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_14: 1:32:13

Yeah, but Woodstock, Illinois fully embraces it. You can celebrate Groundhog Day right in their town square in the exact same way, very similar to how you do it in Punksa Tawney. But anyway, we are going to be talking. This is awesome. We're talking to a celebrity house. It's a celebrity house. Yeah, yeah, because in the movie Groundhog Day, Phil, Phil Connors, yeah, he wakes up in a bare Airbnb in Punksawney slash Woodstock every single day for who knows how long. And so that's yeah. Well, nobody really knows, but okay.

SPEAKER_30: 1:32:50

I got that from you off your video. Oh, really? 33 years, yeah. 33 years. Lori, her name is yes, Lori.

SPEAKER_14: 1:32:58

Yeah, so Lori knows. So we're speaking to Lori, who is the owner and the person who runs the Airbnb that is that amazing house in Woodstock, Illinois. So and I've actually stayed there, Craig. You know, I have I it's one of my best, my favorite, maybe not my best, one of my favorite geocaching vlogs that I've ever created. And we'll talk a little bit about that because Lori is stars in it.

SPEAKER_30: 1:33:24

She's awesome. Absolutely, she's stars in it. She actually does some acting in it as well.

SPEAKER_14: 1:33:27

She does some great acting, yes.

SPEAKER_30: 1:33:29

She really does better than you, but anyway, we won't go there. But Josh, before, before we bring Lori in, before we chat to Lori, before we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Groundhog Day, we need to talk about uh delays and upgrades for the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_10: 1:33:58

Do you love to travel?

SPEAKER_18: 1:33:59

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_14: 1:34:00

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_30: 1:34:05

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town as the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_14: 1:34:11

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching and Munzi, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_30: 1:34:22

On today's episode, it's Ground Hog Day. Oh wow. We actually harmonized a little bit then at the end. Did you hear that? For me, that's a big deal, Mike.

SPEAKER_14: 1:34:35

I don't know if we'll match it up, but uh we certainly tried. We'll see how that comes out in post.

SPEAKER_30: 1:34:41

We gave it a uh a red hot crack. We'll just say that. So there you go. Mike, uh, what are we talking about at Groundhog Day? It is actually Groundhog Day as this goes to air, but what what do you mean it's Groundhog Day?

SPEAKER_14: 1:34:52

Happy Groundhog Day. I hope this day is good for us because we might have to repeat it over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_30: 1:35:01

Now, obviously from Australia, I know what Groundhog Day actually is. You know, we saw the movie as well. There's no undenying it was a great movie, like fantastic movie. I love it. Um love the movie, had to watch it again. And um, yeah, so we know what it's all about, but we don't actually celebrate Groundhog Day per se, like with the punks of Tony Phil and the Groundhog scenes. We don't have Groundhogs in Australia, so they don't see their shadows in Australia. See how long winter's got left. Because the other thing is, winter in Australia is in June, July.

SPEAKER_14: 1:35:30

Yeah, so you guys don't you guys like if you celebrated Groundhog Day, you'd be like, How soon is winter? And that just isn't the same thing.

SPEAKER_30: 1:35:38

Yeah, exactly. They're like, Well, why talk about winter for when it's in the middle of summer now, like in uh in uh in February? So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 1:35:45

Yes, you know second of February, Craig, in our intro, it said, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations, and then you you say exploring charming towns scattered throughout the United States. And so one of the things we're doing today is we're going to explore a charming town, a town I love, which is Woodstock, Illinois, which is not Punksa Tony, Pennsylvania, but it is Punxitawney uh Pennsylvania stand-in because of the movie Groundhog Day from 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_30: 1:36:16

Yeah, 93 it was. And uh so you're what you're saying is that the actual movie Groundhog Day was filmed in uh Woodstock in Illinois, uh, but it was portrayed to be uh Punxitony in uh in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_14: 1:36:30

Yeah, but Woodstock, Illinois fully embraces it. You can celebrate Groundhog Day right in their town square in the exact same way, very similar to how you do it in Punksawney. But anyway, we are going to be talking. This is awesome. We're talking to a celebrity house. It's a celebrity house. Yeah, yeah, because in the movie Groundhog Day, Phil, Phil Connors, yeah, he wakes up in a bare Airbnb in Punk Satay slash Woodstock every single day for who knows how long. And so 33 years. Yeah, well, nobody really knows, but okay.

SPEAKER_30: 1:37:07

I got that from you off your video. Oh, really? 33 years, yeah. 33 years. Lori, her name is yes, she's here 33 years.

SPEAKER_14: 1:37:15

Yeah, so Lori knows. So we're speaking to Lori, who is the owner and the person who runs the Airbnb that is that amazing house in Woodstock, Illinois. So and I've actually stayed there, Craig. You know, I have. It's one of my best, my favorite, maybe not my best, one of my favorite geocaching vlogs that I've ever created. And we'll talk a little bit about that because Lori is stars in it.

SPEAKER_30: 1:37:40

She's awesome. Absolutely, she's stars in it. She actually does some acting in it as well.

SPEAKER_14: 1:37:44

She does some great acting, yes.

SPEAKER_30: 1:37:46

She really does better than you, but anyway, we won't go there. But Josh, before, before we bring Lori in, before we chat to Lori, before we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Groundhog Day, we need to talk about our delays and upgrades for the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_14: 1:38:15

Do you love to travel?

SPEAKER_18: 1:38:16

Do you love road trips?

SPEAKER_14: 1:38:17

Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.

SPEAKER_30: 1:38:22

And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Out Town as the podcast that explores the unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_14: 1:38:28

Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching and Munzi, join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.

SPEAKER_30: 1:38:39

On today's episode, it's Ground Hog Day. Oh wow, how we actually harmonized a little bit then at the end. Did you hear that? For me, that's a big deal, Mike.

SPEAKER_14: 1:38:52

I don't know if we'll match it up, but uh, we certainly tried. We'll see how that comes out in post.

SPEAKER_30: 1:38:58

We gave it a uh a red hot crack. We'll just say that. So there you go. Mike, uh, what it what are we talking about at Groundhog Day? It is actually Groundhog Day as this goes to air, but what what do you mean it's Groundhog Day?

SPEAKER_14: 1:39:09

Happy Groundhog Day. I hope this day is good for us because we might have to repeat it over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_30: 1:39:18

Now, obviously, from Australia, I know what Groundhog Day actually is. You know, we saw the movie as well. There's no undenying it was a great movie, like fantastic movie. I love it. Um, love the movie, had to watch it again. And um, yeah, so we know what it's all about, but we don't actually celebrate Groundhog Day per se, like with the punks at Tony Phil and the Groundhog scenes. We don't have groundhogs in Australia, so they don't see their shadows in Australia. See how long winter's got left. Because the other thing is, winter in Australia is in June, July.

SPEAKER_14: 1:39:48

Yeah, so you guys don't you guys like if you celebrate Groundhog Day, you'd be like, How soon is winter? And that just isn't the same thing.

SPEAKER_30: 1:39:55

Yeah, exactly. They're like, Well, why talk about winter for when it's in the middle of summer now? Like in No, in February. So there you go.

SPEAKER_14: 1:40:02

Yes, you know Second of Fib. Yeah, you know, Craig, in our intro, it said, join us as we venture to some of the country's most intriguing destinations. And then you say exploring charming towns scattered throughout the United States. And so one of the things we're doing today is we're going to explore a charming town, a town I love, which is Woodstock, Illinois, which is not Punxitawney, Pennsylvania, but it is Punxitawney, uh, Pennsylvania stand-in because of the movie Groundhog Day from 1993, I believe.

SPEAKER_30: 1:40:33

Yeah, 93 it was. And so you're what you're saying is that the actual movie Groundhog Day was filmed in uh Woodstock in Illinois. Uh, but it was portrayed to be uh Punxatoni in uh in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_14: 1:40:47

Yeah, but Woodstock, Illinois fully embraces it. You can celebrate Groundhog Day right in their town square in the exact same way, very similar to how you do it in Punksawney. But anyway, we are going to be talking. This is awesome. We're talking to a celebrity house. It's a celebrity house. Yeah. Yeah, because in the movie Groundhog Day, Phil, Phil Connors, yeah, he wakes up in a bear Airbnb in Punksa Tawney slash Woodstock every single day for who knows how long. And so that 33 years. Yeah, well, nobody really knows, but okay.

SPEAKER_30: 1:41:24

I got that from you off your video. Oh, really? 33 years. Yeah, 33 years. Lori, her name is. Yes, Lori.

SPEAKER_14: 1:41:32

Yeah, so Lori knows. So we're speaking to Lori, who is the owner and the person who runs the Airbnb that is that amazing house in Woodstock, Illinois. So and I've actually stayed there, Craig. You know, I have. I it's one of my best, my favorite, maybe not my best, one of my favorite geocaching vlogs that I've ever created. And we'll talk a little bit about that because Lori is stars in it.

SPEAKER_30: 1:41:57

She's awesome. Absolutely, she's stars in it. She actually does some acting in it as well.

SPEAKER_14: 1:42:01

She does some great acting, yes.

SPEAKER_30: 1:42:03

She really does better than you, but anyway, we won't go there. But Josh, before before we bring Lori in, before we chat to Lori, before we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about Groundhog Day, we need to talk about uh delays and upgrades for the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_37: 1:42:22

And happy groundhog day!

SPEAKER_33: 1:42:24

Put your little hand in mind. There ain't no help out we can play.