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We took a long weekend to go visit Wendy's Mom's family in Pittsburgh, PA.
It was a very long trip. Things started out on the wrong foot about 5
minutes from our house when we entered I-94 and found a parking lot. We
got off at the next exit to take surface streets to Rt. 23 (one of two
routes out of SE MI)--along with everyone else who wanted to get to 23
from I-94. Once we got on 23 south, we flew along for about 30 miles
before running into construction in Toledo. We again tried the surface
streets to cut over to 75, but the entrance ramp to 75S was closed. We
then tried 275S, but again the entrance ramp was closed. After driving
around Toledo for about 20 minutes, we found a detour sign that took us
through downtown and EVENTUALLY onto the OH turnpike, which was...a
parking lot. All in all, it took us 2 hours to finally get underway.
Here we are at the rest area on the OH turnpike, shortly after discovering that Craig had forgotten to put the diapers in the car. Only 4 hours and 1 diaper to go! Then, just when we thought the trip was almost over, we got into a tussle with some small-dicked Pennsylvanian who tried not once but twice to run us off the road. He thought we cut him off at the toll plaza. Once we got out of the plaza he pulled in front of us and slammed on his brakes. Then, he tried to make us pass him so he could do it again. He slowed all the way down to 35mph, but Wendy knew what he was trying and refused to pass him. He then pulled off the road, waited for us to drive by and then tried to run us off the road again. Nice guy. So, we finally reached Wendy's Aunt Mart's house for dinner:
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The next day, we met up with Wendy's Mom to visit the Pittsburgh Aviary.
This was one of the highlights of the trip. Here is a small sampling of
our bird photos. Craig discovered a pair of largish birds building a nest
and photographed them. The Papa bird decided he'd had enough and started
dive-bombing all of us until we ran out of the room!
We also got to see a bird show in the outdoor garden. The trainer had worked with the birds to get them to sing songs, take money from people, fly to certain locations in the garden among other things. It was very impressive. We highly recommend a stop at the Aviary if you are ever in Pittsburgh. |
 
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| We finished up the day with a visit to Squirrel Hill--the Jewish neighborhood. Unfortunately, we got there shortly after most of the shops closed for Shabbat, but we still enjoyed ourselves wondering the streets. We celebrated Shabbat at Temple Shalom who was having a Tot Shabbat picnic. This was where Isaac got his first taste of acorn (yuck) and dill pickle (yum). The rabbi was an old classmate of our rabbi's, so we had a nice talk with him. Isaac pushed his stroller around the garden outside the Temple. |
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Saturday we celebrated Wendy's grandfather's 84th birthday. The
celebration was at the "summer house" at the retirement community where
the Steeles live. As posh as the rest of the place is, we were a little
surprised that the summer house was an unairconditioned modified garage.
Quickly, however, we discovered why: the summer house is where they send
residents when the management hopes to free up a condo. The place was full
of all sorts of death traps. Wendy's great-aunt Jean who is 91 fell on a
step and hit her head, then nearly collapsed from the heat later. We also
nearly collapsed from the heat.
Here is Isaac passed out on Great-aunt Barbie's lap. And here he is on the shuffle board course.
Finally, we are almost back home! |
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