Attic Man and I have just returned from a four-hour Sunday drive. You’d think with all our recent traveling and our rhetoric about fossil fuels that such a trip would be ridiculous. But after sitting in the house for an hour or two wracking our brains about what to do that would honor the time we have left in Pittsburgh, I suggested a road trip. I thought we could do a tour of some part of our region whose geography we wouldn’t get to experience for quite some time again. We decided to drive south, and ended up meandering around back country roads through run-down towns (and some ritzy Pittsburgh suburbs on the return trip), skirting West By God Virginny. We listened to excellent music and talked about family, the move, the Snapper, the dogs, and whatever else we wandered into. We used to take drives like this all the time before our lives got crammed too tight for them. Now that we have two weeks of packing bliss in front of us (har, har), but more importantly now that Attic Man has left his awful job (!) we have decided to seize the opportunity for some R & R. The drive was wonderful. We ended on a lovely note at the Piper’s Pub in Southside. In my tenth pregnancy transgression I had a sandwich slathered with Stilton cheese. Divine.
The entire weekend was a success, as a matter of fact. What started out as a Pirates game between father and sons turned into a last hurrah for two branches of Attic Man’s family who are about to head west: us to Iowa, and his sister & family to Michigan. So on Saturday afternoon the crowd descended on our house, much to the delight of the pups. We parked on top of Mt. Washington, took the (hot, unairconditioned) Mon incline down to Station Square, and enjoyed an enormous dinner at Buca di Beppo. Then the patriarch, his two sons, his daughter and son-in-law took a boat across to the game while my mother-in-law, my nearly edible nephew and I drove home to watch TLC and eat ice cream in our pajamas. When the others returned we stayed up late telling jokes and stories. In the morning we had bagels and lazed our way through Sunday morning before closing the door on the last group at noon or so. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect weekend. The dogs were impressively sweet and gentle with the baby–I am so proud.
All is well.
Sounds like you had a lovely weekend! I’m so glad to hear it!