Summer Vacation

Happy Independence Day!! Micah, Reese and I packed up the car early Wednesday morning and headed to Deep Creek Lake for a mini vacation. DCL is in western Maryland, about 20 minutes from West Virginia. If you look at a map it is in the very tip of the tail of Maryland. It takes us about three hours to get there from Owings Mills and we make the trip quite often in the summer.

Despite the rainy July 4th, we headed out to see the fireworks that are set off at the resort nearby the house. Fireworks are quite the same in the rain, but what is July 4th without fireworks.

On Thursday, Micah and I headed up to Pittsburgh. Micah's father's family is from the 'burgh and I had never been. So once again, we got back in the car and made the two hour trip north to see the Steel City. It a nice city, very hilly. We had planned on seeing a Pirates game while we were in town. However, after waiting at the stadium for about an hour and half, we decided to skip the game and head to Squirrel Hill (a community within the city of Pittsburgh) for Mineo's pizza. But before we left the ball field, we did make sure to have a Primanti Brother's Pitts-Burgher Cheeses Steak sandwich. (For those of you who are not familiar with the Primanti Brother's, it is a restaurant that is a Pittsburgh landmark. The meat is a compressed steak-like substance that is topped with french fries, cheese and seasoned lettuce. It was, let me say, interesting.)

After running back to the car in the pouring rain, Micah took me a on a tour of Squirrel Hill, the community where Micah's dad and family grew up and still live. Micah described the corners of Forbes Ave. and Murray Ave, the center of the universe and for people that grow up in Squirrel Hill it is. After the scenic tour down memory lane, we walked down Murray Ave to Mineo Pizzehouse. This small joint has won more "Best Pizza" awards that I lost count around 15. And after sampling a slice, I realized why it has won all those awards... It was damn good pizza. Thin crust with just enough combination between cheese and pizza sauce. After filling up on pizza and taking a half-baked home for those who didn't make the trip to the 'burgh with us, we headed back to the lake house.

On Friday and Saturday, we put in some serious lake time and have the sun burns to prove it. Reese loves the lake and enjoyed running around with Ashley's two dogs, Harold and Sophie. The three of them run around so much that by 5pm they crash on the porch or living room rug. As soon as we got home, Reese climbed up on the couch has has only left to pee and eat dinner. He should be comatose for at least another day or so. You have to love the lake!

Early Sunday morning we headed home to catch up on chores and TV. (I can't help it, we are both addicted to TV.)

I love vacation, but it is nice to be home.