The Montour Trail

Alex’s house backs on to the Montour Trail, an old railroad track that has been converted to a walking, jogging and biking trail. After the drizzle stopped this morning we set out on a family hike up to an old tunnel nearby

 

A Walk In the Park

Right around the corner from Alex, Kelly, Graham and Miles house is Cecil Township Park, one of Graham's favorite places.

 First time on the big slide!

 Across the creek on the three wheeler.

It's a nice creek

 Someday, maybe...

 Carry my water bottle, Gigi!

Miles was unimpressed.

 A memorial to miners killed in Cecil Townships coal mines.

 Some flower.

A Spring, or is it Summer Azure. At this point, I favor calling it Summer.

 Compare to the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

A Silvery Checkerspot. Very similar to the more common Pearl Crescent. The easy difference is the white center of the black spots on the hind wing, but I didn't see it until I got the photo.

Driving From Fall to Winter

Crossing the Appalachian mountains from Canonsburg to Slower Maryland, the seasons changed from  early fall to winter:

Breakfast at Alice's Restaurant

Canonsburg, PA.

Had a breakfast that couldn't be beat with Alex, Kelly and Graham before heading east again.

When Black Friday Comes

As I roundaboutly reported yesterday (see the sequence of video's from appropriate locations) we left early yesterday morning headed for Canonsburg, to share Thanksgiving dinner with our son Alex, his wife, Kelly, their 10 month old son Graham, and her family. Other than having the "check engine" light go on in our van after stopping for gas in Morgantown, everything went fairly smoothly. Traffic was light as usual on Thanksgiving Day. We arrived with plenty of time to check in to the motel (one that allows canine guests), and headed over to Alex's to say hi.

After walking Skye, and Alex's dog we went in to watch football, and let Georgia play with Graham. The dogs had a few dustups but were mostly peaceful together. Hendrix resents Skye near her food or people, and Skye seems to enjoy egging Hendrix on. Around 5:30 we headed over to Kelly's parents house, a mile, and 3 hills away.  There we met Kelly's Mom and Dad, Jean and Bob, and her sister Bethanny, brother-in-law Eric, and 8 month old daughter Saddie.

We watched a little more football, and had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and didn't get up the next morning until. . . oh wait. Wrong story. We did have a dinner that couldn't be beat, turkey, stuffing, baked fruit, salad, and much much more, including apple and pumpkin pie (ala mode, of course). After dinner we went back to football and grandbaby watching until the food and driving coma began to set in, and we drove back to the motel, where a desk clerk was so taken with Skye she gave us a dog treat.

This morning we started a bit late. After Skye's morning constitutional, we stopped at a nearby Lowes for air filters for Alex, and met them a the local King's diner for breakfast. Graham behaved great, even though he seemed to have a bit of a cold.

After breakfast, we went to have the code read on the car at a nearby Advanced Auto. It turned out to be something minor, that can stand to wait until we get home to have worked on. That was good news. Back to Alex's where they were in a flurry of activity. Graham was fussy again and they we concerned that he might have an ear infection, and off to the local urgent care center to check they went, leaving us to guard the house and keep the dogs in order.

When they returned (yes, maybe a minor ear infection, antibiotics prescribed JIC), someone, it's not clear who, didn't watch the door carefully, and Skye bolted for it, and made her escape into the wilds of Canonsburg. All of us (except Kelly and Graham) went after her, but Alex lost sight of her in some brush behind their house. He and I walked, Georgia drove, and for a half hour she was gone, until a neighbor managed to collar her, and get her into his house. Whew!

That was our big activity for the day. After that we retired to a lunch of leftovers from the night before, a Star Wars marathon on TBS, and pizza for dinner. Graham learned that Siberian Huskies are much more tolerant of small children crawling all over them than ankle biters like Hendrix..




Back in our motel room now, and we'll be one our way back to the low country tomorrow morning.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and More

Georgia and I had breakfast at our favorite Canonsburg diner before we got a hold of Alex and Kelly

 Shellys was full of customers, but we did get a booth right away. I had my usual, the Italian Breakfast, eggs, Italian sausage, home fries and Italian Toast, and lots of coffee. While there Georgia arranged to meet them at the Trolley Nuseum, something none of us had ever seen, even though Kelly was raised in Canonsburg, and one we thought would be easy with a baby in a stroller.

When we arrived at the museum, it was mobbed with families of 2-5 year olds because of a visit from Daniel the Tiger. apparently Daniel is even more popular than Kim Kardashian with th 2-5 year old demographic. We didn't pay for the special audience with Daniel himself, and opted instead for the trolley ride out to the museum itself.

 Graham was unconcerned

Eventually one of the two working trolleys rolled around, and we got on for the mile or so ride around the industrial backyard of Washington, PA,

 And stopped at the museum to see a collection of old trolleys, and related artifacts. It was pretty interesting.

 Graham remained unfazed

 Later, we went back to there house for sandwiches and a walk, with Alex playing the part of the trolley.

 And a quick trip to the mall so Georgia could indulge Graham some more. It was a big day for Graham with repeated non doctor, non day care outings, and he took it like a champ

Finally Grandma Georgia got one more chance to play with him before we all called it a night.

Long Day on the Road

After a half hour or so of letting Skye work off some ya-yas at the dog park, we dropped her off at a new kennel, and headed the led sled for Canonsburg. It started raining almost immediately thereafter, and kept it up a good way past Washington DC. We had a quick McD's lunch somewhere up near Frederick, and got into Canonsburg around 3. After a short rest, we headed over to Alex and Kelly's, where Georgia got to play with Graham until well past bedtime. I learned a couple of new guitar licks. I hope.



That's about all I have today.

Waterdam Walk

We met Alex at his store later today, after having breakfast at our favorite diner, and long walk in Canonsburg's big Town Park. After he was done with his final lesson for the day, we headed off for another walk, this time at Waterdam, a nice walking trail around one of Canonsburg's water reservoirs, a 0.75 mile loop.

After the walk, we went a tried a new restaurant, the Golden Pig, a small (11 seat) Korean BBQ a few miles out. Good, but not great; I'd rather have average Thai.

First Half of Pilgrimage Complete

We left home yesterday morning in the "Led Sled" as Skye has facetiously named the dark silver SUV, packed with gifts for Christmas and Kelly's shower, dog crates, dog beds, food, spare clothes and only one guitar.

The trip itself was uneventful until Skye, tethered too loosely by me, climbed over the seat back and into Georgia's lap while she tried to navigate me through Uniontown. This resulted in a missed turn, a stop to throw her back over the seat and tie he down more securely, and a few minutes of back tracking to re-find Highway 40, the National Pike.

Once into Washington PA, the motel was not where we expected it, and we spent a few minutes crawling slowly through the city to find it. We were not in the best of humors when we arrived,

We're staying at a new motel that takes dogs, the Suburban Extended Stay Motel out near Highway 70 on the road to Wheeling WV. The motel was clearly designed for the workers who come for jobs related to fracking. They have a "mudroom" in which to take off dirty boots etc. The floors are all bare and hard, and easy to clean, and they have a minimal kitchenettes and don't provide daily cleaning which is OK with us. Fracking is a bit slow now, with gas and oil prices so low, so the parking lot is mostly empty right now.  But they take dogs, and are a step up from the Motel 6 and the Red Roof Inn, the only other places locally to stay with a dog.

After a brief cooling off and changing clothes, we headed over to Alex and Kelly's in Canonsburg, where Skye and Hendrix, their little (40 lb)  mongrel, made their first introductions, in which it was sort of agreed that certain articles of furniture were off limits to Skye, had a walk and then headed off to Kelly's parents, Jean and Bob, for Thanksgiving dinner. It was truly excellent, the traditional turkey, and mashed potatoes and stuffing, baked pineapple and apples, sweet potatoes. I ate about as moderately as I could stand, and topped it off with two thin slices of pie, apple and pumpkin.

We'll be here until Sunday morning I think. Kelly's shower is Saturday, and I'll probably hang out with Alex in the store. I think we'll avoid the malls here on Black Friday (the amount of stores in WashPA is astonishing.

Blogging will continue to be light, and opportunistic.