Feel like I have the beginnings of a cold. Oh bother.
After work Emily and I hopped in the car and scooted down to Crofton, MD to visit my sister, her husband, and their menagerie (OK, well two cats and a dog).
The drive down was beautiful. I wish all of my relatives and in-laws lived to the east/south of us rather than make us drive through Ohio to get to them. There is just no comparison.
Somewhere in the middle of Pennsyltucky we became part of a parade as we were directed off of our road into a little town where anxious onlookers lined either side of the street awaiting what was sure to be the biggest event of the year for them. We did wave, but sadly we had no candy to throw at the kids.
As we hit Cumberland, MD it was time to stop for gas and a bathroom break. Cumberland is a cute little town, but it’s easy to get lost in the maze of side streets. We hit the restroom at Wendy’s and even picked up some Frosty™ Shakes (as a side note, the Frosty™ shake is what the now-defunct McDonalds shake once was. I don’t know what Mickey-D’s did to their shakes but they’re awfully disappointing now. It’s nice to see Wendy’s picking up the slack).
We went across the street to an old-timey gas station which was so old-timey that they had different pumps for each of the various quality levels of gasoline. Being ever so observant I didn’t notice this until I had already started pumping the “Super Awesome 20¢ More Expensive” (paraphrasing) variety. After paying (an actual human!) I drove away, enduring no small amount of ridicule from my apparently much more observant wife about the gas mix-up.
We arrived a few hours later at my sister’s house, were welcomed by a very enthusiastic six-month-old chocolate lab (“Reese”, get it?) and two somewhat more hesitant cats (“Joey” and “Gus”). We sat in the living room and got caught up for a while, then it was time for bed.
