On Reunions and Royalty
Athennia's family is awesome. PA's roads are not. We're too poor to afford chicken tenders.
The highlight of this weekend was Athennia's family reunion; so, I'll certainly get to that... But first, you've gotta check out these gnarly burgers she and I cooked for dinner Friday night!
We put a lid on the frying pan this time to stop grease spatters, which we hadn't done before: The blistering effect seems to have been caused by the excess moisture in the pan. At any rate, we're four days out now, and no monkeys have been poxed. ;)
Anyway, Athennia and I killed some time Friday evening until Riley got back from a day at Six Flags with her friend Kassie. Then we headed over to Morrisville to pick her up and brought her back to my place for a sleepover (since leaving from here the next morning would shave about half an hour off our drive).
We stopped at Lou's to drop off some Pyrex baking dishes Taylor wanted to borrow to make brownies for the reunion even though she couldn't go. (Her girlfriend recently got hired at PetSmart and had work the next day, which meant Taylor had to stay home with their puppy who has separation anxiety.) Then we did our Friday-evening greocery shopping—grabbing some obligatory ice cream as is customary when we're hanging out with Riley :)
Calling the Kettlesville Black
We got an early start Saturday morning, wolfing down a quick breakfast and getting ready to drive out to Dave and Debbie's house in Pottsville—just shy of a two-hour drive for us.
Aside from a 10-minute slowdown in the middle of the trip, we had a swift and pleasant drive up the Northeast Extension and out Route 78.
Athennia had told me all about how scenic Dave and Debbie's place was in the foothills of the Appalachians; so, I had definitely been looking forward to a chance to get out of the suburbs for a few hours. And, the view did not disappoint!
Oh my God; they get to live next to a mountain!
—me, immediately upon stepping out of the car
Wait a minute; I used to live next to a mountain too...
—also me, about 2.679 seconds later
Granted, I inevitably became blind to my mountain view within two or three weeks of moving there; so, I suppose my raving about how amazing Dave and Debbie's mountain view was is basically the Pottsville calling the Kettlesville black. <shrug>
But, yeah; the little slice of Pottsville that I saw was quite gorgeous just the same.
Meeting the [Rest of the] Family
I of course met a decent amount of Athennia's family at Magdalena's birthday party back in May; so, I already knew her cousins Danny and Irene and her uncle Kevin. But, in addition to meeting Dave and Debbie, I got to meet their daughter Stephanie and her husband Sean; Barb and Lincoln; and Ruth... And, everyone was wonderful! So genuine and down-to-earth :)
Athennia (and Riley) and I caught up with Irene for a bit when we first arrived. Athennia brought her up to date on everything that's happened with Taylor over the past few months, and then we chatted about life, and the future, and such.
We sat with Danny and Magdalena (and Cody and Maya), Debbie, and Ruth for lunch. I'd hung out with Danny in a meaningful capacity back in May but had barely interacted with Magda at all (what with her being the center of everyone's attention, given that it was her party). But, I'm happy to report that I got to know Magda this time, and she is quick-witted hilarious: We all sat around after lunch ripping on everything from fake eyelashes, to socks with flipflops, to people who habitually walk around in shorts and a ski jacket (like they're only cold from the waist up).
Danny told me and Athennia about his work. I won't repeat it here since I'm not sure whether it's classified in any capacity, but it reminded me of some of the stories my Uncle Jim has told me as a retired chemical engineer: Bizarre and incredible things, happening at a scale most people don't ever even fathom. Very cool.
Later in the afternoon, Debbie invited us to come hang out with her down by the pool; so, we got to sit and visit with her for a bit. Athennia told her about how the kids are doing, how she and I met, and such. This being a family reunion (and me being new to the family), we stuck to "polite conversation"; but, I gather from some of her comments that she's probably critical of a lot of the same facets of modern reality that Athennia and I are. I genuinely enjoyed her company, and I'm confident that we'll get along just fine as "in-laws" going forward. :)
I barely had a chance to interact at all with Stephanie and Sean, or Barb and Lincoln, or Ruth—or with Kevin or Lou. (I didn't even get formally introduced to Sean, Lincoln, or Ruth!) But, based on my brief interactions with them, they all seem like great people. Stephanie seems very personable, and I enjoyed watching Sean play with their kids and Cody and Maya on the moonbounce—then later cannonballing into the pool and chasing them around while pretending to be a shark.
Luckily, Thanksgiving is right around the corner; so, we'll get to see everyone again very soon!
Oh! And, we were able to unload most of our excess vegetables from the garden... Special thanks to Athennia's cousin Blanche and her husband Bruce for being on vacation so that I didn't have to compete with professional farmers. (All kidding aside, we missed you both!)
Tomatoes, more tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and "cucumbers"... But, are they really cucumbers? Or are they actually cucumber-shaped Trojan horses secretly filled with still more tomatoes? <evil laugh>
Shunpiking!
Athennia had lamented on the way out to Pottsville that she hadn't found a direct route without using toll roads. But then, we ended up on Route 78 West for much of the latter half of the trip, and I kept seeing familiar signs: Trexlertown... Breinigsville... Kutztown...
I told her I used to be up this way every Monday night to see my old high-school buddy Jim back in our college days...
...Then, when Joe and I were still talking throughout our twenties, we'd routinely drive past a dozen Wawas to hit the Sheetz in Fleetwood.
So, I suggested that we opt for "the scenic route" back and take 78 back to 309 and come home through Quakertown, Perkasie, Telford (and the infamous Coopersburg—which will hopefully raise their speed limits to something sensible, or just get meteor-showered off the face of the Earth someday).
Anyway, all that driving (both on and off of toll roads) reminded me why Pennsylvania's state flower is the highway cone. But, we inevitably ended up at the Royal Farms where County Line Road meets 309: Joe and I used to end up there when we weren't feeling spry enough to make it all the way up to Sheetz; so, I thought we should stop in since Athennia and Riley had never been.
...And, we found out why they're called Royal Farms: Because you have to be royalty to afford a full meal! I was about to order 12 chicken tenders for us to split, until the order kiosk announced that that alone would come to $44.00. (Seriously... that's more than $3.50 per tender. Are these things infused with gold flecks or something?)
So, we settled for large iced coffees and split six tenders instead. Then we enjoyed the scenery as we shot across (new) 202 and meandered down Swamp Road to take Riley back to Kassie's in Morrisville for another sleepover.
Does the Name Pavlov Ring a Bell?
On the way back to my place, we got stuck behind a Floridian. (Oh, joy.) At the risk of being redundant, I'll specify that he looked to be about 137 years old... And, I'm not sure whether he was A.) illiterate, B.) incognizant, C.) dead at the wheel and just coasting on inertia at that point, or D.) all of the above. But, whatever the case, he was doing 28 in a 45.
That's rude.
Athennia confessed that she "almost" wanted to honk at him... to which I replied that not only should she honk, but she should follow it up with a subsequent honk every time he kept needlessly tapping his brakes—thereby laying the groundwork for a conditioned response that would stick in his psyche for months.
What were her thoughts?
Oh my God; I was JUST thinking that!
Awesome.
Alas, we only got to blast him twice before Athennia resorted to the old I'll pretend I'm turning here routine to make him dart into the right lane in front of us... and inadvertently get out of our way in his attempt to stay in our way.
Good riddance, Methuselah... and enjoy the bloom! Our highway cones are so vibrant this time of year: Be sure to stop and smell the flowers :)
And finally, Athennia and I got back to my place and crashed after a fun but draining day.