It is the time of year that we take our field trip for my mentoring group from work. We meet like every other month and one of the last meetings of the year we do something fun out of the office. I do not know who picked it or how it got approved but I honestly am standing here applauding right now for the people who did make where we went this year happen. Last year we did a tour of the other MSA facilities at Evergreen and Rockpointe. A nice field trip no doubt but still a bit too tied to the work environment. This year we went to
Wigle Whiskey in Pittsburgh and then across the street to Mullaney's Harp & Fiddle for some food. Now that is something to get excited about!
I had to find a way to get down there as I was not driving in the downtown area in my car. No way. I thought at first it was only 2 miles away for some reason but it was actually 4. That is a bit too far out for walking. I was told to email some people to try and get a seat in one of their cars but I had a better idea. I'll just ride my bike. I was in the tour the other week. I have a better idea of the streets around here now. It should be no problem. It would actually work out really well as I had to take another trip to the Apple store because when I woke up that morning it turns out my 1 month old iPhone 6 took a dive off my nightstand and was now smashed.
Luckily it was only a half hour job (but cost $116) to get the screen fixed and I was good to go. I was able to get that handled during lunch.
Now I just relax until a little after 1pm and I'll ride down to the distillery. I was able to stay on the sidewalks for the most part and it wasn't bad. I did get to see that they have a section of Penn Ave ripped the hell up down to one lane and everything was dirt. They must be fixing some serious sewer pipe issues or something. Since it was only 4 miles the trip was over soon and I didn't have to wait long for others to show up.
They gave us a free cocktail to start which was delicious. No whiskey burn at all. It was smooth and awesome. The guy led us into the back and showed us all the equipment used to make the whiskeys and even gave us history on Pittsburgh and Prohibition and stuff. It was all pretty cool. We then sat down at these tasting tables and we had 5 different kinds of whiskey to sample from. Also very awesome! Unfortunately I didn't think ahead far enough I guess. I was unable to purchase any as I had no way of taking it back with me on my bike.
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I also found out about this
Festival coming up that some of my favorite local companies are involved in. Hopefully I can make it to that.
Even though it was only Thursday this seemed like the unofficial start to my weekend this week. On Friday we had to quickly cram in a stop at Sam's Club in Monroeville so we had some food to cook for when my dad got here. Since the boy had friends over the weekend of his birthday, my dad rescheduled his trip to come over to this weekend. We made it home and got the groceries put away before he got here. He actually walked in right during Freedom Friday which was really just Taco Tuesday but on Friday. We didn't get too crazy that night. Ale was even working on the boy's costume.
Saturday we started early though. My dad took the boy to get donuts and found out the Jeannette Bakery no longer exists then we burned the trash and made our plans for the day. We would show my dad the property in Claridge that we now own, visit Aunt Dee and then go out to Ligonier for food. I
read an article recently that the people who now own the old Hollow restaurant (used to be Sleepy Hollow) have reopened and now call it the Steel Wheel Grille at the Hollow. I wanted to take Ale and sit out on the back where you are overseeing the creek. She would probably like that.
So when we ready we set out. The property was first because it was the closest. We parked on the road and walked up. It looks the same as it did last time I was here, very woodsy. This time however I tried to go as far up as I could. I never went on the back acre this far and I was impressed. Sure lots of trees were falling down but I bet when I moved in and started cleaning this up things would grow again. I had a ton of firewood if I wanted it. I could landscape this to be whatever I wanted. The boy asked if he could build a fort back here. Obviously you can. Have at it boy.
When we got ao Aunt Dee's she was already outside with Billy. She says she has glaucoma now so that sucks but besides that she seemed to be doing okay. Jed is currently living in the trailer court in Penn but apparently Zippy was still here. We stayed and chatted for about an hour then headed out.
When we got to the restaurant it was not what I expected. Apparently the huge restaurant part is not yet fixed up enough from when it burned down to be open. Instead they had a little outdoor part open on the side and that was the way it was for now. We sat outside and ordered some food. It was good. There were lots of lady bugs flying around and the boy met a friend who was working on his Minecraft costume. I asked the lady before we left what was going on and she told me they just got the permits approved and now they can go in and first thing they want to do is fix up the bathrooms (currently they have 2 port-a-potties and a sink in the parking lot, Ale was not fond of that) and then they'll go from there. I figure give them the winter to take care of whatever they have to do and maybe by the time next summer rolls around we can come back and see the whole thing.
On the way I also made us stop at All Saints Brewing to fill up the growlers. They were out of Oktoberfest so that sucked but the 2 beers I did get were awesome anyway.
We watched the Pens win that night against Neal and the Predators. Fleury got his 29th career shutout. My dad woke me up at 7 in the morning the next day as he was leaving. I thought he'd stick around but whatever that's usually when I try to get us out of there when we visit. He seemed very happy for us, his family, and was glad he visited. I was glad too.
Too bad he didn't stay. Big Ben set a bunch of records and had one of the greatest days in Steelers quarterback history as he won his 100th game in 150 chances (only the 4th QB to do so) and we beat the Colts 51-34.
Recap here.
All in all a great weekend. I made sure to note aloud to Ale several times how happy I was. I love my wife and family!
