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PGH: Church, Aunts, Ringgold
Jun. 1st, 2003 08:14 pmPosted after returning from the trip.
We started the day by calling Uncle Pat (who's actually Jodi's great-uncle named Ray -- yeah, me too) to see if he could join us for our trip to see Aunt Maureen in North Huntingdon. No such luck. He managed to reach someone who'd be at church with us, however, so we got his message.
On the way to church, we stopped at the little pink donut shack that everyone calls The Little Pink Donut Shack. It turns out its real name is "Better Maid Donuts", but hardly anyone knows that. All you have to know is that the donuts are made fresh each morning in a pink building with a "Fresh Donuts" sign on the side, and that when they sell out, they go home. It's on Steuben, around Crafton Heights. (Sounds like an awful neighborhood, but it isn't.)
We also stopped briefly at the house where Jodi grew up. We rang the doorbell, but nobody was home. I took a few pictures of the concrete planter where Jodi's brother had put his footprints years ago, but they didn't come out -- the batteries were dying!
Then we went to church at the First United Presbyterian Church of Crafton Heights, Jodi's favorite church. It's hard to say exactly why I liked it too, but I did. I'd like to go back with her sometime.
We then set off for North Huntingdon, which turns out to be nearly indistinguishable from Norwin, which is pretty much the same as northern Irwin. We met Aunt Maureen and family; I hadn't heard much about them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Jodi hadn't seen them for about 15 years either, so it was the same all around. We were graciously received, and I was able to keep up polite conversation for about 2 hours -- no mean feat for a socially retarded ADDer. They're all very nice, and I even picked up some interesting trivia from their glassware: "329-gallon Fantasyland vessel" could be a fun clue for TEACUP in a crossword puzzle.
After lunch at Chi-Chi's (yes, there is corn-free vegetarian food in Mexican restaurants, sometimes, if you're lucky), we went searching for rechargeable batteries for the camera. I didn't find any in Media Play, but I did find the Chicago soundtrack, which checked off an item on Jodi's birthday wish list. We listened to it while I continued to look for batteries; I finally decided to go back and get our camera bag from home base in Lawrenceville.
After much searching for the camera bag, I concluded that Justin must have taken it to Tokyo while frantically packing. Having given up all hope, I then remember that I stuffed it into the backpack we've been schlepping all day, but in a section I hadn't thought to search.
With fresh batteries, we went back to Crafton Heights. This time, the current owner of the house was home, and even allowed us to take a brief tour of the main floor (though she didn't want us to take any photos inside). Jodi says the kitchen was pretty much the same, although there were a few minor changes elsewhere. We also spoke with a few other neighbors, including a friend Jodi had lost contact with a few years ago.
Jodi had been hanging out at Barb's house. Barb went out for a few minutes and came home to find that her dog had jumped up onto the kitchen table and eaten some chocolate brownies. Since chocolate can kill dogs, Barb was upset; she thought Jodi should have noticed this from the other room and done something to stop it. They had a fight, and it wasn't until tonight that we learned that the dog was both lucky and dumb: in the intervening years it had also managed to drink straight bleach and survive. Barb, having concluded that the dog would have eaten poison whether Jodi had tried to stop him or not, put it all into perspective.
The three of us went to Starbucks, but it was about to close (at 10pm! Jeez), so we went to the Eat 'n Park (it's something like Denny's) instead. A late night, but a fun day.
We started the day by calling Uncle Pat (who's actually Jodi's great-uncle named Ray -- yeah, me too) to see if he could join us for our trip to see Aunt Maureen in North Huntingdon. No such luck. He managed to reach someone who'd be at church with us, however, so we got his message.
On the way to church, we stopped at the little pink donut shack that everyone calls The Little Pink Donut Shack. It turns out its real name is "Better Maid Donuts", but hardly anyone knows that. All you have to know is that the donuts are made fresh each morning in a pink building with a "Fresh Donuts" sign on the side, and that when they sell out, they go home. It's on Steuben, around Crafton Heights. (Sounds like an awful neighborhood, but it isn't.)
We also stopped briefly at the house where Jodi grew up. We rang the doorbell, but nobody was home. I took a few pictures of the concrete planter where Jodi's brother had put his footprints years ago, but they didn't come out -- the batteries were dying!
Then we went to church at the First United Presbyterian Church of Crafton Heights, Jodi's favorite church. It's hard to say exactly why I liked it too, but I did. I'd like to go back with her sometime.
We then set off for North Huntingdon, which turns out to be nearly indistinguishable from Norwin, which is pretty much the same as northern Irwin. We met Aunt Maureen and family; I hadn't heard much about them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Jodi hadn't seen them for about 15 years either, so it was the same all around. We were graciously received, and I was able to keep up polite conversation for about 2 hours -- no mean feat for a socially retarded ADDer. They're all very nice, and I even picked up some interesting trivia from their glassware: "329-gallon Fantasyland vessel" could be a fun clue for TEACUP in a crossword puzzle.
After lunch at Chi-Chi's (yes, there is corn-free vegetarian food in Mexican restaurants, sometimes, if you're lucky), we went searching for rechargeable batteries for the camera. I didn't find any in Media Play, but I did find the Chicago soundtrack, which checked off an item on Jodi's birthday wish list. We listened to it while I continued to look for batteries; I finally decided to go back and get our camera bag from home base in Lawrenceville.
After much searching for the camera bag, I concluded that Justin must have taken it to Tokyo while frantically packing. Having given up all hope, I then remember that I stuffed it into the backpack we've been schlepping all day, but in a section I hadn't thought to search.
With fresh batteries, we went back to Crafton Heights. This time, the current owner of the house was home, and even allowed us to take a brief tour of the main floor (though she didn't want us to take any photos inside). Jodi says the kitchen was pretty much the same, although there were a few minor changes elsewhere. We also spoke with a few other neighbors, including a friend Jodi had lost contact with a few years ago.
Jodi had been hanging out at Barb's house. Barb went out for a few minutes and came home to find that her dog had jumped up onto the kitchen table and eaten some chocolate brownies. Since chocolate can kill dogs, Barb was upset; she thought Jodi should have noticed this from the other room and done something to stop it. They had a fight, and it wasn't until tonight that we learned that the dog was both lucky and dumb: in the intervening years it had also managed to drink straight bleach and survive. Barb, having concluded that the dog would have eaten poison whether Jodi had tried to stop him or not, put it all into perspective.
The three of us went to Starbucks, but it was about to close (at 10pm! Jeez), so we went to the Eat 'n Park (it's something like Denny's) instead. A late night, but a fun day.
