When we were at my dad's place, my nephew walked my dad's dogs. On one of the trips, he came back with a beautiful green pot leaf - THAT HE PICKED OUT OF SOMEONE'S FRONT YARD!!!!
Yoi! I can provide my dad's address for certain considerations.
Like I mentioned in my last missive, we were also up at Pymatuning State Park on Friday. We didn't take the boat out, and instead just went to the causeway to do a bit of fishing. I caught 2 more perch and a bluegill. So I bagged 22 fish for the trip, which isn't a bad sum. All 22 were released back into the wild.
Friday night, we went to Conneaut Lake Park, an amusement park that was built in 1892. I hadn't been there in a good 25 years. A lot of it was just like I remembered, but it honestly has seen better days. It apparently had some ownership problems in the 80's and 90's. Since then, it's been deeded to the people of northwestern Pennsylvania, who I guess are doing their damnedest to keep it open.
They closed at 9 pm on a Friday (!) because they can't afford the lighting. I'd have thought that Friday and Saturday would be the two nights that the return would be worth staying open. The Blue Streak rollercoaster (named a classic coaster by the American Coaster Enthusiasts) was always filled and so was the Dodge'Em (bumper cars), but most of the rides were only partially filled. The Blue Streak is a wooden coaster built in 1937. We rode it, of course, while we were there. The carousel was built in 1910, and though they've had to auction some of the original hand-carved wooden horses and replace them with fiberglass, many of the originals are still in place.
After Conneaut, we went again to Jerry's Corner Bar, then we hit the sack. We headed back to Dad's early Saturday, so that we could rest a bit before starting the trek home. I have some pictures which I'll try to resize and post. My brother has some, but they're on film, so I'll have to wait until they're scanned or my bro' gives me copies that I can scan.
A couple of final observations
- Pennsylvania is a beautiful place. Even the Pittsburgh area, which was reknowned for being so dirty that the streetlights were on during the day, is much brighter than before.
- My dad's a racist. He doesn't wear white sheets or anything, but he made his opinions known to us. Nothing I can say is going to change him at this point, so I tried to just let it pass.
- My brother and nephew are at each other literally from the time they get up until the time they go to bed. In public or no. It got to be pretty fucking irritating.
- Jim Morrison is apparently alive and has a "supply store" in Linesville, PA. A picture should be forthcoming.
Back in Atlanta
Work was uneventful this week. I came back to a minimal amount of mail. Even less of it was actually important.
I hung last night with several of the SGATLiens to celebrate hypermediocrity's birthday (go give her your best if you haven't!). We hung at Rock Bottom Brewery for a few hours. There was eating and drinking. I had a couple of root beers. Geckogirl brought a 4-layer cake baked and decorated with her own two hands. And she couldn't even eat any, 'cause she's a vegan. The icing was sugar suicide. We headed next to The Pink Pony, which can only be the name of a strip club, no? We watched naked ladies for a few hours; it was good. Everybody except Llona, geckogirl and me (I?) dropped out, so we went to the Majestic until about 5 am, when I finally hopped on the bike for the ride home. I really like riding at night.