Thanksgiving & Hogwarts

It has come to our attention that people actually read this thing and have demanded that new blogs be posted. Well fear not faithful blog readers, our sabbatical is now over. This is the first of at least two new blogs that will be posted. So keep reading and be patient. We have lives too...

Anyway, back to what you care about....

Earlier this year, my dad and his wife Marie told us that they were planning to come visit our new 'digs' in PA around Thanksgiving. Abby and I were ecstatic. Our excitement was two-fold: 1. we are always excited to have friends and family around to show off our sweet little slice of heaven, and 2. i was excited to know that my dad would actually have to get on a airplane.  Now for those of you who don't know my dad too well, he is not exactly the world traveler. He has been many places, but not for many years. I had to think back to the last time that my dad had even stepped foot on a plane.  This took me awhile considering that I was 13 the last time my dad was on a plane, and call it coincidence, but it was also over Thanksgiving. Maybe I am on to something here...Back to the story...

My dad and Marie landed on Thanksgiving night at about 6PM, Abby and I, like good children, met them at the airport. The four of us drove to Abby's Great Aunt Helen's (she is great in many ways) house for some fantastic Thanksgiving fodder. The food was a delicious. There were two kinds of turkeys to choose from, three different kinds of stuffings, multiple veggie dishes, mashed potatoes, and whatever else you can imagine. The food was almost as good as the company, which if your know Helen, Mark, Sue and Lisa, you know how great the food was. It was seriously like and add by the Training Table, "Good friends, food and fun." 

During the remainder of their stay with us, we ventured to a few places that Abby and I had wanted to go, but never quite and the gumption to remove our tushies from the couch to actually visit these places. The first was is a main stay, located on the University of Pittsburgh campus, called the Cathedral of Learning. From the outside it is rather unimpressive unless you like looking at really tall buildings; however, the inside tells a tale of wonder and mystery from across the globe. Okay not really, but it was really quite exception inside. As you enter through the enormous oak doors, with wrought iron handles you immediately realize that you aren't in Kansas anymore. From the forty ft ceilings lined with stone, to the spiraling stone-lines staircases that lead you from floor to floor. Located in the main lobby are huge wooden thrones and tables, accompanied by fantastically large fire places. We had entered Hogwarts, the only thing missing was "You Know Who"... It is called the Cathedral of Learning because each room in the main area is decorated in the 18th century style of a different culture. There were rooms decorated from Lebanon, Czech, Norway, England, France, Ireland, and many others.