This year Thanksgiving is one of my holidays to work so Elise and the parental units decided we would do Thanksgiving a few weeks early. On Friday morning I met everyone for breakfast after work and while I slept the day away they hit up
Bicycle Heaven and a few other local spots.
Saturday, however, was a true tourist day. After breakfast we headed dow to the Strip District to check out the street vendors and grab a cup of coffee. The rest of the day was spent at the Heinz History Center. This Smithsonian affiliated museum is Pennsylvania's largest museum and has 40,000+ artifacts related to Western PA history.
Since my last visit, the museum has opened a Heinz exhibit. This section describes how the company was started and how products have changed over the years. One fun find was the pickle sizer company reps would take to grocery stores. Because pickles were processed in uniform sizes, the company could tell grocers how many pickles were in each container and made it easier to calculate their bottom line. Head over to the
museum's website to find some fun facts about the company. For example the first product made by the company was horseradish, not ketchup.
One of the best known things to come out of Pittsburgh is Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The special collections floor includes several pieces from the original set including the Neighborhood of Make-Believe (King Friday XIII's Castle is below).
The BIG day has arrived. THANKSGIVING!!! After a quick workout, Elise and I grabbed breakfast, woke up the parental units and started cooking. Thanksgiving has always been a very informal holiday, especially when it is just the immediate family, and the dress attire matches the mood. Here we have Elise rocking a beach towel, flannel and a pair of flannel penguin pants I have had since high school.
Even though no one else eats them, I make a pot of cranberry sauce. At dinner I will try to get everyone to take a bite, Mom and Elise will say flat out no and Dad will take a small bite to appease me. The rest goes into the freezer for a later date.
Before the turkey goes in to the oven it is time to break out the camera and the hats. Last year, I
brought a turkey hat and this year we took it a step further with a squid, crab and a chili pepper cycling cap. Elise must have taken 10,342,348 pictures before she found two she liked
After a can of black olives, several documentaries on Netflix and what seems like forever the turkey is done!
On Monday we finally made good on my Dad's Christmas present and took him to Fallingwater. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmann family just outside Pittsburgh. I won't bore you with all the nitty gritty details, but the structure is best known for its cantilevered structure and remote location. I was not able to take any pictures while in the house, but that is what the internet is for my friends.
Just down the road is Ohiopyle State Park so we made a last minute trip to Cucumber Falls. Cucumber run is one of the small creeks in the area which feeds into the Youghiogheny River. I have no idea where the name comes from because the waterfall did not look like a cucumber and there were no cucumber plants growing along the creek.
Family time!
It's too bad the sun was going down by the time we got here, but the edited picture below is a little better than the original.
On our way to Fallingwater we found a town called Normalville so naturally we stopped for a picture on the way back. I swear my sister is capable of taking a normal picture.
Everyone left bright and early Tuesday morning which means back to reality for me.
Thankfully I have a fridge filled with leftovers to help me cope.
