It seems this year’s family vacation would take us to Pennsylvania. My father was born here, and this is where we buried him in 2001. It’s time to go pay pops a visit and see the rest of the family as well. I decided to cronicle this adventure more for the sake of posterity for my family than anything else. But if you care to read about it, feel free!

DAY ONE:
It’s time to get up at the ass crack of dawn as I like to call it. Seems a fitting moniker for this ungodly hour as it’s both dark and a place you’d rather be asleep for if you must encounter it. It’s 3am and the alarm is wailing. Why? Because in the Trevethan family we start shit early. We’re chronically prompt in most cases, and dreadfully early in the rest of the cases. Why should this trip be any different? So we yank ourselves out of bed and start getting ready for the adventure that is sure to follow.

I’m starting this log on day three since I’m good like that. I’m gonna make one hell of a writer if I can ever get accepted into the fold. … Yes, that was sarcasm. Anyway, back to the adventure. We wake up dreadfully early. Mind you this is well BEFORE my bedtime for the day… Yeah, that early. So, we load up the car and get ready to depart for the airport.

We all seem to be in good spirits. We didn’t forget anything super important, and all appears to be off to a good start. This is as good as it got. We got to the airport nice and early as per normal operating procedure. Our first bit of news was our plane was having “troubles” and would be 3 hours late. This would be too late for us to make the connecting flight, so we had to get rebooked, which of course had the wonderful effect of splitting us up. In fact, on our first flight none of us were sitting together. Shortly after that happy feeling settled in, my OCDs began to run in overdrive. I was worried about taking a two year old on a plane, and how he would behave, and how he wouldn’t behave, and how we would take care of diapers, and how others would feel about his incessant wailing, and … oh well, you get the picture. We got it so that at least Heidi and Rhys could sit together for his very first plane ride, so that worked out.

The reality of the situation was Rhys was a model passenger. He didn’t seem to care too much either way about the plane. It was neat to see the planes, and the trucks and all that, but as soon as we were in the air, he was out. You could almost hear him thinking, ‘Wow? That’s it?” If only I could have taken a lesson from him. But now, I stayed up and just let my mind bounce around in my head like a racquetball match gone to hell. Yeah, I skipped the vodka.

After a virtually uneventful flight to Pittsburgh, we disembarked and proceeded to secure ground transportation. This was more expensive than we had initially thought, which probably had a big part to do with the fact that none of us bothered to shop it around (or maybe they did and just left me out of the picture). After paying what I thought was way too much for a Nissan Altima, we were on our way to Meadville and a much needed break.

DAY TWO:
Today we woke at a reasonable hour. The basic plan of the day was a small get together at my cousin Rhonda’s, which was just fine by me. No need to jump into the full on family thing just yet. :) So we went to Rhonda’s and had a great time. She was super considerate, and went out of her way to make us feel at home. Rhys had toys to play with, and I got to make some keilbasa and napa. It felt nice to get my hands on a pan and cook something. Yes, that’s a good thing, for you see I am a foodie.

Aside from my strange dish, which met with the sound of crickets when I offered it to the rest of the family (told ya it was just like home), there was scalloped potatos, chicken and rice, chicken and pasta, two pies, and something else that I just can’t seem to remember. Everything was outstanding! On a sidenote, we’re goin back there tomorrow for leftovers. ;)

So, all went very well on day two. We sat around, watch home movies, played guitar (well, Uncle Lou played), and talked. It was a fabulous time.

Then I went outside to smoke. Yes, I’m smoking again. Before you open your mouth to spout some righteous bullshit go make a nice warm cup of Shut The Fuck Up and finish reading. So, anyway, I go outside to smoke. Oh, I suppose I should mention at this point that the weather is absolute asstastic. Totally way too wet and cold for October (a farmer told me that so it HAS to be true). ANYWAY, I go out to smoke, and the ground is saturated and everything else has a nice layer of cold dampness to it. I walk down a ramp outside and caught it just right. Slipped on my ass. Not like a typical slip. It was more like a cartoon character slip. I must have gone completely verticle before my body began its decent. Anyway, I ate shit outside, and am totally convinced it was my father communicating with me from the other side. Saying something like, “You dipshit! WHY ARE YOU SMOKING AGAIN!?” That was the highlight of my day.

So I went back to the hotel to turn in for the night and nurse my wounded shoulder and ego. :)

DAY THREE:
Not much to tell here. We all did the family thing at Hoss’s. …. I’ll let that sink in. Yes, we actually ate at a place called Hoss’s. Did I mention this is a small town? Now before you start thinking I’m being negative here, let me tell you, the food frakkin rocked! It was absolutely fantastic. I’m stuffed to the point of rupture — or rapture if you want to go there. One thing we’ve been doing a lot of on this trip is eating. I would like to dedicate a lot of that to our two year old who is the light of my life, but also the bull who storms through my china shop. I wish I had video of his little display of insanity tonight. I think he absolutely lost his mind tonight. …

Tonight was extra rough. Which is why I’m playing poker, drinking vodka and writing in this damn journal. Therapy… Oh did I mention? It’s SNOWING like a bastard right now!

Ok, enough from me. I need to turn in before my son and wife decide to kill the sound of my tappity tap tap on the keyboard with a lethal solution. Night night cyber buddies! Drink one for me!

PS: Heidi’s been taking pictures, but not much. I’ll get some up here ASAP.