Busy Week of Fishing, Pens, Celebrating, Running

Our time here in WashPA is quickly coming to an end and even though we have been here for three months, we did not get to see all the people we intended to see or complete all the projects we had planned. Don't get me wrong, most of what we do while we are here is all about good times with friends and family, so it is not like we are not having fun. The week after we came back from the cruise has been one of the busiest since we got here in July. It started with our last doctor's appointment with a new physician since our old doctor moved away. That required explaining our lifestyle and the fact we do not do snow so we will not be back until late next summer.

On Thursday while the ladies got together, Mike and I went to Cross Creek Lake for a bit of fishing. While the catching was not very good we did see some interesting wildlife. See if you can find the heron in the picture above. We also watched a single goose that was honking like crazy as it seemed to be looking for its mate. We also saw an osprey hit the water twice to catch more fish than we did.

While the catching was not great, Mike did manage to have a bite on both poles at the same time. Luck was not with us as he missed both.

On Friday we went to Pittsburgh with Georgie so Nanc could pick up her packet for the Great Race. After getting her packet we went to the Church Brew Works for dinner. As the name says, the brewery is in an old church. This is something we have done every year Nanc has run the race, but sadly this is the first time we did it without our dear friend Tom. 

Saturday would have been Tom's 80th birthday, so the card club group got together for dinner at the Back Porch and a bit of "Tom"foolery in honor of Tom. Here are Nanc, Jim, Georgie, Di, Sherri, Mike and Tim "spooning" for Tom. This is something that Tom had done at many restaurant all over the country so it was a fitting tribute.

At Georgie's request, our waitress Melissa played Happy Birthday on her ukulele, something she did for Tom last year.

On Sunday Nanc ran the Great Race in Pittsburgh. This is the largest 10K (6.2 miles) race in Pennsylvania. Here she is near the finish line looking like she is ready to keep on going another 6.2 miles.

The happy runner finished 8th out of the 33 women in her age group. Congrats on a great run!!!!!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Mike and Sherri's place at Pymatuning Lake. Mike and I had three days of fishing while the ladies did a day on the boat and a couple days of shopping. As you can see Mike lived up to his name Captain Catfish.

Mike, Sherri and Nanc enjoying the early October sunshine. Our second day turned into quite an adventure. Mike and I were on the lake when we began to hear distant thunder. We looked at the radar and saw that the storm was several miles away so we fished on. Then we saw a flash of sky to ground lightening so we moved closer to the marina. After that I got a phone alert (not 45s) that said we were under a tornado watch so we motored to the dock. When we got there we got a call from Sherri to let us know that because of the tornado warning she and Nanc were in the basement of the Campbell Pottery, where there was a special tea pot exhibit. It seems they chose to shop in the path of the tornado that destroyed a big senior citizen's home. While it was a bit scary it all turned out fine and the pottery staff had a little tea party for those waiting out the storm. 

On our last day Mike and I hit the lake for three hours before heading back to WashPA. What an unbelievable three hours it was. I landed FIFTEEN fish in that time, a number I have never come close to on any single day in all my years of fishing or catching. As you can see Mike lived up to his name as every catch was a catfish. At one point Mike (he landed six) and I both landed a fish at the same time and another time all four poles had hits. It sure was a lot of fun. 

Maybe our good time was because there was no fishing pressure as we were usually the only boat on the water. Thanks to Mike and Sherri for the fun time at the lake.

On Thursday we went to our first Penguins game at PPG Paints Arena. The arena opened in 2010 as the beautiful new home of the Pens. Every game played here has been a sellout.

The Pens' five Stanley Cup banners in the rafters of the arena. Three of these have come since we went on the road.

It was the first game of the season so all the players were introduced one by one. Of course the last one was number 87 Sidney Crosby. 

We were two very happy fans, not only seeing our first game in the new arena but the Pens bringing home an overtime win against the current Stanley Cup chumps, the Washington Capitals. 

Outside the arena is a statue of Mario Lemieux - Le Magnifique that honors the man who saved the Penguins both as a player, winning Cups in 1991 and 1992 as a player and in 2009, 2016 and 2017 as the team owner. 

GO PENS!!!!! 

We have one week left here before heading south. We want to spend some time in the Outer Banks on our way, but all our plans depend on how Opus runs when we leave on October 15.