19 August 2009

Oh yeah.. I forgot I blog.

An ultra busy few weeks after Ironman has lead to a minor void in the blogging lately. I'm back on track now and have plenty of entries to update.

Last Tuesday, I flew back to Ohio for my sister's wedding. I arrived into CAK from DCA after 50 short minutes, in comparison to my standard 5.5 hour drive. After how easy that was, I'll be flying from here on out. Now I just need to convince my mom to buy a car so I don't have to drive the minivan when I borrow it.

Wednesday was spent laying in the pool, helping my mom around the house, and visiting two of the three must-go places when I'm home: The A&W Root Beer stand on the circle and Stricklands (the third being Swensons, which I sadly did not get to). This particular A&W drive up has been around forever, and same as it has always been. One of the few places I know that is still cash only. There's nothing better than a coney dog with cheese, french fries, and a frosty mug of root beer. I'm slightly sad I didn't take a picture of it in all of its glory, but maybe next time. The pictures were swooped off the internet. Stricklands is a frozen custard joint that has been around since the1930's. Prior to becoming a franchise, there used to be two - Stricklands, which is located across from Akron-Fulton airport, and Stricklands II, which used to be beside the local grocery store, about 3 miles down the road. The original was only open during the summer, and II was open year round. Both had different "Flavor of the Day" which is actually 2 flavors, as well as chocolate, vanilla, and a frozen sherbet, and lasts typically 3 days. Best.Frozen Yogurt.Ever. My friend's family growing up owned it, so I ate lots of free ice cream. Unfortunately, the two owners had different visions for it, and it has since been franchised. Still the same machines that make the custard though. If I would have been home every day, I would have stopped by. Unfortunately, I missed Banana - one of my all-time favorite flavors.

On the way to my sister's wedding, we stopped by the cemetery to place some flowers on Dad's grave. Lucky for me, the construction crews were out in full force setting up the section on the other side of where Dad is buried. So, I grabbed my camera, and I finally have pictures to go with this strange entry. I'll add them into the post shortly, but for your viewing pleasure:

A view from the road.


Sod waiting to be laid on the front of Dad's section. Not quite sure why the dug up the grass.


A view of the vaults. Note that each one is also numbered with the grave number. In the background, you can see construction on the above-ground vaults for ashes.





Construction vehicles would grab a vault from the
back and place them into the rows.


Not the best pictures in the world, but there was a group of workers right infront of Dad's grave, and mom didn't want them to think I was nuts for taking pictures.

After the cemetery, we were off to my sister's wedding in Columbus, Ohio. Very beautiful wedding. I'll post some pictures from the photographer once I have them, but here are some from the occasion (not all of them are mine..):

On the way to the church


My lats and bad tan lines came too.
The rest of the bridal party is out of the picture.



Sister and Brother-in-law leaving the church







First Dance


Cutting the cake






Bridal Table



Classy. Too bad two of those weren't even mine.
And, ew. why are my fingers look jacked up? Stupid hyperextension..