Friday, January 6, 2012

Christmas Vacation

While Wendy and Nina were off in the Gulf of Mexico on a cruise with my mother-in-law, I decided to make a trip East to Pennsylvania.

12/22 -  Headed to an Alehouse with Jim and Lance from work to sample a few beverages and have some food.  Beers, food, and company were great.  Slept at Jim's to save an hour on the drive the next morning.  Here is the Cajun Steak Sandwich with fresh cut fries that I had.


12/23 Drove 7 hours to my friend Rob's house in Coraopolis, PA.  Visited some Giant Eagle stores on the way for a work project.  Visited 2 Steelers stores to buy merchandise.  Ate at Quaker Steak and Lube for Dinner.  Had a few drinks with Rob, and shared some presents with his children.


12/24 Rob and I headed to Pittsburgh for the Steelers v Rams game.  Hit a few bars before the game, and the Hard Rock after the game.  Also, stopped to by some more Steelers merch after the game.  Great seats.  Great game.  Great company.


12/25 Drove 4.5 hours to Christmas dinner in Bath, PA at Aunt Tina and Uncle Tom's house and got to meet up with the family.  Spent the night at Joe's drinking a few more beers.  We surprised Mom with a laptop for her present.


12/26 Setup Mom's router and laptop.  Met up with my friend Todd and Trox at the Blue Monkey for a few beers.

12/27 Hit the restaurant supply stores for some spices and some BBQ supplies.  Went record shopping at Double Decker Records in Allentown and Play It Again Records in Bethlehem.  Then Joe and Carolyn, Robin and Joe and kids came over to Mom's for some PA Dutch cooking, chicken pot pie.

Double Decker Records:

Kraut - An Adjustment to Society (colored vinyl $11.98 new) - I want to record this to CD to make it sound better than the CD that was released.

DOA/Potbelly - The Vagabond Sessions (split LP $14.98 new) - Recorded live at Vagabond Sound in Oak Harbor, WA - DOA 4/1/11 and Potbelly 6/11.

Dag Nasty - Trouble Is (green vinyl 12in $8.00 used)

The Damned - Children of The Damned (Bootleg LP $15.00 new) - Side A = White Cats 8/16/79 Peel Session and Tanz Der Youth 8/2/78 Peel Session and Side B 7/11/78 Peel Session and Doctors of Madness track with Vanian on vocals.

Pork Dukes - Telephone Masturbator (12in EP $8.00 used)

Play It Again:

UK Subs - Recorded 1979-1981 (blue vinyl $18.00 used) - I couldn't resist buying a copy of this again just because it has never been released on CD even though it is basically an early period greatest hits record.

DOA - Live in San Francisco CD/DVD

FU's - Kill for Christ Taang! CD with 10 bonus tracks





12/28 Joe and I drove to pick up my steel plates for my smoker.  I showed him the design earlier in the week and thought he could find someone to make them.  Well, $20 later, I had my plates.  Can't wait to try them out this spring to ensure that they will keep the heat consistent in the Traeger.  Mom and Dad, Joe, and me hit Burgers and More by Emeril at the casino at the old Bethlehem Steel factory.  Mom and I both won some $ on the penny slots.  Later that night, I went out with my friends Todd, Brad, and Lew for some beer and wings.  Great time!  Got home at 3am.  For some reason, I can't go out with Brad and get home any earlier than that.

12/29 Having too much fun the night before I didn't do a damn thing.

12/30 Went with Joe and Carolyn and Mom and Dad to the Poconos.  We had the worst BBQ I had ever eaten at Big Daddy's BBQ on 611.  They serve Kraft mac n cheese.  The ribs were boiled before they smoked them.  I think they may have done the same thing with the sausage.  They cut the brisket the wrong way (with the grain) and it was tough as leather.  Hit some outlet mall stores and bought a few pair of Adidas.  Headed to Joe's for a few beers.  Stopped at Aunt Sis's to pick up the cream cheese cupcakes she made for me.  They came in handy during the ride the next day as did the hoagie from Wegman's.

12/31 Drove 12 hours from Catasauqua to Gurnee.

Cost of the trip = less than it was worth
Memories and pics = priceless

2 comments:

  1. You need to get the Dag Nasty 12 inch signed by Cortner!

    ReplyDelete
  2. its a good thing this Brad has a very understanding wife!!

    ReplyDelete