July 4th Weekend

After a long two weeks away from home, I was very thankful for the relaxing weekend planned with my husband and our families. Here's a summary of the events:

July 3rd - Clam Bake

The annual clam bake at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's is the greatest thing the Hawks have introduced me to (well, second to my husband I suppose). It's true that I had never had much seafood past my lips before I attended my first clam bake. I managed to (very) slowly chew and finally swallow one clam that first year. Since than I cannot wait for this special day to devour a whole sack of clams, king crab legs, shrimp, kielbasa, chicken, onions, carrots, corn on the cob, and last but not least, stuff in some dessert on top of all of that! It's so delicious, words can hardly do justice.

July 4th - HSO and State College

For the Fourth of July, I visited my parents for a yummy grilled pork dinner while Zach visited a friend in State College. Later that night, my parents and I attended the Harrisburg Symphony's concert on the lawn in Carlisle. Zach enjoyed reminiscing over his former college years and his evening included a great fireworks display.

July 5th - Pinchot

On our Monday off, Zach and I got to spend some quality time alone together and went hiking at Pinchot Park. Despite our attempt to have a lovely day, we were slightly disappointed. The hike was blisteringly hot, the trail was quite boring (at times in the an open field and not at all "Lakeside" as the trail's title implied), and our destination which we hoped would have ice cream, didn't. After literally dragging ourselves back to the car, we decided to hit the local bar for dinner, where I was served the worst pizza ever. It seriously tasted like plasticy cheese pizzas we served at my little brother's Little League concession stands. Hoping to end on a high note and finally get the ice cream I missed out on at the park, we left the bar and stopped at the local ice cream shop which...was closed.

However, I am rather stubborn and I still wanted my ice cream, so I suggested stopping at Rutter's because I knew they would be open. (And they were!) But, once we walked into the store, we found the ice cream refrigerators were covered with yellow "do not enter" tape and several displays were placed in front. SAY WHAT?!? Yeah, that's about how we felt. Fortunately, the problem was not in the ice cream, but rather the doors to the refrigerators, so we just had to ask the poor employee to get our Cookies and Cream ice cream and then we were on our way home to enjoy a bowl of ice cream in our lovely, air conditioned home.

All in all, I was happy to have spent the day with my best friend!