Dana Daily

Sal and I climbed 294 steps up to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument for this overcast view of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston this past Monday. Then we climbed down the same 294 steps. Sal claims he had no intention of climbing to the top of the monument. However, he was all for climbing 141 steps down to the shore at the Mohegan Bluffs on Block Island (and back up, of course). Furthermore, seeing this Bunker Hill Monument, which you know is the final resting place for Archie and Edith, was something he kept mentioning ALL weekend. There was no way we weren't going all the way up. So I said, "we're climbing it Crano" and ran up about the first 20 steps. I guess he felt like he had to follow me. Let me tell you, 294 steps are a lot. Double that since we had to make the trek down and our calves are screaming. It's been 3 days now and we still hurt. No amount of stretching and exercising has helped. Guess we need to find some steps around Pittsbur...

One of my goals for my 34th year was to graduate from Chatham with a masters. It looks like this will be pushed back a couple of months. When I received the information regarding my last class, which started today, I was overwhelmed. This "class" is actually an internship with a company or agency who wants a graduate student to work with them on developing some kind of web content or web-based product. It would have been a full-time job. I already work 40 hours a week and have two young children. I'm not sure it would even be do-able and I went into full panic mode. I decided the best course of action would be to drop the "class". I haven't had a good feeling about this particular class for months, and the syllabus confirmed my fears. Since MSA is paying for part of my degree, I had to clear dropping the concentration with them first. We agreed that instead I would take Business and Organizational Writing. It begins on August 27 and will finish in mid...

I've been to the New England area twice in the past, and to Boston once. For someone who loves American History, this city is it. Sal and I always have fun and being in New England together was just the icing on the cake. We tossed around a lot of ideas and came up with a list of things we'd like to do and see. Thanks to a 3 hour flight delay on departure day,  we were able to accomplish everything on our short list. Friday Sal picking me up at the airport (it was so fun knowing he would be waiting when my plane landed) The confusing T system (it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out - plenty of laughs there) Duck Tour with Captain Mack Red Sox game at Fenway Park (100th anniversary of the park) Ugly Dog Books (Sal's cousin's wife owns this used book store) Saturday Concord / Lexington Reconstruction of Thoreau's Cabin Walden Pond (1.7 mile walk around) Lizzie Borden House (sort of, it was closed for tours when we arrived) Kohls (after ...

It's been a few years since I went to the beach and while I'm not a huge fan of sand, I love watching the waves break on the shoreline and even the squawking of seagulls. The atmosphere is laid back and everyone is just a little less stressed on the coast. When I added a trip to the beach to my birthday bucket list , I never imagined I'd be on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. This particular beach was 141 steps down the Mohegan Bluffs . At the bottom of the steps, a rope is tied off and visitors hang onto that as they walk over some rocks to get down onto the beach. You have to really want to get to the beach at Mohegan Bluffs to do this (there are more easily accessible beaches on Block Island, in case you were wondering). Anyway, here's my beach picture to fulfill item number 34 on my birthday bucket list .

The day of my long-awaited trip back to the New England area is upon me. I have an 11:30am flight out of Pittsburgh which gets me to Logan International just after 1pm. Cheers for flying the friendly skies. Why New England? Sal has family in the Attleboro, MA area and spends a week or two visiting them every summer. This year he invited me to come ago. I had a few days of vacation to spare so we agreed that he would leave earlier in the week and I would fly up to meet him on Friday. I'll be returning on Monday, with barely enough time to get to daycare to retrieve the girls. He'll drive home sometime next week. (When you're a teacher you can be all flexible like that.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting his family. We're facebook friends and I've talked to them on the phone, but there's nothing like meeting in person. He swears they'll like me. I hope he's right. Sal also has a long list of places we need to visit so we'll have to see...

It was a heart-stopping moment last night when I realized that I could not access my blogs (this one and my reading journal) from my home computer. Blogger, the program I use to create these one-of-a-kind fascinating entries, apparently updated and required me to sign in. (Normally I don't log out). Since this blog is private, every time I tried to access it, and I  tried various things for well over an hour, it told me I would need to contact the blog author for permission. Ummm. Incidentally, I started this blog using an email address I haven't used in well over 18 months. I could not remember the address for the life of me. I could remember my password but not the address. I found out it's possible to recover a password if you know the email address, but it is not possible to recover the email address with just a password. Panic set in. This blog is my writing journal; every writer has one. Worst nightmare - not being able to access it. Two years of my life, down t...

Twenty-nine years ago my "little" brother was born. Since I was 6 years old at the time I do have some memories of that day. My Aunt Doris was in charge of my sister and I when my mom went to the hospital. We were at my aunt and uncle's house when the phone call came that I had a little brother. For most of my mom's pregnancy I had wanted a brother, but late in the game I changed my mind and wanted another sister instead. By then it was too late. Andrew had arrived. For months I tried talking my parents into naming him Shepherdess. While you laugh, keep in mind I was only 6. I came up with this idea because of the importance of the little china shepherdess in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, my favorite stories at the time. I remember my aunt asking me if I wanted to talk to my mom (or maybe it was my dad), but when I found out they didn't name him Shepherdess I gave them the silent treatment and refused. I'm pretty sure my aunt kept my ...

Here we are at the halfway point. Sal and I hit the bike trail at Moraine State Park - my first ride in 20 years. He asked if I wanted to do the full 14 miles or only part of it. Fourteen miles on a bike didn't seem too bad to me so I said I was up for the whole thing. Well, seven miles in I wished I had put more thought into my response. I think I slowed him down a bit, but he didn't complain. It was fun . . .and then we treated ourselves to ice cream afterward. And because I hadn't been to Moraine before, I'm counting this as my "exploring in PA" from my bucket list .

Sal and I were pondering what to do on Saturday when I remembered him mentioning that he'd like to find what is left of Forbes Field (located in Oakland) and find home plate which is now in a building on Pitt's Campus. Oakland isn't an area of the city I know very well so it was fun to explore. We did find what remains of the wall, home plate, and also walked through parts of Schenley Park. Had I not had a sinus headache that day (thank you allergies) a ride on the carousel might have been fun. Forbes Field's home plate We decided to see how many floors high we could get in the Cathedral of Learning and found an elevator that took us to the 36th floor. Here's a view of the area where Forbes Field once stood. Then Sal and I found this log cabin and there wasn't a plaque anywhere to tell us anything about it. I did some quick checking online and this is all I found about it. We couldn't get in, but took a few pictures of us on the porch, and came ...

Item number 32 on my birthday bucket list was to attend a baseball game  and Sal got us great seats at PNC Park. Pittsburgh was a mess on Friday thanks to rush hour traffic, the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and the sold out Pirates game. However, after 1.5 hours in traffic we made it to the park just in time for the second inning. Or was it the third? Either way, here's the view from our seats. The Pirates beat the Royals (4-2, I believe).

Ready to be on the road The unincorporated town of Frost, West Virginia is God's country. There is nothing around for miles. The nearest town you'll find on a map is 30 minutes away and it has one restaurant and two traffic lights. The green mountains of West Virginia are the only backdrop. We lost cell service an hour north. Sounds like my kind of place, does it not? You're right. It does not. But yet, when the Inn at Mountain Quest, located in Frost offered a Groupon for two adults and up to three children under the age of 5, I bought it. Since our trip to Gaithersburg and Bethesda, Maryland last year (which you can read about here ) my mom, my sister, and I decided we wanted to do another multi-generation trip. The price was right and since we decided last year that we wanted something low-key this year, it seemed perfect. On a working horse farm, the Inn at Mountain Quest was an experience to behold. This is a place where people find or make their ...