Road Trip!

I decided to play hookie from the office today. Comp-time is a wonderful thing. After several weeks of work, bills, work, bills, work, bills, work and more work, I decided that since the kids were off school today, I would be off work too. We woke up this morning and took a road trip over to Pittsburgh. I love that town. Without weather or traffic slowdowns, it's a quick 1.5 hour drive from our house. Okay, last time we tried a trip like this, things did not go well. But not this time!
In the past, I had mentioned that we purchased a pass at a local science center that allows us free admission to hundreds of other science centers across the nation and Carnegie Science Center is on that list. It really is one of the better centers that I have been too. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed watching them have a good time. Denise and I had fun playing with some of the exhibits, Alex had a blast working with the electrical displays and Molly, of course, was playing in the water. And the laser show. Wow.
One of the coolest things about the center is the cold war era sub USS Requin. The ship is docked in the Ohio River right outside the center and the tour is pretty cool. It always makes me remember what people do in the service of our country. Now, I'm a big guy, it was pretty close quarters for me in there. I can't imagine what those guy did, and still do, living and working in such a small area. Really does make one appreciate what they do. The center was also hosting many local businesses to show how science is applied in business. They were also giving away free stuff too. Molly was about as bad as I am at Lotusphere trying to get as much stuff as possible. Okay, so I'm on one vendors "Can't win an ipod from them" list. Hey, it's not my fault I won two from them...but that's another story. We had a great day at Carnegie. (Pics will be on Flickr)
So after a long day of walking around the center, we headed off to dinner and then the drive home. Dodging deer the whole way. We made it home in time for Battlestar Galactica. The frosting on what turned out to be a fan-fracking-tastic day! I'm not going to tell you about it, but you really HAVE to see it.
I'm going to worry about work and bills next week. The rest of the weekend is for me and my family. Sometimes, you just need a change of scenery, even a quick and cheap day trip with the ones you love, to get things back on track again. ;-)