The drive from our area to Pittsburgh is very long.  I’m sure I drove my roommate crazy with the “are we there yet” routine but it helped keep me sane.  Okay, my reasonable facsimile of sane.  I hadn’t slept the night before because had I gone to bed I would’ve only had one or two hours of sleep before we left anyway.

     You have no idea how happy we were when we sighted the hotel.  For those of us not used to ‘big city living,’ driving into Pittsburgh is literal hell.  I am so glad I wasn’t the one behind the wheel.

     We checked in and the bellhop unloaded our car.  I think he was surprised at the amount of stuff we brought along and the ten baskets took up a lot of room.  (He almost went back for a second cart.)  We tip well so he had no complaints when he settled us in our room.  He left smiling.  We called our husbands to let them know we arrived safely.

     As soon as we freshened up, we went to the lobby to watch for other arrivals.  Hungry, we ordered an appetizer to tide us over until dinner.  (Fair warning, do not order their nachos they were awful.  However, they made up for it later at dinner by treating us to a free appetizer.) 

     As each member of ‘the rowdy bunch’ arrived, there was much hugging and kidding around.  When everyone had checked in and freshened up, we all trooped into the restaurant for an excellent dinner.