I finally arrived back in Boston today after spending a wonderful weekend in Wheeling, WV visiting with Family. My trip began last Friday. I flew into Pittsburgh and my father Mike picked me up. We drove to my Aunt Helen’s house to drop my luggage off and went immediately to the 5th Annual Wheeling Blues Fest. The event was situated along the Ohio River in downtown Wheeling.
My Uncle Paul and his daughter Carmen (my 2nd Cuz) met up with us at the fest and we watched 2-3 sets before we left and headed to the bar at the Oglebay Park Lodge, where Paul and Carmen were staying. As we sat there drinking Scotch, a wedding party rolled into the bar. It was apparent that they were not all from the Wheeling area as many of them were quite young/fashionable/beautiful. Through our conversations with some of the group we learned that the groom was from San Francisco (his father played football with the Chargers) and the bride was from Wheeling. Their crew was made up of peeps from CA, NY, etc. Right after Carmen and I agreed to crash their reception, scheduled for sometime Saturday evening, the groom came over and invited us….there fore taking the wind out of our devious plans! My father was asked to pose for a picture with a number of the women from the wedding party. They got a kick out of the t-shirt he was wearing which stated “Wenches Want Me!”. LOL!
The next morning, we all suffered small hang-overs. However, this did not get in the way of preparing for the family picnic that we scheduled for that afternoon at the “Knob” in Oglebay Park (I know that sounds obscene but it is a really nice park area right behind the Oglebay Mansion where old man Oglebay used to walk his horses). The picnic started around 11:30am and lasted until 4pm. We had about 20 family members and friends show up. What a blast!
After the Picnic, my father, Paul, Carman, Stacey, her boy Nick, my father’s friend Rick, and I went to play Putt-Putt in Elm Grove. Generation X (Carmen, Stacy, Nick, and I) challenged the Baby Boomers (Mike, Paul, Rick) to 18 holes of Best Ball. The wager was a round of drinks. The old-men clobbered us!
That evening everyone was planning to go back to the Blues Fest. Carmen and I decided that we had enough of that scene, so we headed out to a bar. We found a place that actually was pretty cool. They had a good DJ that was spinning Hip-Hop beats. When I spoke with him later in the night I found out that he was from Morocco (what he is doing in Wheeling is beyond me). The only downside to the venue was that there was hardly anyone there. Stacey and Nick joined up with us and we killed a couple of rounds before we decided to head out to find the next “hot spot”. We drove to Elm Grove to check out a club. This occupied a total of 3 seconds of our lives before we decided to bail (think Deliverance). We ended up at a place near Oglebay Park called Generations. This was your typical college type bar: packed and playing bad music. Regardless, we grabbed a table, ordered up some shots, and enjoyed the show. (NOTE: Carman and I both observed that Wheeling indeed has some hot chics. The guys on the other hand are a different story. I felt bad for my Cuz).
I ended up crashing with Carman and Paul in their room at the Lodge that night as I was in no condition to drive home. That next morning (Sunday), Paul hooked us up with these bracelets that allowed us full access to the resort-that’s the way he rolls! The three of us decided to take a tour of the Olegbay Mansion. Afterwards we grabbed lunch at some Lybian Festival that was going on in the park and then met up with my father at the Oglebay Park Pool.
The only downer of the weekend (other then the fact that it had to end) was getting stranded in Philly where I missed my connecting flight to Boston due to weather delays in Pittsburgh!
This was just an amazing visit with friends and family! I am thankful for making the effort to see everyone.
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