Grandpa was so excited to see Jesse when we got there. It was too sweet. He greatly appreciated us coming so far just for him. Grandpa amazes me. Until this point he still lived by himself (in a retirement-like home) and got around pretty well. (Although he made sure we knew that having his driver's license taken away was a very sad day for him.) Anyway, he has black lung from years of working in the coal mines and clogged up arteries, but he keeps on ticking, and with a good memory too! He recognized Jesse even waking him up from his rest when we arrived, and asked Jesse about his job and remembered that I was in school. He was tickled that there will be a Dr. B one day. He laughed and said, "Boy, we sure have come a long way!" He slept for most of our visit, but by Saturday he had perked up and talked with us for nearly 45 minutes before we left. It was a great ending to our trip!
There's not a whole lot to see near Girardville, PA except rows of row houses...
This one was the prettiest:
One highlight of the trip was our late night outing for hot hamburgers from Tony's. I've heard about these hamburgers, known as Screamers, since Jesse and I started dating... 9 years ago! Tony's is a local place that has been serving up hamburgers and hotdogs covered in spicy sauce for many, many years. I found this online review and loved the guys description:
"Screamers are a legendary hamburger with Tony's hot sauce and onions with a buttered bun, just as described. They are hot, no question about it.... The other Tony's staple is the Growler, which is a hot dog prepared in the same fashion.... The typical happy meal at Tony's is 2 Screamers chased by a guers Iced Tea or a Chocolate Milk. The milk seem to cool the bite of the hot sauce a little better than the tea. The place is open from about 8:30 PM til about 2:30 or 3 AM. Despite the name Tony's Lunch, it is not open for lunch.... The sauce cannot be purchased to take home. The recipe is more secret than launch codes."
Obviously a local favorite- people line up down the street for these hot hamburgers, so we had to get one while we were in town. Since Jesse or his parents were last there, they added marshmallow fluff to the burgers. Now, I know this sounds weird, but it was surprisingly good, and I couldn't have made it through the spiciness without it!
I got to meet more of his dad's side of the family, and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with them. They had a few things unfamiliar dishes in their spread, like Mashed Potato Filling and Jewish Apple Cake. The filling is their version of stuffing, which as most of you know is really called dressing. :) And the apple cake was incredibly moist! I need to get these recipes and share them with you fellow southerners because we are missing out!
Jesse's great grandfather owned a store front on the front side of their house many years ago, and it has their (our) last name across the front in beautiful stained glass. So of course, we had to stop and take pictures!
Oh, and we had pizza at another local stop. It was too delicious not to mention. (We are food people. In case you haven't noticed.)
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