It smells like Chicken Broil time.

I have headed home for a solo visit to Michigan for the 55th Annual Manchester Chicken Broil. This is one of my most favorite childhood traditions and having missed the last couple it was time to head home. Go here (http://www.manchesterchickenbroil.org/) to learn more about the chicken broil and it's history.

I flew in last night and met my parents at the airport. We ventured into Ypsilanti on the way home to grab me a bite to eat at one of my most favorite local joints. The Chick-Inn Drive - In.



You CANNOT find places like this in Northern Virginia.

After I ate we headed home to Manchester.

My mom and I headed out for the day. A much needed haircut was in order and then we headed down to Adrian to do some shopping. We stopped in at Starbucks (cause you know I can't go without 'em. :D ) and enjoyed our drinks and just caught up on stuff. Then we headed over to Wal-Mart to pick some things up for the house. After all of our errands were complete we headed back to Manchester to get ready for that awesome chicken dinner.

Mom and I headed out for a walk to check out the field and so I could take some pictures. This is a picture of the cinder block pits that the men assemble for use. If you close your eyes you can smell the bbq...



You can take your dinners home or eat in on the field. Here is a view of the field diners.



This is what I've been waiting for....the awesome chicken dinner.



The first bite is ALWAYS the best.



and sadly that's about ALL I got. Shortly after my dad and I sat down to eat we got a call from my mom that the ambulence was down at my grandmother's (dad's mother). SO we packed up our food, threw it in the back of dad's truck and hauled rubber down to my grandma's. She had fallen out of her wheelchair and was being transported to the hospital. So we spent most of the evening in the ER until she was admitted. My dad and I headed out to McDonald's around 10 something to get us a bite to eat and then went back to the hospital to eat with my mom.

After a long and tiresome day we headed home for some much needed sleep.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Celebrating the 4th Inner Harbor Style!

Eric and I hit up Baltimore for the 4th this year. Our first stop when we got into town was http://chapspitbeef.com/ which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The food was so good and totally worth getting "lost" over. We headed towards the Harbor to check into our hotel and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. We ordered in dinner and then headed out to enjoy a beautiful yet rainy fireworks display on the Inner Harbor. The hotel we stayed at had a 5th floor observation deck which gave us a very nice view of the fireworks.

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to begin with the Harbor behind us (don't mind the blur....a really nice and HAPPY stranger offered to take our picture).

From 4th of July

Fireworks are definitely one of the hardest things to photograph when you don't have a tripod to keep the camera still....but I ended up with a few nice shots.

From 4th of July

From 4th of July

Saturday we met up with our friends Adrian and Christie for breakfast and then some shopping as they were just getting back from the cruise to Bermuda. We had a great day together and were disappointed to see it come to an end.

** Backdated to July on 9/30/2008 **

Happy 4th of July!

Wishing you and yours a very safe and happy 4th.