I’M JUST CURIOUS – The wandering Nanas: Chapter 2

by Debbie Walker

Chapter 1 was printed two weeks ago. There was just too much for one column, so here we are now on our way to Pennsylvania — Slippery Rock, to be exact.

We are being assisted by a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) gadget from our phones. We both have little-to-no knowledge of these things but … we left Walnut Creek, Ohio, headed east. (We did give those gadgets a few new names!)

There wasn’t much guidance needed once on our way, however … we got to downtown Slippery Rock and “SHE” left us at the light. Nothing! No more words! We did the only sensible thing: Use the phone to call Fred (Nana Dee’s nephew) and Jackie (her niece). We discovered we needed to go through the light, keep going just a few streets and there was Keister Street, the home of Slippery Rock University! On arrival at our host’s we were handed a much-appreciated drink! And Fred had prepared his own creation of Pig on Pig (or Pork on Pork). This is a pork chop surrounded by bacon. Yummy!

Saturday we were taken to their Strawberry Festival in their beautiful park where we met more extended family and enjoyed the sights, music and food. Strawberries on waffles was a hit. On display were many local products presented by local vendors and artists. And more importantly, more friendly people. AND we didn’t have to drive all day!

On Sunday we went to Fred’s son, Ty’s, home for a celebration of their first wedding anniversary complete with a piece of Ty and April’s original wedding cake. (Ty and April left this week for Colorado where April received her honors for her master’s degree in nursing.) A lot to celebrate.

This would not be complete without telling you about our visit to the Elite Casino, in Pittsburgh (next door to the Steeler’s stadium and the Pirates stadium). There we were unintentionally entertained by Nana Dee. Watching her play leapfrog down a bank of five slot machines gave Jackie, Fred and I quite a few laughs!

Nana Dee sat at a machine, put in her ‘donation,’ pushed a couple of buttons and bing, bing, bing. She had won. She leaped (really!) from that machine to the very next one, puts in her ‘donation,’ push a couple of buttons and bing, bing, bing. She won again. She made the exact same moves on three more machines and bing, bing, bing. She won a total of $178 in less than 15 minutes. By the time another 15 minutes went by Jackie and I had lost our money. Fred had spent about 25 cents and won $6 and left there with it!

We left the casino and were taken to the 36 Grill owned by Jerome Bettis, a local Steelers hero, and the meal was fantastic. Right next door to this is the beautiful South Western Pennsylvania World War ll Memorial. This deserves its own column.

THE Wandering Nanas had a wonderful trip from start to finish and are looking forward to another one day. Tonight, I am just curious if you will be doing some wandering of your own! Contact me with questions or comments at dwdaffy@yahoo.com . Thank you so much for reading!