Thursday was aaronbenedict's last day in Pittsburgh. He had a meeting in the Strip District, so I used that time to wander around and take some pictures.






Wandering around The Strip District




Signs by The Pennsylvania Howling Mob Society














A little more than a decade ago, I dated a man whose family owned and ran a produce store in The Strip. This is what's left of that store.


J. Weisberg & Sons. When they went under, they sold to one of the managers, and it became Bill's Produce. That didn't last long.


You can still vaguely see where it said "J. Weisberg"


It just all made me sad.


But then I met a pair of kittens in a parking lot. :)






I thought aaronbenedict and I had done our T-shirt shopping at Yinzers but actually we bought our shirts at a nameless store a block away.




The sidewalk stand where I bought sunflowers.








Penn Animal Hospital. This is where I got Jacob and Tino. It was actually through that same ex -- the vet used to shop in his store, and mentioned that he had two kittens in need of a home. The rest, as they say, is history.








Right By Nature. This was my first visit there. I'd hoped to run into Thrasher (or Sarah, or Orlando, or any of the other ex-Co-op types who went to work there). Little did I know that they've already laid Thrasher off.


Lunching at Milky Way


... and then Rita's for dessert


At the airport. Once he checked his bag, he found out that his flight had been delayed by about two hours. Stressful to be sure, but at least we got a little extra time to spend together.









And that's it until next time. We don't even know when (or where) "next time" will be. At The Co-op, Rob is saying no more vacation requests for August, and aaronbenedict doesn't even know when or where his next trip will be. With Kat gone (Wednesday was her last day) there isn't even anyone I could ask to switch shifts with me. It's really depressing me. I hate having to say goodbye to him.