Every time Erin and I get to have one of our all-too-short visits together, I tell the story to you guys. Last week, I went up for the week of Thanksgiving, and it was as wonderful as it always was to be with her. But it’s taken me a little while to sit down and write what happened, because… well… this was a different kind of trip. On our first few trips, there were tons of things to talk about because we were discovering each other. When we go on a “vacation,” like to Philadelphia or Las Vegas, there are vacation-y things to discuss. But this trip was a less wordy kind of wonderful. Being with her, spending time with Erin, makes me happier than anything in my entire life, and this trip was no exception. But this time was more like being at home with her. Happy, blissful, but a bit more ordinary. It’s what I hope things can be like all the time someday.

But I do want to tell you what the trip was like, and share the (surprisingly few) pictures we took, so sit back and listen, friends. Travel worked out great this time — I got an early flight on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It sucked to have to be up and around at 5 a.m. (and thanks to my father for driving me to the airport), but it was worth it to still have so much of the day left when I got to Pittsburgh, just shortly after 1 p.m. That’s the time I got to the airport, that is. It was some time before I got to leave, because Erin — on her way to meet me — was stuck on the parkway. I claimed my luggage and got our rental car and still had time to read several chapters of a book (Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader: Jingle Bell Christmas, which you can expect a Christmas Party review of soon) before she arrived. As soon as I saw her, it was worth the wait. We grabbed a late lunch, then did some grocery shopping for the week. It was nothing major, nothing special, but even wandering the aisles at Walmart was great, because we were together.

Monday was probably the most touristy day we spent, with Erin taking me down to the Strip District for breakfast as DeLuca’s. This little diner is touted as having “the best breakfast in Pittsburgh,” and while I don’t know if I’d qualify it as the best, it was certainly darn good. From there, Erin took me to my new favorite place, the Pittsburgh Popcorn Company. This little shop makes popcorn in dozens of varieties, from the traditional butter and cheese flavors to specialty flavors like the Pumpkin Spice we got. It was delicious, and to answer your question Erin, a tin of any of that stuff would be excellent for a Christmas present. (The cheese was my favorite.)

From there we made our usual trip to Eides, the ginormous music, DVD, used book and comic book store in downtown Pittsburgh. Eides is a cool shop, with a pretty good selection. My favorite thing is the rapidly-shifting bargain bin, which features new stuff every time. I dove in and pulled out lots of old Superman comics I needed, including a 90-cent copy of Superboy #98, the first appearance of Ultra Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes, which I am now realizing is the geekiest thing I’ve ever written in one of these blogs about our visits.

The great thing about our relationship is how we reciprocate our geekdoms. She took me to get comics, and I went with her to see Twilight that afternoon. (If you want to know what we thought, you can listen to the review we recorded for the podcast.) The cool thing for me? We went to my favorite movie theatre ever, the Loews by the waterfront. I know I’ve mentioned it several times, so this time I actually took a few pictures of the lobby, to just give you an idea of how cool this place is.

Yep, that’s Santa and the snowman narrator from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer there.

After the movie, Erin took me to the Monroeville Mall (filming location of the original Dawn of the Dead, fellow geeks!), and I would like to take this occasion to offer an apology to my buddy Mike for not taking him here when he was in Pittsburgh last summer. Erin took me to a shop called Toy Galaxy, which is as much a Geek Mecca as Eides. The store has thousands of toys — old and new — along with geekish shirts, DVDs, and some old comic books to boot. To top it off, there’s even a zombie museum in the back room, a tribute to the undead legions of Pittsburgh:

The freakiest thing in the museum?

A motion simulator ride inside a coffin! The ride is supposed to take you through the experience of being a zombie. This is an experience I was perfectly willing to pass on. I get chills just thinking about it.

Tuesday was an even more subdued day. We slept late, we ordered a pizza for lunch, and we watched Casino Royale on DVD. Erin had never seen it before, and as I reaaaally wanted to see Quantum of Solace, she wanted to see the first Daniel Craig Bond film first. When we finally ventured out, we realized it had been snowing most of the day — not a blizzard, but enough to make this Southern boy excited:

We both really liked Quantum of Solace (I love the fact that James Bond now has a story arc) and after the film Erin took me to a little tavern called Rivertown with great hamburgers and home-brewed beer and sodas. The pumpkin spice beer I tried was good, but I’d go back for another one of their root beers or cream sodas.

Wednesday was probably my favorite day of the trip, all things considered. I spend a lot of time online (as you may have noticed) and have acquaintances on several websites, including one who manages a comic book shop in the Pittsburgh area. We looked up the store, New Dimension Comicsin McMurray, and set out on Wednesday to find it. Naturally, we went the wrong way on the interstate and wound up taking a 2-hour detour. Erin enjoyed it a lot — she likes driving around random places — and while I’m a little more antsy about not knowing exactly where I am, I loved being with her and seeing the snow-covered hills.

New Dimension turned out to be a fantastic shop: clean, warm, and inviting. Colin, the manager, was a really nice guy and we talked to him a bit before making a few purchases (including the DC Infinite Heroes Hush figure I needed). Then we headed back to town, rested up, and went out to Erin’s favorite haunt (Buffalo Wild Wings) to spend the evening with her friends.

Due to the Penguins game that night, the usual Wednesday Trivia Game was cancelled, but it was still a lot of fun. Several of Erin’s friends came out, and we were even joined by her brother Shan and sister-in-law Jackie, whom Erin has been trying to get to join her for a long time. The game was fun, the food was good, and we all had a great time.

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving, and a total family day. Erin and I joined Shan, Jackie, and their daughters Elise and Lydia at a community lunch sponsored by their church. Afterwards, Jackie stayed behind to help clean up, and Erin and I watched the girls while Shan took a nap. I’ve met Elise before, but as she’s just 3 years old, she doesn’t remember being scared of me last time. And I left the day that Lydia was born, so we’ve never met. The girls were a little terrified of the big, strange man with their Aunt Erin. Elise actually scooted away from me any time Erin left the couch, where she was sitting between us. They warmed up, eventually, by playing with puzzles and attacking their Aunt like the troops storming the beach at Normandy, then it was time for dinner.

The six of us — Erin and I, Shan, Jackie, and the girls — were joined by Erin’s mother for a Thanksgiving buffet. While it wasn’t Petit home cooking, it was really good. Great turkey, ham, and prime rib, a delicious strawberry salad, several trimmings, and tons of desserts (including a thick slab of my beloved pumpkin pie). The only snag came when Mom, Dad, and Grammy were all at the buffet at the same time, leaving Erin and I with the two girls. Suddenly: Elise had to potty, and Aunt Erin had to take her, leaving little 1-year-old Lydia with me. The second Erin was out of her sight, she started to scream bloody murder. Everyone she knew was gone, and she was alone with this big, hairy stranger! Honestly, I can’t blame her for being scared. Jackie and Erin got back at almost the same time, and between the two of them they managed to calm her down and I didn’t have to resort to offering her any of the wine.

Friday kinda sucked during the day. Erin couldn’t get out of work on Black Friday, so she went in for a morning shift while I stayed behind writing reviews for Comixtreme and watching the Mork and Mindy marathon on Sci-Fi. But the afternoon was awesome. The day before, my mother sent me a message informing me that my Uncle Scott was in town. Scott and his family have moved around a lot over the years, but have lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for some time now. His oldest son, Ryan, is a darn good hockey player, and his team just happened to be playing in a tournament in Pittsburgh that weekend. I’d never seen a live hockey game before, and since Erin is a big fan, we happily agreed to meet up with them to watch the game.

Scott and Ryan apparently weren’t too happy with their performance, but knowing as much as I do about hockey, I couldn’t tell what the problems were. Ryan scored a goal 19 seconds into the game, and no one else scored at all. His team, the Queen City Steam, beat the Allegheny Badgers 1-0, and I got to hang out with my uncle, who I haven’t seen since my sister’s wedding two years ago. Plus, Erin and I were the first people in the family to ever get to see one of his hockey games. So I count it as a win.

Erin and I had dinner at an incredible little Italian restaurant (that you MUST take me to again, sweetheart) and then had a quiet evening of watching TV, writing (in my case) and just enjoying being together. We needed it, because the next day, I went home.

We got up early enough to get going, but unfortunately, didn’t get on the road early enough for a Cracker Barrel breakfast, as we’d hoped. We did manage to grab a fast food lunch, and then I was soon whisked away.

I love Erin more each time we’re together, and more than ever (except possibly our Katrina evacuation trip) this visit convinced me that we’re not just good together, we’re meant to be together. She’ll be down here in New Orleans in February for Mardi Gras — my least favorite holiday. But I’ll be with her, and so I know it’ll be the best Mardi Gras ever.