Vacationing Without Me

Every year, the two weeks between the end of the school year and the start of Grace Adventures Day Camp are my loneliest couple of weeks of the year for me.  As a single dad who has to work, I have to send my daughter off to her grandparent's for a vacation of her own, without me.  Last week, she spent whole week with my parents.  It was a little different this year since I spent a lot of time at their place, too, with our air conditioner not working.  But she still went on a couple of day trips, including a day in Lancaster at Sight and Sound to see Noah, which she told me was very exciting.

This week, she's with my in-laws, and they left this morning for Ocean City, MD.  OC in the Summer is a lot of fun.  My family used to spend a week at OC every year when I was a teen, and I have lots of fond memories of walking the Boardwalk, riding the amusement rides at the pier, eating Thrasher's fries, eating burgers at the Atlantic Stand, ice cream at Dumser's, Fisher's caramel corn, breakfast at English's, and lunch at the Dough Roller.

I get lonely when my little girl is away, so this will be a long week.  I'm trying to keep myself busy just so that my mind stays occupied.  I worked a bit late today, which is rare.  I also tend to go out to eat more often when I'm by myself, which is what I did today.  More on that in a minute.  It's not good for me, but I get a little bit lazy when I don't have to cook for anyone else.

So I tried some new pizza tonight.  I've been eating too much pizza lately, but I happened to pass a place I've wanted to try for a while now:  New York J & P Italian Restaurant.  Apparently it's a chain, with locations in Damascus, Eldersburg, Finksburg, Frederick, Mt. Airy, and Scaggsville, which is the one I stopped at.  I got a pie with pepperoni, mushrooms, and sliced tomatoes.  It was GREAT!  The sauce was kind of sweet, the pepperoni was sliced very thin and was a touch spicy, and the mushrooms and tomatoes were fresh, with a healthy amount of mozzarella.  The crust was a little thicker than I like, but it was moderately crispy.  I really enjoyed it, and I would have to place this one in my top ten.  It was well worth the stop....and the clogged arteries and indigestion....

Have a great evening, everyone!