monday of Week 11 was a day of resting at the house, and ended with an evening catching up with friends over dinner. tuesday and wednesday were partial work from home days, which continue to be an amazing option i am thankful for. i think at some point we caught up on the good place and started watching fleabag. i fully enjoyed phoebe waller-bridge as L3-37 in the star wars Solo movie, and her quirkiness does not disappoint in fleabag.

thursday was 100% human day, back in to work. that evening was a mix of shopping, packing, and prepping, in anticipation of our mini-vacation. when it was confirmed that the long veterans day weekend would be an off-chemo weekend for me (the last off-chemo weekend for quite some time, as my weekly infusions would be starting the next week), we thought we should take advantage of it. we wanted to get out of town -- but not too far out of town, in case i was feeling weird -- and so, we decided to head east and explore pittsburgh.

we both worked shorter days on friday, and were packed up and headed out by mid-afternoon. it was a pleasant three hour drive. we stopped for dinner before heading downtown, to the andy warhol museum. we paid our 1/2 price friday admission and entered the weird, pop art world of warhol. then it was a few blocks away to check in to our.. not exactly a hotel, more like a.. branded airbnb apartment? ours was a one bedroom, with a fully functioning kitchen, washer and dryer, and views of the city out of wall-to-wall windows in the living room area. it was all very chic and modern, in a way that i would not find comfortable day-to-day, but nice and sleek for a city visit. we got all of our stuff up from the car, which was parked in the attached and oh-so-cramped parking garage, and settled in for the night.

i had chosen the location for its walkability, and walk we did on saturday. first we headed to point state park, which, if you are at all familiar with pittsburgh or classic photos of it, is located at the point of the golden triangle. it is where the ohio, allegheny, and monongahela rivers meet, which if you really think about it, is a whole hell of a lot of water going on. from there we walked to the strip district, which is where it seemed everyone else in pittsburgh decided to go as well. i'm not sure if it's always that busy, or if it was just packed with steelers fans for the weekend's home game, but i would have been okay with a lot less people. just sayin. it's an interesting area of the city, lots of food markets, steelers gear, restaurants, steelers gear and did i mention steelers gear? we arrived at the s&d polish deli, near the far end of the strip district, ready for lunch. the menu online listed all sorts of pierogies, kielbasa, haluszki, and cabbage rolls. sadly, we discovered at the counter that the slovakian (dumpling) haluszki listed online was no longer on the menu. sad slovak face. we ordered a platter including kielbasa, pierogies, polish (noodle) haluszki, and a cabbage roll. it was all delicious, though the pierogies were the stand out for me.

on the way back from the strip district, it was becoming apparent that a blister was forming on my heel. ouch. so much for walkability. we made it back to our room, assessed the situation, and decided to limit walking for the rest of the day. after a short nap, we hopped in the car, bought a few things at a local grocery store, had dinner at a bougie tavern, and ended the evening playing a board game.

on sunday, we fashioned some cushioning for my blister and set out for the day. we began with a drive to the duquesne incline, which is more or less a small train car operating on the side of a hill, overlooking pittsburgh. originally built for daily functionality to transport goods and people up and down the steep hill, it is mostly just a tourist attraction now... it does make for a good view. after that, we got coffee at a small coffee shop, and then toured the frick car and carriage museum. not sure i had ever seen a model t in person, but now i have!

while still out and about, we had dinner, then headed back to the parking garage. from there, we walked to the arcade comedy theater. for a little over an hour, we watched three different comedy improv teams do their best to make us laugh. on our walk back, the steelers-rams home game was just recently finished, and downtown had plenty of happy football fans. we made it back, played a board game, and then it was lights out.

monday we packed up and checked out, wandered the city for a bit, and headed home to ohio, not wanting to be too late with the impending winter weather. all in all, it was nice to get out of town for awhile and do some exploring. this week begins the first of twelve weekly infusions of taxol. i've got some cryotherapy gel packs for my fingers and toes, and a hope that side effects from this drug will be even less than the previous ones. let's do this.