Tunnel Run

Since my step-dad died on Good Friday, we've actually made two separate trips to Pittsburgh to see my mother-in-law and others in my husband's family. 

In terms of my mother-in-law, she's pretty much the same.  She often seems to think she's somewhere between the ages of 14 and about 25.  She wonders where her parents are, she talks about the principal a lot, etc.  But she still at least recognizes us, although she forgets names a bit more.  It's confusing to talk to her because she'll say something like her sister just left after visiting her (highly possible), but then she'll also talk about her mother having given her the car keys that morning (highly impossible).  She seems to be less frightened, which is good, and she sometimes realizes she's not making sense and just says "I don't know what I'm saying."  But she still sometimes thinks she's in a stranger's house and wants to know when her parents will be there to take her home.

She's significantly more lucid in the mornings, so we try to time our trips to Pittsburgh to allow for at least a couple morning visits. 

Besides spending time with her, we usually stay with my husband's middle older brother and his wife.  And then there's usually a few random activities that fill our time.  My brother-in-law lives in a suburb pretty far outside the city, but if I drive (the rental car with those big @ss keys) a couple miles, I can park along a trail that runs pretty much forever.  At least 50 miles I think.  You know, in case you want to do an out-and-back 100 miler before work one morning.

It's a beautiful trail:

And the fun part I remembered to photograph this time, there's a tunnel: 

It's also about 20 degrees cooler than Dallas in the mornings, so there's that...