AUGUST: ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND - YOUGH LAKE

Our anniversary fell on a Wednesday this year. We were celebrating three years of marital bliss and decided to check out this restaurant that we have wanted to go to for a while, 2941, in Falls Church, Virginia. Because we were there on a weeknight, it was not as crowded which was nice. The food was excellent and so was the service. It was an all-around great atmosphere and the perfect place to celebrate our anniversary! Darren had told our waiter that it was our anniversary, so they brought us a special dessert after dinner. Then, they offered to give us a tour of the kitchen and let us meet the chef. We got to see the chef's table where we have had friends eat before and even ran into some of our friends that were having dinner there that night! Before leaving, they gave us a loaf of their fresh bread, which we ate the next day. It was very good! We would definitely recommend this restaurant to others for a special occasion.


Our special anniversary dessert


Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!

For the weekend, our friend Tina had invited us to her family vacation cabin at Yough Lake. Yough Lake is short for the Youghiogheny River Lake, which is a a sixteen mile project of the US Army Corps of Engineers located in Pennsylvania near Nemacolin Woodlands and Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. Tina's family has owned a cabin there for forty years and spend as much time during the summer there as they can. Michele had spent weekends at Yough Lake before but Darren never had, so we were looking forward to it!

We tried to leave the DC area before rush hour got too bad. It ended up taking us about four hours to reach the cabin which is located in Confluence, Pennsylvania. On the way, we stopped in Cumberland, Maryland to have dinner at Puccini's Restaurant. Puccini's used to be Uncle Tucker's Restaurant, which was famous for its brick oven pizza. The atmosphere appeared to be the same and the pizza was still great! Puccini's is very accessible from Interstate 68 either east or westbound, so it is a great place to stop when you are traveling.


Puccini's Restaurant


Cabin at Yough Lake

Friday night, we all hung out drinking and playing games, while enjoying the peaceful mountain evening. Many of Tina's family and friends were there, so it was a fun time. Saturday morning, we woke up early to enjoy the beautiful day. Some of the group took the boat out to go water skiing and Darren took the kayak out to explore the lake. We all headed down to the dock after a while to get some sun and relax. Then our host Carl took us for a ride on his boat, so we could see the whole lake. We had a great boat ride, passing into Maryland and enjoying all of the views!

Great view of Yough Lake

Enjoying the boat ride

After a long enjoyable day outdoors, we sat down for the traditional cabin dinner of chicken and shrimp fajitas, with margaritas of course! While the girls cleaned up, the boys went outside to make a bonfire and have some fun. We finished the day watching the American sweep of the 4x400m relays at the Olympics!

Sunday was another gorgeous day at the lake. We started the morning off with a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage, courtesy of our hosts Carl and Nancy. Darren took the kayak out for another ride around the lake, and then we all spent some more time enjoying the private dock sitting in the sun. There were not a lot of boats on the lake which we attributed to the high gas prices, so it was very peaceful.


View from the dock


View of the lake from the cabin

We had a wonderful relaxing weekend at Yough Lake and appreciate the hospitality of Tina, Carl, Nancy and their family. Hopefully, we will be able to get back there next summer. The whole area is truly beautiful, so we would definitely recommend it for a weekend getaway!