^{I put life on hold for 4 days, so that I could see my younger brother for the first time in 2 months.}

A trip worth making

I spent Friday afternoon packing for my trip before my Saturday morning departure with my mother and father (plus their Pomeranian Fritzy.) The drive from #charlestonwv to #lancasterpa was around 6 hours. Most of that time was spent chatting with my co-passengers, but also listening to the Steemit AMA and writing my blog on the subject.

^{I wore my most comfortable and eye-catching outfit for our endeavor.}

^{If you know me well, you know these are my colors. Thanks Pink Dolphin}

^{I somehow managed to pack all of my stuff inside of one duffle bag and a backpack.}

Fritzy the Pomeranian

My mom's newest dog is around one year old now. He is absolutely full of love & energy and is a voyager at heart. Despite being confined to a vehicle for so many hours straight, he behaved quite well. Obviously he's a cute sight too, a good soul to bring along for sure.

WTF gas station?

This random gas station in Maryland along the way had several unique secrets within.

^{There was an old toilet filled with ashes next to the entrance.}

^{The hand soap in the bathroom was inside of a yellow mustard bottle.}

^{A Valentine's Day themed antique Chevrolet truck was parked out front of the gas station.}

^{There was even a cozy area with a fireplace.}

^{Fritzy looked high in this photo because the sun was in his eyes. So I made this meme. Enjoy!}

--

Time to stretch

Fritz needed to use the bathroom and burn some energy, so did I. After doing so we got back in the car with our family and finished out our road trip to get to my brother.

We made it!

Upon arrival, my brother was at work. Luckily we were still able to be greeted by my brother's awesome girlfriend and their two dogs. I used to live with Nala, so she is special to me.

Nala the Chow Chow

^{Nala at her finest, showing off those pearly whites.}

^{It was Nala's third birthday last week (Feb 12th). She received a Philadelphia 76ers jersey as a gift and couldn't wait to put it on.}

^{Nala and Fritzy get along surprisingly well, despite the drastic size difference. They love each other.}

Dinner at last!

We decided to go downtown to The Imperial for our dinner. The menu was heavily altered/restricted due to Valentine's Day weekend. None of us got to order what we wanted and the server was weird about it all. The atmosphere was nice at least and the girls enjoyed dessert. I still had a great time overall.

^{There was an awesome green couch upon entering The Imperial, I had to get a photo lounging on it.}

^{My mom (left) & my brother's girlfriend (right).}

^{A shameless bathroom selfie.}

^{The restaurant was connected to a hotel.}

^{This unique art piece was above the table we ate at.}

My brother finally got off of work!

Around 11 p.m. we finally got to give our first hugs to my bro. Although all of us were exhausted we were happy to be together, not to mention the group was excited about all we were to do as one the next day.

Sunday begins

All five of us left sometime before noon to go have brunch. It was the first time my mother, father, brother, his lady, and I all got to go out in do something together since Christmas.

^{Breakfast at Rachel's Cafe & Creperi}

^{Outside of Rachel's on their covered patio, it was freezing cold.}

^{My brother and I looking like we cut a deal with our creator to have maxed out stats.}

^{My mother and father looking timeless.}

^{My brother and his girlfriend having a cute moment.}

^{Family photo, thanks cute waitress.}

After brunch

We went for a walk around town, making a few stops here and there.

^{These pokemon drink coasters at Madcap and Co. were so bad ass that I almost wasted $30 on 4 of them.}

^{Despite there being many Amish families and farms in the rural areas surrounding Lancaster, I have yet to see any in the city myself.}

^{I love cracking jokes, so whenever I saw this book cover for Fort Life I knew I must make a meme out of it. This dude is blowing so hard on that flute, there is no way you can defeat him.}

--

Meat & Beer

We were headed to a brewery down the street after Madcap, whenever we arrived we realized it was also a meat shop/restaurant. None of us wanted to smell a bunch of meat being cooked right after brunch, so we immediately left. Just before walking into the brewery, we briefly picked up a brochure from LVRL (Lancaster Virtual Reality Lounge)

^{Cabalar Meat Co. - the Butcher and Brewery that we left. It looked awesome, we just went at the wrong time.}

^{I wish my city had a BYOB VR lounge!}

Next stop?

We stumbled upon a fancy throughway across from Cabalar. Upon venturing through, discovered Building Character, a marketpalce of vintage, recycled, and handmade goods. It was full of cool things, but we did not make a purchase there. That was now four places in a row.

^{My mom and I were having some silly fun outside of the marketplace. The sign on the door reads "Entrance" and points straight to her butt.}

^{I have the most beautiful mother.}

A search for beer

We made our way towards the center of downtown and ended up at Spring House Brewing Company's The Taproom.

^{I ordered the Wig Out Hazy IPA.}

^{They had an old school Zoltar fortune reader in the back.}

^{My mom got a flight of beer so that she could try a variety}.

Shopping and more shopping

Directly following our stop at The Taphouse, we ventured towards our ride. Along the way, we stopped at DTLR's Villa, an urban streetwear store. While inside of there with my brother and father, the two women went to the neighbor boutique for women called Rainbow.

^{My dad and I found a mirror while waiting on my brother to browse. We both have a great sense of humor.}

^{As soon as my bro finished, we all decided to be hard-asses for another selfie. He is funny too as you can see.}

Back to the apartment

We went back home for a bit to gather ourselves and check on the animals before the comedy show we planned to attend in the evening at Chameleon Club.

^{This was the lineup for the show, a couple of locals & and two more comedians from Philadelphia. I had not heard of any of them, but all were actually hilarious. Frank Neblett and Brandon Dunbar were my favorite acts. The hosts were silly and got some laughs as well.}

^{My family waiting for their drinks at the bar.}

^{A photo of the stage before the comedy show started.}

A few more family photos

To end this blog off, I will share these two awesome photos that I captured outside of the parking garage across from Chameleon Club (and a bit of insight.)

I used my Pivo and Apple Watch in tandem as our non-human photographer. Sure it probably looked like I was attempting to create a raggedy portrait studio to the giant line of people looking directly at us from across the street (as we dodged incoming vehicles to the garage). However we stood our ground together despite it being an awkward situation. It was extremley worth the effort, the photos turned out amazing. Take a look, maybe I do know what I am doing after all.

Here is that insight

I promised something for you to take away from my blog, simply this. Cherish what you love, don't let anybody change the way you act with your family (even if you are uncontrollably silly together in public.) Most of all, learn to show your love as best as you can, humans like affection. One last thing, have fun and do what you want every chance you get. Don't be like our low-quality waiter at The Imperial who immediately said NO to every unorthodox request we made. Take a chance and say YES!

I love you all!

Both my amazing family in real life and the family of Steem users. Thanks for taking the time to finish this lengthy blog of mine.

I drove 400 miles to visit my brother with my parents