Shamrock Restaurant, Thurmont, MD

We had arranged to meet our good friends Diane & John at the Shamrock restaurant for dinner today. John is from Ireland and the Fitzgerald family who founded the restaurant in 1963 are from there also. We thought we would get a great Irish meal there; however, we ordered Prime Rib and Salmon. Not very Irish.

Gerry ordered hers medium and it came out well done. Back it went and she got one cooked to order very quickly. John's and mine were cooked ok, but all three agreed they weren't the best prime rib meals we have had. Diane said her salmon was fine and she enjoyed it. John wants to go back for the Irish Shepherd's Pie on a Tuesday evening before we leave, so that will have to be scheduled before Oct 1.

We went geocaching for a short while after the dinner and managed to pick up three caches in a short time. Two were easy finds and the other was a moderately difficult find. After a while it becomes easier to spot where people hide the caches since they are so similar. We are looking forward to getting back to Tucson where the caches are more difficult and there isn't poison ivy.

I was on the internet this evening and saw where I-35 was closed north of Des Moines, IA. Now, you might say why is this so important that he included this in the blog. It just so happens that my brother was on his way to Minnesota from California with a load and was scheduled to go through Des Moines this evening. I got on the phone and warned him and helped reroute him around the flooding. I hope he doesn't get lost.

The Iowa DOT has a website and it shows road closure, accidents, work zones, etc and they had I-35 closed. I tried to call the DOT to see when the road would be open. Wow! Talk about listening to an automated response system that isn't responsive. There wasn't any way that I could discover, that would give me the info I wanted. It is neat that they have these systems but they can be a pain to work with.

Did I say it was hot here at the cabin? NO? Well, trust me, it is hot up here. This has been the hottest summer we have ever spent at the cabin. Last summer was the coolest summer up here since we bought the place in 1979. What gives?