When your old friends suggest a reunion, go.

Sometimes the best vacations revolve around one or two friends giving you a phone call and suggesting a reunion. So when your old friends suggest a reunion, go.

Here are a few random photos of a trip Julia and I took through Pennsylvania and Ohio visiting family and friends and discovering a few surprise sightseeing spots along the way.

Our first stop was to say hello to Mom in Canonsburg, PA. Few things are sweeter than stopping into Sarris Candy & Ice Cream parlour.

Our mini-reunion held in the middle of Ohio was a budget affair and full of all sorts of story telling and catching up with old friends. This group had served together in the US Army assigned to a distinguished unit known as the Blackhorse Regiment. We were Cold War troopers; some patrolling “Freedom’s Frontier,” others caring for the legal or spiritual needs of those deployed overseas. Here we had a signal corps officer transformed into a cavalryman, an artilleryman, a member of the US Army’s JAG corps, a Catholic priest (who technically outranked us all), a tank company commander (yours truly) and his fiancé (Julia).

Our friend the priest organized our itinerary — filled with visits to history western forts and secret gathering places befitting a group who all loved German-style food and Bier. Our ‘gasthaus’ was the nearby seminary and Catholic retirement home. Our ‘Rathskeller’ was the loft of an old barn that belongs to a German farmer who now rents out this site for parties, weddings, and other events.