So Monday was the drive back from the balloon festival at the foot of Zebulon's mountain.

We made our usual mall stop in your town.

After treating ourselves to an Olive Garden dining experience. At youngest son's recommendation. Yes, an expensive treat, but this was essentially our vacation for the summer.

Now, we don't travel all spiffed up. The wife looks good, but the boys are in t-shirts, and I'm in faded blue jeans with scuffed boots. Not your standard Garden clientele. Course, we were better than the large husband and wife in the booth across from us, in their almost-matching red and white striped rugby shirts. As they were leaving, the wife leaned over and whispered "If we ever start dressing alike like that..."

Shoot you? I finished.

(And Hoolie and Finn, I hope like heck those two people weren't you. No, wait, she wasn't pregnant, so we're okay.)

So we had the usual fare. Three courses of appetizers (breaded mushrooms, calimari, and mussels.... looove their mussels) with cappuccinos. Youngest son snarfed through their breadsticks like he hadn't eaten all day. Which he hadn't. Then came the full course meals, with a couple more cappuccinos.

Had the chicken marsala. After that, and the steak marsala at Botticelli's, I think I hereby love anything marsala.

The restaurant was emptying by then, the end of the luncheon crowd, and we could see our waitress secretly visiting with the other servers, with glances in our direction.

Yes, we're that hungry. What of it?

But her service was excellent. And she was visibly surprised that we all wanted dessert, as well. And the tip was over 20 percent, so I hope we made her day.

There is a new addition to the canyons north of Hoolie and Finn's town:

Twin towers.

Made of quarried stone, not steel and concrete, and probably only 6-8 meters high instead of 110 stories.

But there they stand.