Pittsburgh with Grammy

In the course of our quest to visit all the major cities with baseball teams within easy driving range of Lexington we finally arrived in Pittsburgh.  We don't know what you think of when you think of Pittsburgh, but we loved it.  Our first day we jumped on a double decker bus tour to get a feel for what areas we would want to visit during our stay.

One of the cool things about the city is that it lies at the convergence of three rivers - the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio.  And along part of the river you can visit the location of old Fort Duquesne, whose history John will be happy to tell you at great length if you so desire.  It also had great views of the city and all of its bridges.

Another way to get a great view of the city is to take the Duquesne Incline, which is an old school cable car that transported workers to the steel mills back in the day.  Apparently it has been in operation since 1877.  There isn't a lot to do once you reach the top, but the view definitely makes the trip worthwhile.

Grammy Gayle found a great hotel for us to stay in downtown, which meant we got to walk all over.  This picture is on our walk to check out the baseball stadium the morning before we attended the game.  We found a path that was right next to one of the three rivers and had a great time soaking it all in.

On our city tour we found out that you can take a tour of the baseball stadium, so we decided to take advantage of it.  We never had done anything like that and now I bet we'll see if we can do it at every stadium we go to.  It was a lot of fun and the tour guides provided a host of interesting facts about the stadium and the history of the Pirates.

One stop on the tour was the press box, which has some of the most incredible views of the whole stadium with the rivers and city skyline in the background.  We also got to visit some of the luxury suites and sky boxes that aren't too shabby either.

Then they took us to the field and we got to sit in the dugout.  John had to teach the girls all about rally caps and superstitions that help make baseball what it is.  Seeing the field from this perspective is certainly a great way to get a feel for the game.

We were allowed to walk near the grass, but could not even touch it with our fingers.  Our tour guides went on and on about the special blend of grass and the amount of care that went into keeping it just right.  Once again, it was a great backdrop for pictures.

We still had time before the game started, though, so we took advantage of another opportunity and rented kayaks to head out on the Allegheny.  Now we got to see the city from yet another vantage point and it was a lot of fun.  Gayle stayed on the shore while we took the girls on a fun ride for a couple of hours.

They have a lot of bridges in Pittsburgh, but the Roberto Clemente bridge is the one they close to car traffic whenever a baseball game is going on.  So we were able to walk from our hotel over the bridge to the stadium.  It was yet another cool touch...well done, Pittsburgh.

Callie and Reese seem to enjoy this tradition of seeing American cities through baseball games.  We're not too sure if they enjoy the actual baseball games or just the treats that go with it, but either way it is a great time for all of us.  And it will always be a tradition that they will associate with Grammy, which makes the whole experience that much better.

Grammy arranged to fly back to California from Pittsburgh, so it was just the four of us on the drive home.  In the end, it was more like just the two of us, since our visit to Steel City clearly tuckered the girls out quite a bit.