Bob and I left Tarrytown yesterday morning after a fretful last day with Bella who was definitely not herself most of the day but then came upstairs with Cleo Sunday morning to wake us up and ate her food again. We were in touch with the homeowners and everyone was relieved that she seemed back to normal. We will definitely miss those adorable and playful kitties.
We then had a lovely, relatively low traffic 6.5 hour drive on the Sunday before Memorial Day to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The aim for our visit was to see the stadium of Bob’s favorite professional football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, but today’s visit has been a lot more than that and has left us both very impressed with the city, at least the North Shore, Riverfront Trails, and the downtown areas near the three rivers of the city (more on that later).
First, let’s start with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the first professional football team to win six Super Bowl championships. We had tickets for a “blitz” tour of the stadium and a visit to the Hall of Honor Museum which is also in the stadium.
The tour basically took us into a private club house, out to the field, and into the locker room. The Steelers may be the only professional football team to not own their stadium and share the use of it during the football season with the University of Pittsburgh football team. The tour guide also mentioned that the field is natural grass and costs about $500,000 to replace each time, which is typically 3 or 4 times a year due to wear and tear during games. Neither the Steelers nor the Pitt Panthers practice on the field, but the stadium also hosts concerts for which the grass would also be removed.
T. J. Watt’s locker has stuff in it to show
that he is a team (defensive) captain.
The locker on the right has 2 names until Friday
when the team has to get down to their final roster for the season.
who have had their jersey retired
The museum visit began with a timed entry to a film and then a self-guided tour of the museum.
Another sports team in Pittsburgh is Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates (formerly Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords). The Pirates had a game yesterday afternoon that ended shortly after we checked in to our hotel which is in between the football and baseball stadiums.
from across the Allegheny River
On October 13, 1960, Maz hit the only walk-off home run in a game 7 of a World Series to break the 9-9 tie against the Yankees and win the World Series for the Pirates. This captures the moment he rounded second base to score after hitting the ball over the 406 ft wall.
there are other displays of honor for former Pittsburgh players who are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The player who wore #42, uniquely in blue, was Jackie Robinson, the first African American in the Major Leagues. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Pirates, but his number has been retired league-wide for his breaking of the color barrier in baseball.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame a year later (very unusual) as he was killed in a plane crash in 1972 in a plane
that he chartered to take relief supplies
to survivors of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua.
which spans the Allegheny River to connect the North Shore area (with the stadiums) to the downtown area of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh, a city of about 303,000 in the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania, is known for its three rivers, which are actually two rivers, the Allegheny and the Monongahela, that meet in Pittsburgh and form the Ohio River. The city has established riverfront walks along the three rivers to make an impressive and scenic trail system.
Some pics from along the North Shore Riverfront Trail.
(of the children’s show Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood)
made possible by his local friend Cordelia May.
(environmentalist and author of Silent Spring) Bridge
to downtown Pittsburgh
After the museum tour at the stadium, we walked across the Allegheny River on the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the Point State Park at the intersection of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.
where the two rivers meet to form the Ohio River
where the original Fort Duquesne stood,
outlined by the concrete path in the lawn
Peckish Travels 