After driving through Shenandoah National Park on Wednesday, we spent a very nice evening with family friends, John and Nancy Abbott, at their home in Middleburg, VA. They have a lovely home on 3.5 acres in an area where a lot of people have horses. John and Nancy also let us spend five nights in their condo in Alexandria, VA while we were running around in DC. We are so thankful to them for their generosity. They really helped make our trip special and affordable.
As Kirsten mentioned, Bodie and Julianna loved the Abbotts' home, because 1.) they have a pool, and 2.) they were able to spend about an hour running around their yard catching fireflies with their bare hands. We had seen fireflies a few times on this trip, but never in the quantities we saw last night.
This morning it was time to say goodbye to Laura. She headed back home to Utah today after spending two weeks with us. We so enjoyed sharing this trip with her and getting to meet her friend, Kent. Laura, we're so glad you came with us on this adventure. We love you.
Once we had left the Abbotts' house, we hit the road running. After stopping at Starbucks for my morning coffee, we began working our way towards Pittsburgh, PA. In the process we traveled through four states in the span of about an hour and a half. Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. We always make a big deal about crossing state lines in the car, so the kids really had to keep their eyes open today.
The only thing on our schedule for the day, before getting to Pittsburgh, was to find Shanksville, PA and visit the Flight 93 temporary memorial. Flight 93 was the plane that went down in a field on 9/11, after the passengers battled with the terrorists in the cockpit who had hijacked the plane. The memorial is temporary because they had an open call for design ideas and they have finally decided on one. They hope to have it completed by 9/11/2011, the 10-year anniversary.
At the temporary memorial, as you can see from the picture, people have brought their own contributions, and rangers from the National Park service will answer your questions and tell the story about what happened that day and the plans for the permanent memorial. You cannot get close to the crash site now, but you can see it in the distance, marked by an American flag, and you will be able to walk up to it when the memorial is completed. It is a very moving place to be. The battlefields we've seen commemorate events that happened so long ago, but this was still fresh in my mind, so it took some effort to fight back the tears.
We arrived in Pittsburgh around 3:30pm and it was considerably hotter than any place we had been recently. The thermometer in the car said 95° and it was also very humid. We had originally planned to take a tour of Pittsburgh in the DUKW amphibious vehicle that many of the big cities have, but we arrived too late, so we just decided to start walking towards PNC Park a little sooner than we had planned. Our hotel was just across the Allegheny River from the park, so we got to walk across the famous Roberto Clemente Bridge, that you can see from the park.
The area surrounding the ballpark is a really nice riverfront walk and we probably would have walked around a bit more, but it was so hot and sticky that nobody wanted to do much of anything except sit in the shade and wait for the park to open. Once it did, we immediately bought some ice cold water, which didn't last long between the four of us. Bodie and I went down to the outfield fence to watch the Indians take batting practice and try to catch a ball. We got close a couple of times, but all we came away with was a nasty scrape on my leg that I got while leaping for a home run ball and coming down on a bleacher bench. After batting practice was done, we made a beeline for the team store, so we could get into some air conditioning.
For dinner, I continued trying major league hot dogs, and I can say that they have some pretty good ones in Pittsburgh. Kirsten tried the pierogies and she was very pleased with them.
I had really been looking forward to visiting PNC Park ever since ESPN.com reviewed it as the best overall park in the Major Leagues. While we were pretty pre-occupied with the heat, I will say that it is a really nice place and I was not disappointed. Except for the thunder and lightning and a few raindrops that started right before the game began, the game itself was a bit of a yawner for most of it, 2-2 going into the top of the eighth. That's when it happened. A foul ball off the bat of Jack Wilson came looping high in my direction. I was following it all the way; it was coming right to me. I had to move a bit to my left, probably encroaching on the space of the guy next to Bodie, but all's fair in love and foul balls, right? As it was coming down, I knew it was going to be close, and that I could get it for sure if I really wanted to be a jerk, but I decided not to plow the guy over. I reached up and our gloves banged together, and for a moment, I thought I might actually have it. But then I looked in my glove and ... it wasn't there. So close, and yet so far. The guy was a very pleasant-looking dad and could have very well been me, sitting with his little family. He said it was the first foul ball he had ever caught, at age 40, so I didn't feel so bad. I have actually caught one before at an Angels game.
The game ended in the bottom of the ninth with a dramatic rally by the Pirates, which sent everyone home happy; except for the thousands of Indians fans that had made the two hour trip to the game. As soon as we got outside the park, it began again with the thunder and lightning, and then came the downpour. We walked the three blocks back to the hotel getting dumped on. By the time we arrived, we were soaked. Good thing the game didn't go into extra innings.
Today is our last full day of the trip. We are driving to Cleveland for one more game tonight and we will probably visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At the temporary memorial, as you can see from the picture, people have brought their own contributions, and rangers from the National Park service will answer your questions and tell the story about what happened that day and the plans for the permanent memorial. You cannot get close to the crash site now, but you can see it in the distance, marked by an American flag, and you will be able to walk up to it when the memorial is completed. It is a very moving place to be. The battlefields we've seen commemorate events that happened so long ago, but this was still fresh in my mind, so it took some effort to fight back the tears.
We arrived in Pittsburgh around 3:30pm and it was considerably hotter than any place we had been recently. The thermometer in the car said 95° and it was also very humid. We had originally planned to take a tour of Pittsburgh in the DUKW amphibious vehicle that many of the big cities have, but we arrived too late, so we just decided to start walking towards PNC Park a little sooner than we had planned. Our hotel was just across the Allegheny River from the park, so we got to walk across the famous Roberto Clemente Bridge, that you can see from the park. 
The area surrounding the ballpark is a really nice riverfront walk and we probably would have walked around a bit more, but it was so hot and sticky that nobody wanted to do much of anything except sit in the shade and wait for the park to open. Once it did, we immediately bought some ice cold water, which didn't last long between the four of us. Bodie and I went down to the outfield fence to watch the Indians take batting practice and try to catch a ball. We got close a couple of times, but all we came away with was a nasty scrape on my leg that I got while leaping for a home run ball and coming down on a bleacher bench. After batting practice was done, we made a beeline for the team store, so we could get into some air conditioning.
For dinner, I continued trying major league hot dogs, and I can say that they have some pretty good ones in Pittsburgh. Kirsten tried the pierogies and she was very pleased with them.
I had really been looking forward to visiting PNC Park ever since ESPN.com reviewed it as the best overall park in the Major Leagues. While we were pretty pre-occupied with the heat, I will say that it is a really nice place and I was not disappointed. Except for the thunder and lightning and a few raindrops that started right before the game began, the game itself was a bit of a yawner for most of it, 2-2 going into the top of the eighth. That's when it happened. A foul ball off the bat of Jack Wilson came looping high in my direction. I was following it all the way; it was coming right to me. I had to move a bit to my left, probably encroaching on the space of the guy next to Bodie, but all's fair in love and foul balls, right? As it was coming down, I knew it was going to be close, and that I could get it for sure if I really wanted to be a jerk, but I decided not to plow the guy over. I reached up and our gloves banged together, and for a moment, I thought I might actually have it. But then I looked in my glove and ... it wasn't there. So close, and yet so far. The guy was a very pleasant-looking dad and could have very well been me, sitting with his little family. He said it was the first foul ball he had ever caught, at age 40, so I didn't feel so bad. I have actually caught one before at an Angels game.
The game ended in the bottom of the ninth with a dramatic rally by the Pirates, which sent everyone home happy; except for the thousands of Indians fans that had made the two hour trip to the game. As soon as we got outside the park, it began again with the thunder and lightning, and then came the downpour. We walked the three blocks back to the hotel getting dumped on. By the time we arrived, we were soaked. Good thing the game didn't go into extra innings.
Today is our last full day of the trip. We are driving to Cleveland for one more game tonight and we will probably visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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