Saturday, June 19, 2010

GOODBYE, PENNSYLVANIA – WE’RE OFF TO OHIO

Our view from the mountain top It’s our last night in Pennsylvania, up on top of a “mountain” at Mountain Top Campground (click here to read our review), 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.  Up until a hour ago, we’ve had great views of the lush green hillsides, but the heavy rains of a thunderstorm have erased our view for the time being.

We came here to see Pittsburgh.  Why, you ask?  Good question!

During the past 6 months, I’ve heard/read several reports of Pittsburgh’s beauty.  It was so surprising that I picked up the AAA Tour Book… and they raved about Pittsburgh, too.  Okay then!

On the map, downtown Pittsburgh appeared to be fairly small and walkable, on a peninsula where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio.  This area is called the “Golden Triangle”, with the very tip of the peninsula set aside as Point State Park, site of an historic fort, a lovely fountain, and riverside walkways.  Our agenda for Friday?  Drive into the Golden Triangle, visit a farmer’s market (downtown), walk to Point State Park and along the riverfront walkways.

The prettiest spot we saw in Pittsburgh, near where we ate lunch. Our reality?  Get lost, cross all three rivers more than once, get hopelessly snarled in downtown road construction.  View the tiny (4 booths) farmer’s market as we rolled past, looking for parking – and decide to skip it.  Dodge the pedestrians who pay ABSOLUTELY NO attention to signals. 

We eventually turned into a parking garage that seemed to be near the state park (our GPS had lost the signal in the canyons of downtown several blocks earlier), oriented ourselves, and headed to the park.  Undergoing renovation, it is the only place we have seen in all of Pennsylvania where the grass was dry and brown, the earth cracked.   The fountain was turned off, and the riverbank walkways were fenced off from the public.  Grim!

By then, we were hungry and discouraged.  We had seen a small outdoor kiosk/cafe in a shaded spot in a pretty plaza, so returned there to get a sandwich.   They were disorganized and out of several menu items, but at last we had our food and cold drinks (not alcoholic, unfortunately!), found a bench and dug in.  Halfway through our meal, the door of a nearby high-rise office building opened – smoke break!

Two smokers settled on a bench beside ours, two more on the bench across from us (6 feet away) and lit up their smokes.  We ate faster.  Splat!  One of the smokers across from us hocked a loogie right out on the sidewalk – well, maybe he just spit, but it was totally gross, whatever it was.  Another drag on his smoke, another splat on the sidewalk.  I think my eyes were bugging out of my head.

On the bike trail That was it for us.  A quick plan crystalized: take our last bites, hotfoot it back to the car, and find our bridge back home before rush hour could even think of slowing our getaway.

Back at home, the few rigs in the park all were running their air conditioners trying to stay cool in the 85+ degree sunshine – while the park’s electric grid dropped to an abysimal 102 volts, enough to damage appliances.  We shut down our A/C’s, turned on the fans, and wondered what next.

New plan:  search out the trailhead of a nearby hike/bike trail I had noticed a day earlier.  Before long, we were back in our element.  Another of Pennsylvania’s rails-to-trails projects, the Barton-Freeport trail follows an unused railroad right of way along a small river through leafy green tunnels of trees – cool and quiet, the perfect antidote to our visit downtown.  By the time we returned home at 7 pm, we could eke out enough voltage to run one A/C, sufficient to cool us down after sunset.

Though we had planned two days for sightseeing in Pittsburgh, Day One cooled our interest.  Instead, we revisited Freeport and our leafy green trail, then found a tiny hoagie shop and ordered two sandwiches for lunch.  Riverside Park, along the Allegheny River in the cool shade of giant trees, had picnic tables and a view.  We ate, loitered, and finally returned home, awaiting the arrival of the cooling thunderstorm.

Watching the kayakers while we enjoyed our lunch. So, Pittsburgh is still a mystery to us.  Yes, it is in a beautiful setting – but those hills and rivers make it mighty difficult for visitors to navigate easily.  Yes, downtown appears to have some great amenities – inaccessible to visitors at this particular time.  It appeared to us to be a city much better explored in the company of knowledgeable residents, and I am sure a tour would have greatly increased our appreciation… but we didn’t have the stamina for a return visit!

Tomorrow we are heading over to the outskirts of Cleveland to visit THEIR lakefront state park and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Here’s hoping for a better urban experience!

10 comments:

  1. Truthfully I find ALL cities to be essentially the same. Difficult to drive around in, park a vehicle, and explore. I no sooner enter a downtown area than I start feeling claustrophobic and want to get out! I guess the only city where I'm really comfortable is Washington, DC for some reason, and I think it is the most visitor friendly in the country and maybe the world. But I'll take the countryside, rural areas, and wilderness any day!

    I hope you get more out of Cleveland, although I'll be surprised.

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  2. I too was lost and crossed all those rivers over and over. It was an overcast day and the rivers seemed green and poluted. We became hopelessly snarled in traffic and finally made it out of town. That was over 20 years ago, and we have never been back. So much for Pitsburg! Hope your next visit is more to your liking!

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  3. I love the NE part of PA (PA Wilds), East of the Allegheny forest through the endless mountains. The Grand Canyon of PA is on Route 6 just before Troy (Can't think of the name of the town). Amsih Country is nice to visit too.
    Hope you like the R&R Hall of Fame. The science museum across the street is nice too.

    Safe Travels!

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  4. Oh Laurie...I could have told you not to go to Pittsburgh!!! My driveway..as a kid...was 28 miles from Cleveland Stadium...which is next door to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...and being a BROWNS fan...means...NO Pittsburgh!!!

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  5. Ewww how rude for the spitters... whether they were smoking or not, that is soooo gross! I feel the same way with folks who blow their nose at the table in restaurants. Just what I wanna see is someone swabbing, wiping and diggin in their nostrils through their hankie...ick!

    I lose my appetite immediately.

    I think if I had been seated next to the two spitters, even if it was outdoors, was to say that was uncalled for and gross and their mothers should have taught them better! And then left.

    I would probably have ended up on one of those tv reality shows where they ask "What would you do?" HAHA

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  6. Ewww how rude for the spitters... whether they were smoking or not, that is soooo gross! I feel the same way with folks who blow their nose at the table in restaurants. Just what I wanna see is someone swabbing, wiping and diggin in their nostrils through their hankie...ick!

    I lose my appetite immediately.

    I think if I had been seated next to the two spitters, even if it was outdoors, was to say that was uncalled for and gross and their mothers should have taught them better! And then left.

    I would probably have ended up on one of those tv reality shows where they ask "What would you do?" HAHA

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  7. Laurie,
    Can you explain exactly how you were able to know the exact voltage coming in and that it was too low?? We have a surge suppressor but it does not indicate voltage measurements. We are not sure if it will shut down if voltage is too low... we know it will in the case of a spike. Appreciate any info you can provide.

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  8. 2Markeys: We have a big plug-in box called an Energy Management System, made by Progressive Industries. It does all kinds of things. When you first plug it in, it checks the voltage of both legs of the 50 amp service, and tells us how many volts we get on each leg. Then it checks the hertz (or is it megahertz???), which should be 60. If the voltage is in the right range (between 103 or 104 and... hmmm... I'm not sure of the high reading) and the Hz number is right, it allows power to flow through the box to our power cord.

    Many rigs have these built in, but our didn't. Actually, we like the fact that it isn't, because we have sent it back for repair/replacement about 4-5 times in 7 years.

    Anyway, if the voltage drops below 103 on either leg, the box shuts down the power and we switch to battery power. Our inverter is on standby whenever we are on shore power, so just about everything stays on. We know what the voltage actually IS if we go out and look at the box.

    When the voltage increases again, the box allows power back into the cord.

    Low voltage situations usually happen in older parks, and usually when it either is very hot (lots of people running AC), very cold (lots of people running electric heaters), or breakfast or dinner time (lots of electric appliances running). Running your appliances on very low voltage is an easy way to reduce their life, so we rarely bypass the box... we either do without the AC for awhile (the only big appliance we can't switch to DC or propane!) or turn on the generator if the heat is too bad.

    Hope that answers your question. :)

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  9. I had similar experiences driving around Pittsburgh just 6 years ago and I had a resident directing me! Walking with my (very young, at the time) grandchildren just wasn't an option. Also, like you, I did discovered the purpose of the cattle catcher-like grill on the front of the old Suburban (keeps the pedestrians from being sucked down the carburetor.

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  10. Wow, here we are again in the same neighborhood. We had to return to the Cleveland area to take care of Brenda's mom, and will be at Maple Lakes campground for the remainder of the summer. It's one of the few truly nice and quiet parks in the area. Avoid Willow Lakes at all costs....a truck stop parking lot has more ambiance and a better class of people. Keep us posted on your plans, we'd love to see you again,
    The Damn Near Perfect Couple

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