1,095

My goodness, the older I get the more I realize the brilliance of my parents.  Growing up they often shared tidbits of wit and wisdom such as, "eat your vegetables, they're good for you", "mind your P's and Q's (not really sure what this one meant)", "don't stare at people", "keep your elbows off the table" and "always wear clean underwear in case you have to go to the emergency room".  I always thought that if I'm in the emergency room that I had bigger concerns than the cleanliness of my underwear, although I guess it's good advice to live by even if you don't end up in the ER.  One of their most commonly uttered phrases was, "time flies".  Truer words were never spoken!
It's hard to believe that today marks three years, or 1,095 days since retirement.  I know that what we have chosen to do in retirement isn't "traditional", but it was our goal for a long time, and it's been an amazing journey.  Whether you're a regular or occasional reader of this blog, I appreciate you coming along for the ride.  I also sincerely hope that it will serve as some source of inspiration for you to get out there and follow your passion, no matter what that passion may be.  "Life's short" and "there are no guarantees of tomorrow", more spot on words of wit and wisdom from my parents!
Beth is not only an expert planner, she is also an amazing coach who has on a few occasions had to coach me along that "we can do this".  I'll be eternally grateful for having such an amazing life partner to share this journey.  Since leaving the keys on the desk, we've traveled to thirty one states and forty one countries.  Of the forty one, nineteen were countries that we hadn't previously visited.
There are way too many crazy adventures to begin to recount them all here, but visiting the Taj Mahal,  circling Mt. Everest on a rickety plane operated by Air Buddha, watching rhino graze peacefully from the back of an elephant in Nepal, experiencing the beginning and end of Shabbat in Jerusalem, marveling at the archeological sites of Petra, Jordan, cruising into Sydney Harbor, looking down over the incredible ruins of Machu Picchu and piranha fishing in the Amazon jungle are just a few of the highlights.  Of course, we could never forget the incredible gift we received on July 9, 2016 when Sweet Baby James arrived on the scene.

The Taj Mahal...…...Agra, India

Everest the easy way, from the cozy confines of Air Buddha

Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Petra, Jordan

The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge

Machu Picchu

Piranha fishing in the Amazon.  Beth caught one twice as big, but mine was meaner!

We committed to this vagabond lifestyle for at least three years, so here we are, three years in.  It's been a heck of a ride.  We're not sure what lies ahead but we're looking forward to continuing the journey.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

From this...…………..

……………..to this in just 1024 days!

Double checking the calendar in Grove City, Pa.

The Allegheny Grille in Foxburg, Pa.

After our time in Pittsburgh we headed about 60 miles north to Grove City.  This borough of around 8,500 is where Ben recently moved, and will be working as Business Development and Recreation Director for Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest.  The area is a combination of small townships, boroughs and farmland in a really nice rolling hills setting.
Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest
We had a chance to visit the park where Ben will be working and meet the amazing family that owns and operates it.  He's going to have a great opportunity to continue to learn and grow in a fun, family environment.  We're excited for him!
We enjoyed exploring the area and since he's house hunting, we really got to explore it a lot!  He hasn't found what he's looking for yet, but he will soon.  One thing we found interesting, unlike where we lived in Texas and Florida, this area has been around a long time. It was initially settled in the late 1700's and Grove City was incorporated in 1883.  The original construction on many of the homes we looked at was from the late 1800's or early 1900's.  There is a lot of history in the homes and the community.
There are two colleges located in the area.  Grove City College is private with  around 2,500 students.  I'm sure there are many notable former students of Grove City College, but none more notable than our cousin the great Richard White.
Just down the road about 8 miles from Grove City is the borough of Slippery Rock and Slippery Rock University.  The university has around 9,000 students and one of the coolest names of any university on the planet. Way back in the dark ages when I was at the University of Florida there was somewhat of an interest in Slippery Rock University  For some strange reason we always wanted to know the score of the Slippery Rock football game.  I'm not really sure why, but I'm sure it was all about the name.  I'm pretty sure that we had no clue where the university was located.  I did learn from several Slippery Rock alumni that Ben works with that their fanbase is very wide.  At Michigan State football games there is a tradition to announce the score of the Slippery Rock during halftime.  I guess the notoriety helps with logo merchandise sales.  I'm now a proud owner of a Slippery Rock t-shirt!
Grove City College
Slippery Rock University

"The Rock"

Someone we were talking with described the weather at this time of year in western Pennsylvania as being similar to a woman going through menopause, a constant change between hot and cold.  The description was spot on.  During our three day stay we had temperatures in the 70's on Sunday, followed by about five hours of snow flurries on Monday.  I did a quick check of the calendar just to confirm it really was April 15.  I guess winter is reluctant to give up it's grip a little bit more up in this neck of the woods.
If you find yourself in that part of the world, I hope you have some time to explore Grove City, Slippery Rock and Foxburg which is a small, really nice community located on the Allegheny River.
Foxburg

Foxberg

If you need a place to stay, check out Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest.  No camper, no problem, they have really nice cottages and a couple of yurts as well! Be sure to say hello to their Business Development and Activities Director, he's a pretty good guy!  

Pittsburgh wrap up.............

The Fort Pitt Block House in Point State Park.  It was built in 1764, making it the oldest building in Pittsburgh

We've packed it up and left Pittsburgh behind.  It was an exceptionally nice visit and we're already looking forward to coming back.  Before heading out we were able to enjoy a nice spring morning roaming around the downtown and riverfront one final time.  The pleasant weather of the last few days, plus a little rain yesterday afternoon, continues to bring blooms and leaves out on flowers and trees everywhere.

Downtown is blooming!

Locks left on the Fort Duquesne Bridge

No caption needed!

This wagon was known as the "Heinz Hitch".  Like the Budweiser Clydesdales it toured parades and fairs for many years.  It's now on display in the Heinz History Center.

Pitt was having their spring game today.  I wasn't interested in the football, but it was fun to get to walk around inside the stadium that they share with the Steelers.

On Saturday mornings the Strip District comes to life early with many of the shops, as well as other vendors, setting up outside to create an open air market that is about 10 blocks long.  Afterwards we enjoyed a slow stroll down to Point State Park, which was full of residents and visitors enjoying the great outdoors in this fine city.
We enjoyed lunch at Condado Tacos, a "build your own" taco restaurant across the street from the hotel.  The tacos were good but the parade we enjoyed from our outdoor table was even better.  There are around 10,000 people attending the Tekko Convention that I mentioned in the previous blog.  Many of them were passing by as they headed to local restaurants and back to the convention center.  The costumes were everything you could imagine.  I understand there is a costume contest later today.  I have absolutely no idea how they'll pick a winner!
I'll close out the Pittsburgh blogs with a few fun facts:

During World War II Pittsburgh produced 95 million tons of steel towards the war effort.
Bob Marley played the last concert he ever played in Pittsburgh on September 30, 1980.
Pittsburgh hosted the first night time World Series game in 1971.
The pull tab used on soft drink and beer cans was invented in Pittsburgh and first used on Iron City Beer.
The worlds first movie theater was opened in Pittsburgh in 1905.
The polio vaccine was invented by Dr. Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh in 1954.
The first BINGO game was held in Pittsburgh in 1920.
Fred Rogers, Charles Bronson, Christina Aguilera, Perry Como, Gene Kelly, Shirley Jones, Dean Martin, Mike Ditka, Pete Maravich, Mark Cuban, Bill Mazeroski and Stan Musial are all Pittsburgh natives.

Uniquely Pittsburgh........

A "very unique" homemade bike on display in front of Bicycle Heaven  

Friday was a day that ended up being devoted to a few things that are unique to Pittsburgh.  Two are permanent features of the city and one, well we just happened to be in town for it.  All three were unique and all three were certainly entertaining.
Pittsburgh is loaded with "things to do".  Many of these are museums such as the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Senator John Heinz History Center, the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Carnegie Science Center.  These museums are fantastic and made possible by the generous donations of families and foundations.  However when it comes to museums, as well as the overall number one thing to do in Pittsburgh, according to Trip Advisor, it's Bicycle Heaven, the worlds largest bicycle museum and bike shop.
Bicycle Heaven was started in 1996 with one bike that a gentleman named Craig Morrow found in the trash.  He started repairing and selling used bikes and collecting antique and vintage bikes.  He initially stored them in friends garages in the neighborhood where he and his wife Cindy lived.
The collection grew, and grew, and grew until he had over 3,000 bikes.  I would assume out of necessity and to keep peace with the neighbors, he consolidated his collection in 2011 to a warehouse located just a few blocks off the Ohio River.  The museum is free (donations are appreciated) and it's well worth carving out an hour or two to spend roaming through what is part museum, part sales room, part repair shop and for some strange reason it also contained what looked from the outside like a nail salon.
There are bikes and bike parts everywhere, including some that are valued at close to $50,000, some that were used in movies, and some which never really caught on such as the ones with wooden wheels and the one that had stationary pedals and was powered by bouncing up and down on the seat. I guess you'd call it "butt powered".  Walk, drive, Uber or ride your bike.  No matter how you get there be sure to check it out.
Bicycle Heaven
Conde Nast Traveler-Bicycle Heaven

Bicycle Heaven...……...TripAdvisor's top rated "Thing to Do" in Pittsburgh

Bikes galore from ceiling to floor.  Here is a row of Schwinn Sting Rays.  I found one of these under the Christmas Tree many years ago

Bowden Spacelanders, the first fiberglass bikes manufactured.  They are now valued at up to $50,000 each.

The second floor

Huffy Radio Bike

From the film Pee Wee's Big Adventure

The neon and black light sprocket room

The Gene Autry Bike

The Butt Powered Bike.  The pedals are stationary, power is supplied by bouncing up and down on the seat.

Unique is defined as "being the only one of it's kind; unlike anything else".  I think it would be fair to describe Andy Warhol as "unique".  Andy, whose real last name was Warhola was born in Pittsburgh on August 6, 1928.  He lived here through his college years and developed his love of art attending Saturday morning art classes as a child, and later graduating from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).  He died on February 22, 1987 in New York after undergoing what was described as "routine gallbladder surgery".
After his death efforts were made to create a museum to honor his life and works as well as to inspire other artists.  The Warhol Museum which is located just across the Andy Warhol Bridge from downtown is the largest museum in North America dedicated to a single artist.   It was estimated that at the time the museum opened in 1994 that the works in the collection numbered over 3,000 and had a value of more than $55 million.
There is a nice introductory movie on the main floor, and multiple floors featuring both his paintings and films.  There are also rotating exhibitions on a couple of the floors.  If you're going to go and you're in town on a Friday, wait until after 5:00 PM.  Admission is half price after 5:00 and the museum is open until 10:00 PM.  Like Bicycle Heaven, the Warhol Museum is well worth a visit.
The Warhol Museum
Below are some pictures of his artwork that are on display in the museum:

Last but certainly not least, when it comes to "unique" there is an event going on at the convention center that has brought thousands of unique souls into town.  It's called Tekko and is described as a four day convention of gaming, music, fashion, and Japanese Pop Culture.  I'm no expert on these types of events but it seems to be a comic con type event with a Japanese flare.  Our hotel is a convention center hotel so we're in the middle of the action.  It's actually been fun to see, mostly young people, dressed in every sort of costume you could imagine.  I'm sure they're getting a kick out of watching us, watching them.  They seem to be having a great time and it's certainly added a little more fun to the great time we have already been having.
The convention runs through the weekend.  I read online that tonight (Saturday) there is a big dance.  Now that would probably be quite a sight to see, unfortunately by the time it gets cranked up we'll be gone.  However, there is a happy ending...……..we'll be spending the next three days with Ben.
Below are a few pictures that I pulled off the internet from the Tekko Convention:

Pittsburgh.......Steel City or City of Bridges

The Duquesne Incline Railway Car and downtown Pittsburgh

Wow!  We've been in Pittsburgh for a day and a half so far and the only regret is that we hadn't visited here before now.  There is so much to see and do in and around this beautiful and very walkable city of just over 300,000.  The more we see and learn, the more that we're adding to the itinerary for the next two days.
We flew into Pittsburgh International Airport which is located about 15 miles out of town.  We didn't feel that a car would be necessary while we're in the city, which so far has proven to be a good decision for us.  There are several options to get from the airport to downtown.  We opted for the least expensive option which is a city bus.  The bus (28X) runs directly from the airport to downtown every thirty minutes or so (schedules may vary on weekends and holidays) and dropped us off less than two blocks from our hotel. The cost for the bus was $2.75 each.  An Uber or Taxi would have been at least $40.  We're staying at the Westin, and as we often do, we booked it through Hotwire for a 65% savings over the advertised rates.
Downtown Pittsburgh is fairly compact and is bordered by the Allegheny River on the east and the Monongahela River on the west.  These two rivers converge to form the Ohio River on the north.  Three rivers means a whole lot of bridges.  According to the local guidebook, the city of Pittsburgh has 446 bridges, which is three more bridges than Venice, Italy.  Both are known as the "City of Bridges".
Pittsburgh has a more common nickname that most people are familiar with, the "Steel City".  The city was built and prospered around steel production until the mid-1980's.  It took a period of several years before it began to reinvent itself into the vibrant, economically diverse city that it is today.  Our Uber driver, John who is a long time resident of the city, credited the two universities for playing a major role in helping Pittsburgh through the transition out of steel production.
Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel but it was lunch time so I asked for some suggestions.  The hotel clerk suggested a few places in what she referred to as the "strip district".
My first reaction was to see if I could make her laugh by telling her that was a nice suggestion but that since Beth was with me it would probably be a good idea to stay out of the "strip district".  I didn't know much, but I did know the strip district wasn't what the name might imply, and that it was actually neighborhood close to downtown.  The origin of it's name is related to the fact that due to the Allegheny River and some hills, the area is long (about 20 blocks) and narrow (3 blocks).
We found food at Pamela's Diner, a cash only place that has been featured on Diners, Drive In's and Dives.  They specialize in breakfast, but cook up a pretty good hamburger and buffalo chicken wrap as well.  The strip district features a number of ethnic restaurants and markets as well as shops, most of which feature tons of merchandise of their beloved sports teams, the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins.

Lunchtime!

Strip District Mural

Sixteenth Street Bridge over the Allegheny River

Beth holding up the Sixteenth Street Bridge

A reference to Mulberry, Fl?

One thing I had never pondered before, but was educated on by Ben, (Sports Trivia Genius) is that Pittsburgh is the only city with multiple professional sports teams that all have the same colors (Black and Gold).  I can't think of any others and Ben usually isn't wrong about these kind of things.
After lunch we spent most of the rest of the afternoon simply exploring by foot.  The Three Rivers Heritage Trail runs along the riverfront on the downtown side of the rivers.  Most of the bridges in the downtown area have pedestrian areas that allow you to cross over and explore trails on the opposite side of the river as well, but those are for another day.  At the tip of downtown where the rivers meet is Point State Park, which has a huge fountain.  The fountain hasn't been turned on for the season yet, but it's easy to tell that it is impressive when it's operating.

Louis and Clark were here

PNC Park...…..Home of the Pirates

Heinz Field...…...Home of the Steelers.  Both the baseball park and football stadium are across the Allegheny River from downtown.

The Duquesne Incline

Springtime in Pittsburgh...…...a welcome site!

Artwork in the Cultural District

more downtown artwork

Ben will be working about an hour out of Pittsburgh in the Harrisville, Grove City, Mercer area.  He and his two good friends and road warrior partners (Joni and Ben's dog Allie) had arrived from Texas very late Tuesday evening.  He and Joni drove over to spend a few hours with us and to explore a little more of the downtown area.
We walked more of downtown crossing over the Monongahela River on the Smithfield Street Bridge.  Here we walked along the riverfront to the Duquesne Incline, a 140 year old funicular (inclined railway).  The steep 800 foot long climb takes you up 400 feet to the top of Mt. Washington and gives you a spectacular view back across the river to downtown.  We went late enough in the afternoon that we were able to enjoy views in both the daytime and at night.  Roundtrip cost for this is only $5.00 and the views are priceless.

Getting ready to head up the Duquesne Incline

Point State Park and Downtown.  The Allegheny River is upper left, Monongahela River is lower and the Ohio River at the tip of the state park.

Thursday was about heading out a little further and spending the day in the Oakland District neighborhoods.  This area is about 4 miles from downtown and includes the Phipps Conservatory Botanical Gardens, Schenley Park, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.  The botanical gardens had a number of indoor displays of spring flowers that were in bloom.  Outdoors the trees seemed to be blooming and budding right before our eyes on one of the warmest days so far this year.
The University of Pittsburgh campus is quite impressive.  The centerpiece of the campus is the "Cathedral of Learning".  The 42 story (535 feet) building is the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere and second tallest university building in the world (the tallest is on the University of Moscow campus).  As impressive as it is on the outside, it is equally impressive on the inside with a four story high gothic study/events hall.  There are around 30 classrooms that are decorated by national and ethnic groups that are recognized as having contributed to the building of the city of Pittsburgh.  The furnishings in each classroom are original to the countries and ethnic groups they represented.

Entrance to the Phipps Conservatory

Collage of Color from inside the Phipps Conservatory

Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh Campus

Outside the Carnegie Music Hall and Natural History Museum on the Pitt campus.  He's ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Study and Events Hall inside the Cathedral of Learning

After leaving the campus we walked a few miles through the Shadyside neighborhoods which had some impressive mansions.  This led us to Walnut Street, a very cool street lined with shops, coffee houses and restaurants.  We enjoyed a nice late lunch at a place called Shady Grove before heading back downtown.
We took an Uber out to the Oakland area (approx. $10) and a city bus back to downtown.  As with the bus ride in from the airport, the bus (#86) was very nice, the ride was quick and we were dropped off right at the hotel.
We've got a weeks worth of fun planned for the next two days...…………...so much to see and do!