Day 2 - Lesson Learned: When In Rome...

Day 2 started out with a 3.5 hour drive from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh after our gourmet breakfast (bagels slightly larger than a munchkin, frosted flakes, froot loops and hard boiled eggs) at the hotel in Harrisburg. Complete side note. What did Mr. Pitt do to deserve the "H" at the end of his city? In addition to coming from Harrisburg, I must have passed signs for 3-5 other towns ending in "burg" and none of them had the "h" at the end. Harris even got the capital of the state, but no "h" at the end. Anyway, those are the kinds of things that keep me awake when driving.

Debbie spent most of the ride on the phone, either with customers or with Verizon. She had her calls forwarded to her cell for the trip, but in Verizon's infinite wisdom their programming only allows for one call to be forwarded at a time, so if more than one person tries to reach her at the same time the second person gets a busy signal. Not what you want during a busy season. Plus, I am guessing that some people that get the busy signal must think that they have called into the Hot Tub Time Machine phone system. Who gets a busy signal anymore? Long, aggravating story short, there is nothing they can do about it.

We arrived in Pittsburgh around 3:30 or so, and when we got to the hotel, a Hyatt Place, everyone was very excited. See, last night we stayed in a Best Western. It was OK, but pretty much the bottom of the totem pole on the hotel chains we are staying in for the trip. That room was average at best. This room is nice, with an L-shaped sofa, flat screen TV and (much to Debbie's delight) they double sheet the beds, so the (icky) blankets aren't exposed. That, combined with the massage soap for the shower, brightened Debbie's day. One of the kids said "maybe we should just stay here all night." But we had tickets to the Pirates game and I knew where we were heading for dinner.

This leads me to the lesson of the day - "When in Rome do as the Romans do." I had heard and read about this crazy sandwich place in Pittsburgh that served their deli sandwiches with cole slaw (no mayo) and french fries right on the sandwich. It's called Primanti Brothers Restaurant and I think they use the term "restaurant" pretty loosely. As we walked in we saw them preparing a few sandwiches. Basically, a person slabs some deli meat onto the bread then sticks his/her hand into a tub of cole slaw and slaps that onto the sandwich, followed by another slobbering of fries on top.

The Menu

So, we sat down to order, and Amanda and Ethan went with the cheesesteak (clearly they are headed for Penn - although this cheesesteak did not at all resemble anything we ate at Abner's) and I went with Pastrami. This is where the lesson was learned. Brian said he wasn't that hungry and Debbie was trying to minimize the gluten (and calories probably) and they opted for the Hot Chili.

The Wrong Choice

What The Romans Would Do While In Rome
(if they served pastrami with cole slaw and french fries)

Two problems. One, the chili was quite spicy so it was hard to eat, and two, they saw and sampled our sandwiches and realized the error of their ways. So, I gave the 2nd half of my sandwich to Debbie and Brian and I then split a corned beef sandwich. I explained to Brian that ordering anything other than a sandwich at a place like this is like asking the waiter at Chee-burger Chee-burger how the salmon was prepared.

After dinner we headed to the Pirates game. The hotel had suggested that we park in Station Square, across the river (which of the 3 I don't know) and take the boat to the game. So, we did. It was nice night and the ride was short.

Cruisin' The River

We got to the game and found our seats in the 4th row just past the dugout on the 1st base side. Normally, this would have meant being near the home team (the Pirates), but I think they are the only team that has their home bench on the 3rd base side. This might partially explain why, unless they go 41-1 the rest of the way, they are on their way to their 18th straight losing season. Being near the Marlins dugout allowed the boys to get Hanley Ramirez's autograph right before the game started.

Hanley Ramirez and the boys
(you figure out which ones are which)

So, that was cool. PNC Park is a very nice newer park, but it's too bad the team stinks. I think there were more people at the Merillon Upper Farms Championship game (which, in case anyone had forgotten - we won!) than were at this game. By the end of the game all of the kids were in the front row. And true to form, the Pirates lost. But even Amanda had fun, thanks in no small part to a large box of popcorn and ice cream (in a Pirates hat).

Popcorn makes everything fun!

We took the boat back to the car and got back to the hotel around 11. Tomorrow, we head to Louisville, with maybe a pit stop during the day in Cincinnati, depending on when we get out of Pittsburgh. This will be the 1st stop where we will be at the same spot for 2 nights, so that will be nice. Until then...