Day 0: Pittsburgh

I think there's some kind of curse on the first day of our trips!!

Remember how last time we ended up at the emergency clinic during our first day in the Southwest? No, don't worry mom, we're both just fine this time ... unfortunately, my poor horse Tessa was the one who required an emergency medical visit. I wanted to spend some quality time with her before leaving so after we got home from work I went straight to the barn to spoil her (even more) rotten. Imagine my surprise when I saw maggots crawling out of her hoof this morning. Anyway, long story short, one of the vets came out to see her and the maggots are actually a good sign because that means the abcess that's been in her hoof all this time has finally blown and they're just cleaning up the dead tissue. Phew!

By the time we finally hit the road we're a good two hours behind schedule and I still haven't gotten any sleep, so things get a little fuzzy in my memory at this point, but I do remember it suddenly starting to rain -- and then pour -- and then flood. Traffic slows down to a crawl and then ... sunshine with scattered clouds when we hit Pittsburgh. Now that's a quality nap!

We've only planned two things to see in Pittsburgh because of the long drive today. First up is the University of Pittsburgh, more commonly known as Pitt.

The Cathedral of Learning is the second tallest university structure in the world. Pretty cool!

I really like the arched ceilings on the inside.

Proof that the citizens of Holland are everywhere. Muhaha! ;-)

The Pitt panther ... I tried to resist, but I just couldn't.

No idea what this is, but I like it.

Part of the downtown skyline on the way to our next stop.

I should really have done some research, but when Sandy told me that Point State Park is a park where three rivers meet I envisioned a lush natural environment with three rivers whipping up some serious whitewater as they converge. Not. It's a totally manmade city park where the Allegheny and the Monongahele River placidly come together to form the Ohio River and worse yet the point was closed for construction to the fountain. Probably a nice place to hang out if you live downtown, but I wouldn't really recommend it for tourists.

Chainlink fencing shields off the construction zone with the point just visible in the distance.

There's a small house in the park that used to be part of Fort Pitt. This sign is posted over the entrance ... I'll have to find out what it stands for.

Quick picture of downtown Pittsburgh ... a little bit like New York, no?

It's nearly completely dark when we cross the stateline into Ohio, but the camera makes it looks almost light out. We want to make the most of our time in Ohio so we just keep going towards Lake Erie. There are no hotels with vacancies in Ashtabula at all so right now we're at the Days Inn in Conneaut, about 10 miles down the road. Thank goodness for phones with wifi!