Three Rivers Stadium Implosion- February 10-11, 2001The very best trip I’ve ever taken to Pittsburgh was a spur of the moment trip that was conceived, executed and completed within 24 hours! I heard that Three Rivers Stadium was going to be imploded. I called my sisters and asked them if they wanted to go see that building fall down. They were down so we got our mates in on the plan and got to it. I called a hotel and reserved a room. We decided not to get exact directions to Pittsburgh and instead just headed east in the general direction. We knew we’d run into the area eventually. We found a highway with Pittsburgh signs and headed for a tunnel, which I hate! But, as we pulled through the tunnel and Pittsburgh appeared, a crowd favorite song started playing on the radio and we all cheered and got keyed up for an excited experience.
We parked our car and used public transport to explore the city. We took a train to Station Square and rode an incline up to Mount Washington. We ate dinner at a little restaurant that served comfort foods. We headed back to the hotel in downtown Pittsburgh and got to bed early.
The next morning we got up at 5:am so that we could find a premium position to overlook the stadium. We decided to head back to Mount Washington and found a great place to view the whole thing. The weather was freezing and we wrapped ourselves in the hotel blankets. The crowd around us consisted of Pittsburgh sports fans- Steelers and Pirates fans that enjoyed many games at Three Rivers- and a few Cleveland fans that enjoyed watching their rival team’s stadium fall. When you get diehard fans from rivaling teams drinking beer at 6:am, fights are bound to break out and they did. But the crowd finally commenced a count down and at the right time the stadium began to fallsection by section. When the entire thing had collapsed, the crowd cheered and then ran because a giant plume of dust and debris had risen into the air and was heading right for Mount Washington! The dust reached the crowd as we all scurried into shuttle buses that were headed to the train station. We were off the hill in no time and back at the hotel room by 9:00am. We packed our bags, checked out and headed home, this time taking US Route 30 all the way from PA, briefly passing through West Virginia and into Ohio. We were home before noon, less than 24 hours after we first decided to go and witness the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Ohio. We all had a blast!
Weekend Getaway- April 12-14, 2002
My sisters and I decided to see a performance art exhibit which was being held in the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh. We asked our mates to make a weekend out of it. The six of us rented a van, reserved a hotel suite with a kitchen, packed coolers of food and left first thing in the morning. The drive to Pittsburgh is only about an hour and a half and we arrived in the late morning.
Our first stop was the Phipps Conservatory, which has been a family favorite since I was a girl. I’ve been to the Conservatory during each season to experience the gardens and exhibits. The spring weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the indoor and outdoor areas at Phipps. We had a picnic in a nearby park.
Our next stop was to the Andy Warhol Museum. We walked up all 7 flights of stairs and enjoyed exhibits that included his famous screen prints of consumer products and famous people, his collections of Fiestaware and Tiffany jewelry, and other unique and imaginative objects. After the museum, we drove around and took in the area before heading back to the hotel to make dinner and play games.The next day we saw the performance of Graceful Light
in Weightless Darkness at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre. The performance featured modern dancers that wore costumes made of fiber-optics and other light creations. Dancers of all body-types were included and the ideas were innovative and inspiring. We all enjoyed ourselves. We spent the night at the hotel and headed home the next morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment