Special Date

Keith has been pining for years to go to a home-opener baseball game.  It’s NEVER been in the budget.  Since we recently paid off a huge bill, we decided to splurge on a date-day…  The Pirates Home Opener! 

 

So yesterday we donned our favorite ball-caps and headed for the Burgh.  We parked at Station Square and took the ferry to the Stadium.  The rivers are up, the Mon Wharf is closed for flood stage.  The water is muddy and murky, but the view of the city from the point was still lovely for a spring pass-through.

We got to the game and found our seats, which were AWESOME, by the way.  Seven rows back on the baseline, just past 2nd base.  Our favorite players are McCutchen, Jones, and the hometown boy, Walker.  Neil Walker is from Gibsonia and his family goes to our church.  The guys in front of us heckled the umpire and Hill, from the other team until he got both of their attention.  Honestly, the heckling was WAY more entertaining than the game, as we LOST.  This is only the 2nd game I’ve ever been to when they lost.  Bummer!  None the less, here we are enjoying the 7th Inning Stretch. 

 

So afterwards we stayed and got some autographs.  Well… Keith got them.  He’s like the king of autographs.  Only three players stopped, but he got all three of them to sign is baseball and walked away a slightly more satisfied fan. 

So, we missed our ferry ride back to Station Square, but never fear… I had wanted to hike yesterday too, and that we did.  We strolled along the river, across the Roberto Clemente bridge, past the Byham Theatre (I wondered where that was), across Liberty Avenue, and into Market Square where we stopped for a coffee.  There are FOUR coffee shops in Market Square.  From there we passed through the PPG buildings where we admired the height of the tallest one.

We continued along the riverfront and across another bridge which brought us past the Grand Concourse restaurant and the Station Square bars, right back to our parking spot under the trestle at the far end.  Whew!  What a hike, but I guess we accomplished both of our hearts desires… ballgame and hiking. 

 

All in all… it was a very nice and very much needed date-day for us.