Before I begin on the events today, I have to mention 2 great things that happened:
1) Lillian pretty much slept through the night in room 230 of the Days Inn in New Stanton, PA. It was amazing. She woke up once at around 4:00am when I went to the bathroom and after feeding and a change, went right back to sleep until 7:30am.
2) The fine, fine folks at Rosenthal Acura in Gaithersburg, MD had my radio anti-theft code on file!! I decided to call them and see if by some longshot they had it. The lady who answered at the service department asked for my name and then confirmed by then Maryland address to me and then just gave me the code. Just so anyone who reads this will know what it is if this happens again, the code is 34332.
Prior to calling Rosenthal I was making plans to head to Smail Acura which was 8 miles away. They weren’t listed in the Nav and they had a funky address so I wasn’t really looking forward to going there. I also wasn’t looking forward to having my radio ripped out of the dash just to get a serial number. The service department didn;t open until 8am and that was cutting it close to get to PNC Park at the time I wanted. Thank you again Rosenthal Acura.
After getting that magical code to work, Debbie fed Lillian and then we headed to the lobby for our free continental breakfast which consisted of bagels and cream cheese and Rice Krispies plus OJ and coffee. Not bad. The people gathered in the lounger were watching coverage of the impending doom of Hurricane Rita. Most of them were firefighters gathered there for some kind of convention. After breakfast we packed up the car, got some gas and headed to Pittsburgh. It was shortly after 9am.
The trip to Pittsburgh took about 38 minutes and I started getting excited when we passed the PPG building. Then we passed a bridge which afforded us a look right into the 3rd baseline stands from across the river. I made my way onto the Clemente Bridge and then started to look for the best parking for the price. The lots next to PNC were $18.00 and $15.00 so I took the lesson I learned from Yankee Stadium and looked on. I made a couple of circles before deciding on a nearby garage at $12.00. We parked the car on the 4th floor (the Alfred Hitchcock level, all the floors were represented by a photo) and went down to the stadium.
We timing things pretty perfectly because by the time we walked down to street level the Clemente Bridge was closed off to cars. We took a walk around the stadium and went by the players entrance and saw some autograph hounds. On the way back I talked to a guy who had been camped out near the garage entrance and had just got Doug Strange’s autograph.
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Debbie, Lillian and I then walked down to the center field Riverwalk entrance and went in. My bag was searched and I was forced to throw out my bottle of Mt. Dew Pitch Black II - apparently they don’t allow soda in the stadium. Weird. Upon entrance we were presented with a Willie Stargell Upper Deck card. We took a few photos along Riverwalk and at the other end I asked an usher the best way to get to our seats once the gates opened. He saw the stroller and offered to take us down one floor down the elevator and through the handicapped entrance. This got us a look at an indoor tunnel leading out to the right field.
We found our awesome visitors dugout seats easily and our usher Ray wiped down our seats for us and talked to Lillian for a bit. Debbie decided to get Lillian out of the hot sun so I headed for left field when the Pirates pitchers came out for warm ups. I said a hello to pitcher Matt Capps and watched as they threw balls back and forth. A couple overthrows occurred but I wasn’t in their paths and other people got the balls. I noticed Matt and Ryan Vogelsong finishing up and I moved closer to them. I put my glove up and Ryan threw me the ball. Nice. Matt then came over and I greeted him by name. He shook my hand and said that he was glad to see me out today. Pure Class.
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I headed by to my seat and switched the Pirates hat for an Astros one and stood behind the dugout. Russ Springer and Chad Qualls had just finished tossing a ball in front of the dugout and Russ tossed me the ball before heading into the dugout. I returned to my seat and gave Debbie a call to see where she was. She was feeding Lillian at First Aid so I went to the main concourse and took a look around. I found the Primanti Brothers stand and checked out the menu. Then I met Debbie at our seats and we headed back up to find the pierogi stand. I asked someone at the hot dog stand and she directed me to the Willie Stargell food court and told us to look at one of the last booths. With a lot of looking we finally found it. Why do they hide all the good food at ballparks - I don’t know. After Debbie ate I got some bland garlic fries. I then got my sandwich and set it down under my seat. I noticed more Astros throwing and warming up so i grabbed my glove and waited behind the dugout. Willie Taveras had a ball and made a nice throw to me. I put my fist in the air and thanked him and he gave me the “I love you man” sign - two hits to the heart and a point. Awesome.
I took some photos of our wonderful seat location and then settled back as the game started. Debbie and Lillian sat with me for awhile but the sun was pretty intense so Debbie moved back about 25 rows under the shade. I loved the seats we had and wish I could have that location for every game. I took bites of my sandwich between innings and kept score with my glove on, hoping for a foul ball. None came too close but I did note the good foul ball locations behind and slightlu to the left of the plate, and down the 3rd base line in foul territory.
The game went by fairly fast and as Lillian became more cranky, we decided to leave after the 7th inning stretch. We watched the Pittsburgh gametime tradition - pierogi races and then headed back to the car. Then it was off to Columbus.
The drive to Columbus to took about 3 1/2 hoursa dnwas fairly uneventful. We did stop at a McDonalds on the way to feed Lillian and while we were there a tour bus pulled up and I had to block the window so the people on the bus wouldn’t get a free show.
We arrived in Columbus at about 6:00pm and were greeted by the whole family and Suzi. Dinner was Whole Foods salmon, rice and green beans. Lillian sat at the table and Andrew played in the Baby Einstein gym. It was kind of cool how we were once 6 and we were now 8.
