So we’re back from our weekend road-trip down to Pittsburgh. We arrived around 2 o’clock in the afternoon then Tanya and I put some laundry on and collapsed on the couch for a Short nap that turned into a long one.
The weekend went well and we all had a good time. Pittsburgh was a very nice city, the people of Pennsylvania were very friendly, the Leafs won, it couldn’t have gone any better. I would recommend this road-trip to anyone. Here is a little rundown of what we did and saw.
The Drive Down
We left our house around 7:30 Friday night after work. A couple of hours later we were at the border picking up some alcohol and some other stuff at the Duty Free. As we approached the border crossing, I was asked to keep the smart-ass comments to myself by Tanya, Greg and Sara—I have a tendency to make smart-ass comments when…well all the time…but at times…and especially when…inappropriate. I agreed—after all, I wasn’t in any mood to be taken to a room and have a cavity-search performed by a humourless border-guard.
As Greg pulled the van up to the gate, he rolled down the window.
“Good evening officer,” Greg said with as much composure as he could muster.
We had nothing to hide, but these moments were always tense. You never know what kind of mood a border guard will be in. They’re in a unique position—along with airport customs agents—that gives them the ability to cause a whole lot of trouble and ruin a potentially great trip before it even starts. Plus, they almost always seem to be in pissy moods. The guard asked for Greg’s identification.
“Is everyone in the vehicle a Canadian citizen?” he enquired.
“Yes…yeah…uhuh” we all responded.
“What is the purpose of your stay?” asked the guard, “Business or pleasure?”
“Pleasure, we’re headed down to Pittsburgh to watch the Leafs play.” Greg explained.
“I’ve been getting a lot of Leaf fans tonight. But they’re all headed for New York.” the guard seemed to look as if he thought he caught us in a lie. It may have just been my paranoia though…
“Yes, they do play the Rangers Saturday night, but then they’re in Pittsburgh on Sunday.” Greg said calmly.
“We figured they had a better chance of beating the Penguins.” I added, taking a chance that he might be a Ranger’s fan and looking for some sign of amusement from the guard—so much for my promise.
The guard seemed satisfied with our explanation and with a rare border-guard smile he said, “OK well have a good trip and enjoy the game!” and with that, we were off again.
The trip itself was rather uneventful. It was dark, the sky was clear so we had a great view of the stars. It was a crisp, cool night, around -3 degrees. Greg drove while I played navigator in the shotgun position with a Yahoo! Maps printout in hand. I also kept lookout for any deer that may consider cutting our trip short with an ill-advised highway crossing. The girls sat in the back keeping us engaged in chatter and passing around an assortment of junk food. It was your typical road-trip scenario.
We arrived in Pittsburgh around 2 am Saturday with little trouble or fanfare. We were treated to a picturesque view of the skyline at night and managed to find our hotel easily thanks to my masterful navigational skills and Yahoo! Maps.
The Scenery
I was pleasantly surprised with the city of Pittsburgh. I was expecting something very different than what I saw. I suppose my predisposition came from a comparison many people draw between Pittsburgh—the American Steel Town—and Hamilton—Canada’s Steel Town. Don’t get me wrong, Hamilton is by no means an unpleasant city—anymore—but there was a time when Hamilton was known as a bit of a pit. My recollection of it was that of a heavily polluted, stinky city. I guess I just figured Pittsburgh to be the same way.
Instead, what I saw was a city blessed with several waterfronts—thanks to the three rivers that converge in the city’s core; lots of tunnels—since it is built on rolling hills; and lots of bridges—once again, thanks to the rivers.
There are two relatively new stadia, Heinz Field—home of the Super Bowl Champion Steelers—and PNC Park—home of the Pirates—right near the water, there is an impressive-looking convention centre and a surprisingly clean downtown area featuring the Strip District—an area full of wholesalers, restaurants, street vendors, clubs and bars—and the Mellon Arena—home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Saturday we got up, had breakfast and made the 1.5-hour drive south to the small town of Mill Run PA, to visit Fallingwater, the home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright—renowned architect—and built for Edward J. Kaufmann—department store mogul.
The home is built into the side of this hill with a waterfall running through it. Springs feed the pools in the guesthouse and the main house and the open concept cantilever design is something to behold. The intent was to build a dwelling into nature so as to interrupt it as little as possible. The result is a really wicked-cool house.
The last of the Kaufmann family is long gone and the house is now owned and run by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy who manage the tours—at an acceptable $17/person—and only bug you once to sign up for a membership to support their cause at the end of the tour with a 5 minute video explaining their work. Overall, it was a pleasant experience that I would highly recommend, especially if you’re into architecture and/or snooping around wicked-cool houses.
The nightlife in Pittsburgh is split between two main areas in the city’s South Side. There is the club area that feature a few dance clubs, a Hard Rock Cafe and a couple of large sports bars. Then there is the bar area which features 15 blocks on East Carson St. of bars, cafes, shops, etc… Apparently, there are more bars per city block in this area than any other city in North America.
Unfortunately, due to shoddy directions and an unwillingness on our part to do a little walking, we never got to the good part of the South Side. What we saw didn’t impress us much, but apparently, we didn’t walk far enough to see what all the hype was about. The next night, after the game we went back and drove down further and realized that—had we gone the extra mile, literally—we would have seen what all the fuss was. Unfortunately, since the game ended late—you’ll know why in a second—most of the good places were either closed or empty. Oh well, next time we’ll know.
We spent Sunday afternoon shopping at the local mall. With the Canadian dollar as strong as it is these days and the added fact that in Pennsylvania, clothing is not taxed—with a few exceptions—we found some really good deals.
The Game
On Sunday, after an afternoon of appeasing the girls with a lengthy shopping excursion, we returned to the hotel, got ready for the game and made our way downtown to the arena. That weekend the city was teeming with Torontonians who—like us—came down to see the Leafs play. The announced attendance was 15k+. Half of that seemed to be wearing the blue and white.
The Mellon Arena—affectionately known by most as the Igloo—is the oldest remaining arena in the NHL. It opened in 1961 and had a unique feature—a retractable roof. I enquired with one of the staff in the building if they ever opened it during a hockey game—that would have been so cool. I was told that because the suspended scoreboard/jumbotron was so heavy, they couldn’t open the roof for hockey but they did open it in the summer for concerts and other shows. Too bad…
Even though the arena was in dire need of new facilities like more private boxes, better washrooms and concessions stands, I rather enjoyed the building. It had an intimacy and character that most new NHL rinks lack. It hearkened back to the good old days of Maple Leaf Gardens. However I can understand that—as a loyal fan of the Penguins—this character might wear a little thin on a person, and I quickly got a taste of that frustration during the game.
It was by no means a pretty game. Played by two bottom-feeder teams going in opposite directions. Toronto, an old team trying to hold on to any hope of making the post-season and Pittsburgh, a team with some bright prospects including one of the best young players in the league, a top-notch goaltender and a few more high draft picks coming this year.
The puck bounced about on bad ice as both sides tried and failed to string together more than 3 passes in a row. It became clear that the winner of this game was going to be the team that sucked the least.
The first real event occurred when Tomas Surovy appeared to put the Penguins ahead in the first only to have the goal called back due to time running out in the period.
Shots on goal were few and far between, and scoring chances were non-existent by the time the second period was half-way through. Then it happened…
It began when Eric Cairns was given 5 minutes and a game for boarding Ben Ondrus. Seconds later, during Toronto’s poor excuse for a power-play the entire arena went black. A second later, the backup power kicked in to reveal confused frustrated players on the ice and gasping fans in the seats. OK, no problem…power failures happen. We had one a few weeks back at the relatively new Air Canada Centre (ACC). Unfortunately, it takes upwards to 15-20 minutes to get the main lights and the TV lights up again. But people were patient, especially the Toronto fans who drove 6 hours to watch this contest.
The players skated around leisurely trying to stay warm and stretching out the ligaments so as to avoid injury while waiting for play to resume. Finally the lights came on and it was game on again.
Toronto didn’t show much more momentum when they went back to their power-play. Another minute or so of ineptitude went by when…again…blackness…then dim light. This time the crowd started rumbling in outrage and the players banged their sticks on the ice in frustration. There was going to be another 20-minute delay.
People got up from their seats and left. Mostly Penguin fans since…again…the Torontonians had come too far to give up yet. Then the chanting began, “New-A-Re-Na, New-A-Re-Na….” Everyone chanted, including the Toronto fans. You could tell that people’s patience was wearing razor thin.
Tanya was the first to notice it. The smell of smoke in our section. We all smelled it. We didn’t think too much of it until the next day when I read in the paper that there had—in fact—been a small fire in a power room in the arena. The team’s official position was that the fire presented no threat to the people in attendance and that they had it under control quickly. No one in the arena was made aware of it—and in hindsight I thought it was a wise choice by the management, as there would have been a panic of people trying to escape and subsequently there may have been injuries.
I found the whole thing rather amusing. A quick flip through the Penguin’s program revealed that one of their main sponsors was, in fact, Duquesne Light, the power company that supplies power to the Mellon Arena. They say as much—rather proudly—in the program…Ooops…
Finally, the PA speaker informed the crowd that, thanks to the heroic efforts of Duquesne Light, the problem had been fixed and that play would resume after an intermission. At this point, many Penguins fans were gone and the arena was mostly Toronto fans. At least that’s the way it seemed when Toronto player Chad Kilger was hauled down while breaking for the Pittsburgh net and was awarded the most exciting play in hockey—a penalty shot—and the crowd went wild.
Normally I wouldn’t have put money on Kilger registering a shot on net, much less a goal on a penalty shot but—contrary to the rest of the evening—Kilger made good on the attempt and put the Leafs ahead by a goal. With just over 6 minutes left to play and with the way both teams were playing; and despite my hopes that Pittsburgh might tie it up so we could see some overtime and a shootout; one goal was all Toronto would need to win the game. The final score would be 1-0 for the Leafs.
All in all, even though it wasn’t a pretty game, it was damned exciting with everything that happened. Plus the mood in the arena was pretty electric, especially when compared to the mood at a game in Toronto, where only fat-cat executives in suits can afford to go, and sit on their hands. In Pittsburgh you could tell that the few hockey fans that do go to games are passionate about their team.
It was fun watching our team play in a different city and to see how the fans of the other team reacted to us. The Pittsburgh fans were very cool and welcoming. At no time did we feel threatened. Instead, the mood in the arena was one of sportsmanship and jovial camaraderie. I couldn’t help but think that things would have been very different in another city, not too far from there, in the same state, a city supposedly known as the City of Brotherly Love, I’m speaking—of course—of Philadelphia.
Overall, we enjoyed Pittsburgh. The only thing we would change is the road signage. In Toronto, we’re spoiled because the city is pretty much a grid. If we miss a turn, we can just turn down the next street and then again on the next to double-back. The streets in Pittsburgh weren’t as easy and often we found ourselves not knowing in which direction we were travelling. Driving around as visitors to the city, we found the signage to be…well…a little late at times with directions. By the time we realized we were going the wrong way, we couldn’t do much about it until we got to the other side of a bridge or tunnel. After awhile though, we got pretty comfortable getting around and all was fine again.
I would recommend this trip to anyone who is a sports fan or just a fan of road-trips. We will definitely do one of these trips again. We’ve already begun discussing the possibility of going to New York this summer to see the Jays play the Yankees at the historic Yankee Stadium before they tear it down and move to a new stadium.
We took some pictures of the trip and I hope to eventually put them up here so check back soon and often.
What are you thinking?