SF Giants in Pittsburgh

Aug 22
Saturday

Some beautiful Pennsylvania views from the Allegheny mountains on my way from Gettysburg to Pittsburgh.

It's frustrating to wait for a pullover to capture them on film.

In Pittsburg I had a SF Giants game to attend. Not having a TV in the Doodlebug and not wanting one except to watch the Giants, I was having baseball withdrawal and glad to see on the Giants schedule they would be in Pittsburg when I was headed back to Indiana for my high school reunion. So had purchased a ticket on line to be picked up at will call, and had intended to get a hotel near PNC Park.  But all of  the available hotel parking is in garages and even tho the Doodle is only the length of a car, it is 9 ft tall and needs an open parking lot which is usually only found in a motel on the edge of town. So reserved an EconoLodge and took a $16 taxi ride to the stadium. No prob.

Arrived several hours early for the 4 pm game to have time to poke around.  The stadium is in formerly waterfront area where the Allegheny and Monongahela River converge to form the Ohio, hence Three Rivers, the former name of the baseball stadium before PNC Bank threw money at it to rename it.

It is an absolutely gorgeous area with walking paths and the river there with yachts tied up, people biking and kayaking, boats sitting out on the water waiting for balls hit out of the park just like McCovey Park.

Well, I guess you can't tie boats like this up at McCovey Cove.

The skyline view of Pittsburg from the park is breathtaking, reminding me of SF. 

On game day the bridge into downtown Pittsburg is closed to vehicle traffic so I walked across to see the stadium from the other side.

Not crowded yet, later a zoo of people.

More locks on the bridge for people to lock up their love, relationship, whatever.

Finally the stadium opens at 2:30 and I wander around checking out the food booths and come across these guys who have gone to a lot of trouble for team spirit.

Perogis are something I haven't had and wish I hadn't. Basically a dumpling filled with mashed potatoes, double carbs little taste. If I could have covered them with tomato sauce it would have helped, at least added some food value.

Between innings there was a race among several People Perogis like the horse race at the SJ Giants games. Fun.  The Cheese Perogi won.

My $83 seat was  good on level one in the shade, slightly to the right of home plate, not where they told me on the phone when I ordered it but better.

Even better I was surrounded by 5 guys who travel around the country attending ball games in different stadiums so they were neutral, not Pirates fans, cheering every good play on each side. Fun.

It was an exciting game with the Giants and Pirates score tied most of the time until the last inning when the Pirates ended up winning.  But my adventure getting home was about to begin.

Helen Keller said "Life is an adventure or it is nothing" but she never tried to get home in a taxi from PNC Park.

When the taxi dropped me off at the game he said to call a cab near the end of the game and have them pick me up at the home base entrance to the park, right where he dropped me off.  I wasn't about to do that because being tied in the 9th what if the game went into extra innings? I couldn't leave then. So waited until it was over and discovered I had taken too many pictures and a few phone conversations while waiting for the game to start and I was out of cell phone power!

So Plan B, go to a nearby hotel and ask them to call me a cab.  You can imagine the crowd leaving the stadium and the streets around.  The desk clerk at the hotel across the street said no cab would come into the area because of the crowd and said the only way I was going to get a taxi would be to walk across the bridge with the crowd and get a taxi in town.

So did that and bummed I had no more phone power to take a picture of the shoulder to shoulder mob on the bridge which was closed to car traffic.  In town went to the first hotel and the door man called me a cab. When it arrived 30 minutes later there was a couple who had come out of the hotel dressed for dinner and he gave it to them, apologizing for having to take care of hotel guests first.  An hour later, after this happened several more times I began to think I might end up spending the night in the same hotel I was standing in front of if a cab didn't show up soon. 

Finally, an hour  later an empty cab, just for me!

I was home to my motel on the outskirts of the city by 10pm. 

Lesson learned, keep an eye on the power on my phone!
If I wasn't wearing my Giants hat I would have gotten that first cab!