Day 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Cincinnati, OH

After re-packing our very full car (gift shops, people!) we headed off to the South Shore of Pittsburgh to ride the Duquesne Incline up Mt. Washington.  It's an inclined plane railroad that whisks people up 400 feet to the top of the ridge at a 30 degree angle.  It was built in 1877 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  When you step inside, you can tell it's antique, which adds to its charm.  It looks like a mini San Francisco trolley with carved wood, colored glass, and a swinging lantern hung from the ceiling.  The views of downtown Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington are quite wonderful.  It was hazy today, but the city still shined brightly.  We also walked to a recently installed sculpture called "Points of View" which depicts a moment in time between Guyasuta, a Seneca tribe leader, and George Washington.  Both men played pivotal roles in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania's history before and after the Revolutionary War.  I admit that Pittsburgh has never made my "to-visit" list, but after being there, I've decided that I must return.  It's got gorgeous architecture, fascinating history, and tons of things to see and do.

Our next destination was a place we found 10 years ago when we went white water rafting in West Virginia.  The Blenko Glass Company has operated in Milton, WV since 1921 and they make hand-blown glass vases, pitchers, glasses, even architectural bricks.  It was even recently featured on a PBS special.  10 years ago we kind of stumbled upon it, but fell in love when we did.  Even thought it was a bit out of our way, we knew we had to visit on this trip too.  All of us found treasures we wanted to take home and due to our current amount of items in the car, we opted to have them shipped home, where we'll get to gawk at them again when they arrive.  We also wandered over into their factory where we saw artisans working on two different types of molds.  Even though we were a good distance back from the factory floor, the heat was still very noticeable and I marveled that the artists only wore protective gloves, t-shirts, and shorts.  If you're ever in western West Virginia, be sure to stop by, even if just to look at their amazing works of art!

After a really nice dinner stop in Portsmouth, OH, we've now settled into our Hampton Inn in northeast Cincinnati.  We are going to the Cincinnati Reds vs. San Diego Padres game tomorrow afternoon before we buzz down to Louisville.  As we near the end of our journey, we've come across a gem of a hotel.  The room is exquisite as is the hotel itself, even if the 4th floor was a little eerily quiet earlier when I went to the vending machine.

Day 12 - Buffalo, NY - Pittsburgh, PA

No rest for the weary as we were up and at it first thing as we had a travel day in front of us.  Another nice hotel breakfast and all of us jetted north to see Niagara.  What a different experience it was during the day; not better or worse, just different.  In the daylight, you can really appreciate the mist and the power better.  Obviously, the color of the river and falls is different as is the crowd, the circling seagulls, the ponchos on those walking near the falls, and the boats of folks getting misted upon.  We started out at Prospect Point which allows easy viewing of the American Falls, Canada, and the Rainbow Bridge which takes cars and pedestrians between the countries.  Before coming on the trip, we had been advised by many to bring our passports so we could walk to Canada where they have even better views of the Falls.  With our passports on us, we had to make a decision whether to do the crossing or not.  Due to time constraints (we had a baseball game in Pittsburgh to get to), we decided instead to make the short drive to Goat Island.  This island sits between the American and Canadian Falls and is where you can visit the Cave of the Winds with a ticket.  This area is much less crowded than Prospect Point AND there's a statue of Nikola Tesla.  After a short walk, we found ourselves even closer to the edge of the Falls and could really feel the intensity and power of the water.  The views were even better here and we were thrilled with our decision.  After marveling at this great sight, we loaded up and headed west on I-90 towards Erie, PA.

I was only able to catch a fleeting view of Lake Erie as we whizzed along, but it counted as my second Great Lake visit!  After a pretty unremarkable, disappointing Steak and Shake lunch in Erie, we made the turn south towards Pittsburgh.  Our hotel was right across the street from PNC Park where the Pirates played the Tigers tonight.  Franklin has been so excited about this game since we got the tickets; he loves Roberto Clemente (former Pirate ball player).  We had amazing seats on the club level:  fantastic food, a stunning view of the field and downtown Pittsburgh past the outfield, and we were in foul ball territory.  In fact, we almost had one in the 1st inning off of Sterling Marte (it was just beyond our reach due to safety).  Because Franklin celebrated his 9th birthday on this trip, I had arranged for a Happy Birthday greeting to be on the scoreboard at the end of the 4th inning.  The smile on his face made it so worth it.  It was a fantastic evening at a great ballpark AND the Pirates even won (although we normally don't cheer for them, being Cubs fans, you know!).  Tomorrow we have our last major travel day as we go from Pittsburgh to Milton, WV, and then to Cincinnati!