Pittsburgh - The Game Part

After all the craziness at home, it was good to get on the road and head toward a fun weekend in Pittsburgh.  We left in the early afternoon, as soon as Carter's last-minute dentist visit and a quick lunch would allow.  We noticed somewhere between the morning and the trip that Carter was a little stuffy, but he felt fine and it just seemed like a mild cold at worst.  We drove to Buffalo and picked up Craig's parents, which put me back in my cozy spot with my favorite travel buddy.

We were definitely going to the Saturday game from the get-go because there was a bobblehead giveaway of Jacob's favorite player, Andrew McCutcheon.  We had decided to go to the Friday game as well, instead of the Sunday game because the Sunday weather looked sketchier and we preferred to get home sooner than a Sunday game might have allowed.  Friday also had a giveaway for all of us, whereas Sunday was just for Carter.  Of course, Sunday had Pittsburgh's best pitcher, but oh well.  We weren't sure if the timing of our arrival would allow us to get the Friday giveaway, but we were going to try.  As usual we stopped at Chick-fil-A in Erie for a bathroom break and snack.  I only got a peach shake because that sounded really good at the moment, but I probably should have eaten more.  Still, the shake was really good.  

We made it in reasonable time despite some traffic, found a place to park, and walked to the stadium.  Much to our surprise, they still had shirts!  We all got a Bryan Reynolds shirt, which was good timing since he was in the midst of a long hit streak.  We went to the store briefly to look around since it was right there.  I decided it was time I get a shirt, and Jacob was looking for a jersey, which was going to be his big birthday gift.  We looked for a bit but it was getting close to game time, so we headed out and to our seats.

I'm not sure we've ever sat in this particular area of the ballpark, but they were good seats.  Being under the cover was key because it was so stinkin' hot, and every bit of shade was helpful.  But it was still very sweaty and uncomfortable.  We sort of realized after the fact how the heat influenced our activities in the ballpark.  We barely walked around, never made it to the outfield walkway, and the variety of the pictures I took was a lot less than usual.  I think I was just too hot and sweaty to move!

  

As the evening progressed, the coloring out in the outfield turned golden.

The camera could barely handle it.  The yellow blob on the one building was the sun reflecting off the windows. 

Overall the game was pretty uneventful.  Carter and I shared Chickie & Pete's chicken fingers and a giant tub of crab fries.  The pierogy race was a good one, won by Potato Pete.

I tried to get Jacob to take a selfie with me, but this was the best I got--lucky I got a smile because he was trying to be serious and broke just as I took the picture.

We did a lot of weekend selfies with the Pirate Parrot.

Carter tried to make his hand invisible for some of them and he liked this one where I looked concerned that I was being attacked by the Parrot.

Partway through the game they showed a view from behind the stadium of a glowing sunset.  I realized we were actually pretty close to where I could get up and see it for myself, so I took a little walk.  It wasn't super bright once I got out there, but it was pretty and peaceful.

While I was wandering, it started to rain.  Again, the cover came in very handy.  It rained for a while, and while I'm sure it wasn't pleasant to sit out in, with the heat I'm sure it could have been worse.  It was neat seeing the city light up in the background--it had been a while since we'd been to a night game.  The Roberto Clemente Bridge was looking extra snazzy after the construction it underwent, which left it closed when we were there last year.

The game itself wasn't very good.  Bryan Reynolds extended his streak with a home run, but that was about as exciting as it got and they lost 10-3.  Jacob was really disappointed.  

Then he ended up more disappointed because he wanted to go back to the store, but I think the feeling was that Craig's parents were tired and ready to go.  So his jersey would have to wait a bit longer.  We headed out and luckily the parking ramp was empty by then, which made for an easy escape.  We were staying a little outside the city in a suburb near a mall and a bunch of restaurants.  It was pretty late by the time we got there, so we pretty much checked in, grabbed some water from the drinking fountain (or from the one vending machine that worked) and headed to bed.

The next morning we slept in a bit.  Craig woke up stuffy but we assumed he either caught Carter's cold or was allergic to the pillows, which happens in hotels.  We woke up just in time to grab my beloved Holiday Inn Express breakfast.  The cinnamon rolls are the best, but it's really a good breakfast in general.  This one didn't have yogurt, which was a little annoying since that's a Jacob staple, but they did have eggs for him and in the end we all ate enough.  The plan was to kill time until about noon and then head into the city, grab lunch, and wait in whatever line was needed to get the McCutcheon bobblehead.  We headed to a place called Burgatory down the road from the stadium that had good gluten-free reviews.  I have to say, my burger was amazing.  Of course, Jacob and I wolfed ours down because the plan was for us to go ahead and scout out the bobblehead line.  We walked down the road, did a really quick stop at a store along the way so I could look for a shirt for myself (to see if anything beat out one I found at the stadium), and then continued on.  We got to the stadium and tried to find the end of the line.  It took a couple tries because we came across a ticket line and a VIP-type line first.  I finally found the end of the line around the corner and we got in it.  

We weren't entirely sure when gates were opening, but it turned out we had a lengthy wait.  It was a very hot wait.  Even half shaded with clouds it was so hot.  I almost got a little off-kilter but pulled out one of my Florida neck fans and it took the edge off.  We probably waited out there for close to an hour, but in the end we got our bobbleheads just fine, much to Jacob's delight.

We went to the store, which ended up being much more of a debacle than anticipated for a lot of reasons.  We were hot, it was busy, and we had our hands full with the bobbleheads.  We had six people to wrangle and it ended up pretty chaotic.  So chaotic we realized later we lost a bobblehead.  At least we had three more.  Jacob had to special order his jersey so it took a while, and the line was really long to pay for my shirt and socks for Jacob.

We finally made it out into the stadium and back to our seats.  We were once again mercifully under the upper deck, which was extra important since it was 95 degrees at game time.  There were two big plays of the game - Andrew McCutcheon got a triple, and Oneil Cruz hit a home run into the Allegheny River.  It was good to get a couple moments after the bad game the previous day.

Of course, the pierogy race was a delight as usual, complete with a massive comeback by Jalapeno Hannah, purse and all.

This is Craig's picture, but I loved it.  Jacob had picked up his jersey mid-game, but he realized once we were home that they forgot the front numbers, so apparently we'll need to go back through Pittsburgh one of these days for that to get fixed.

Halfway through the game it was time for the Bucco Billboard, and look what Craig had done:

His parents were thrilled!  It was pretty cool to see.  He would have done Jacob's birthday but he didn't want him to.  

 

Fortunately, despite a late rally by the Rays, the Pirates held on and won.  Raise the Jolly Roger!

We took some pictures before we headed out.

It had been a long, hot day.  Looking back I'm a little disappointed in my photos and wished I would have had the energy to pull out my real camera and take a few better, zoomed pictures, including of the Pirate Parrot, the players, the Pierogies, and maybe more of the skyline.  I think the heat and haze didn't help the pictures I did take, but I think the heat just had me lazy and distracted.  It was like low-level survival mode, and the less I had to move, the better.  Doesn't make for a great game experience, but I'm glad we still had a good time. 

 

When we got back to the hotel, we were hoping to swim in the pool back at our hotel (there was a really pretty courtyard our room overlooked, where the pool was), but it ended up being super busy thanks to a girls softball team (who, by the way, said hi to Carter when we walked through...ha!).  We really needed to grab some dinner by the time we got back, and we settled on Chipotle for us and Firehouse for Craig's parents--they were in the same plaza, thankfully.  We picked up everyone's food and dropped off Craig's parents' food before settling in ourselves.  I think we were all pretty spent, but it had been a good day.