The Great 2013 Vacation: Heinz Field & Claustrophobia

I have to admit to being a little slower waking up Monday morning.  For the first time since beginning our trip, we were going to be able to travel without the specter of losing an hour to a new time zone looming over our heads.  If there was one thing in my planning that I don't think I properly prepared for, it was the time zone changes and the loss of an hour each day.  Intellectually, I had planned for it (I even marked it down on the itinerary to remind me); psychologically, however, it was a let down each day to suddenly have an hour evaporate on the clock.  There were times when Jennifer wanted to set the car clock ahead long before we reached the time zone boarder and I wouldn't let her because I didn't want to deal with it.  Also, I think I was beginning to feel the effects of 3 straight 10 hour days in the car. 

Our first stop on day 4 was the Columbus Ohio Temple.  It is a smaller temple built next to a Stake center.  Its architectural look is much the same as the Oklahoma City Temple.

Since it was Monday, I again didn't expect the gate to be open, but with some of the other happy circumstances we had experienced at other temple stops, I should have known better.  When we arrived the gate was opened.  We did our customary walk around the temple and took pictures.

When we returned to the front door and the boys and I prepared to take our "touching the temple" picture, the door suddenly opened and a man who introduced himself as the temple president poked his head out to politely ask what we were doing.  Apparently the temple was being cleaned by patrons (hence the reason for the gate being opened), and he had been standing near the door when he heard Jennifer posing us.  We told him where we were from and where we were headed and explained our "scavenger hunt" to him.  He smiled and told us he had lived in California and that he liked our idea.  After wishing us well on our journey, he closed the door and we took our pictures and left the temple to gas up the car in preparation for our next "mystery place."

The last two mystery places were the best because they were not on the original itinerary.  Stopping at Winslow had been established and traveling through Indianapolis was a given as well, but whenever the boys viewed our trip route on Google, it showed us traveling south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Isaac has been a big fan of the Steelers since they beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl back in 2006.  I don't know if he noticed how close we would be to Pittsburgh or not, but since I had told everyone that we would need to go as far as we could each day to make it to New Jersey in 4 days, I'm not sure he even entertained the notion that we would stop there.  But I noticed how close we would be and knew I had to make sure this was one of our stops.

Both boys fell asleep not long after we left Columbus.  I figured my secret was safe for a while.  After driving through the remainder of Ohio and briefly entering and exiting West Virginia, we made a stop for snacks (our regular snacks plus jalapeno, baby back ribs, and cheddar & sour cream flavored potato chips from a brand I'd never heard of--Utz--they were quite good) at a Petro gas station outside of Claysville, Pennsylvania and made our last 40 mile push toward Pittsburgh.  With the frequency of the signs marking our approach, it wasn't long before a cry of: "The mystery place is Pittsburgh!" came from the back seat.  The way we entered the city was interesting.  Eventually, traffic began to slow down and signs warned us of a tunnel.  Soon, we rounded a sweeping curve and the Fort Pitt Tunnel appeared in front of us.  When we came out on the other side, the city of Pittsburgh lay before us.  After crossing the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, we circled around Heinz Field, the home of the Steelers, until I found a reasonably priced place to park.

 

Heinz Field was built next to Three Rivers Stadium where the Steelers used to play.  In planning out the sidewalks and roads and parking that would replace the old stadium after it was demolished, one section marked the area where the football field had once been and a plaque honoring the spot where Franco Harris caught the "Immaculate Reception" (the catch in 1972 that won their first playoff game and propelled the franchise to win 4 Super Bowls later in the decade) was erected next to the sidewalk.  I thought it was a clever move.  We walked to the south end of the field so Isaac could take some video of the inside of the stadium.  A security guard was near the gate.  He told us the field was being prepared for a concert.  We told him Isaac was a fan and he asked Isaac how he thought the team would do this season.  Isaac gave him a thumbs-up.  The official Steelers store was open for business.  We were able to catch a glimpse of the team "Hall of Fame" area.  I told Isaac I would get him an early birthday present; he picked a football.

The other part of the mystery place plan was to find the hockey area for the Penguins.  The directions took us to the downtown area, but after that, things became dicey.

I'm sure a GPS would have been "recalibrating" over and over as we tried to figure out where the directions were telling us to go.  Meanwhile, we got to see more of downtown Pittsburgh than we wanted and the citizens drove Jennifer crazy.  They were walking across the street in front of the car and behind the car while we were stopped at lights (sometimes while we were moving).  She was so on edge at one point, I had to ask her to chill out because she was getting to me.  Signs would point us toward the arena and then disappear when we would drive in that direction, making it difficult to figure out where to go next.  I think I lost about an hour trying to navigate the area and then we found the arena purely by accident.  Ben and Isaac quickly took video of the building out the car window, but that's all we had time for.  As it was, I had to find a way to turn us around in order to merge onto the correct route to take us to the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and out of the city.  Now we were ready to make our final push to reach New Jersey.

I have to admit that as the day wore on, I started to get grumpy.  I do like to drive and I didn't mind serving as the only driver, but being in a car for nearly four full days in a row had finally begun to take a toll on me.  The trip out of Pittsburgh north toward the I-80 took longer than I expected because the road we were traveling passed through towns and we'd have to constantly slow down and speed up.  By the time we got to State College (where Penn State is located), I was I bit on edge.  About an hour later, we stopped at a Subway in Milton for dinner and had a bad experience.  To save money, we bought two foot long sandwiches and were going to split them.  The sandwich maker kept asking Ben and Isaac, "Are you sure you want that?" with every choice they made--I don't know if she wanted to make absolutely sure she'd heard them right, but her tone sounded more patronizing then helpful.  Our sandwich maker was more concerned about listening to another co-worker's latest love life drama and ended up squirting mayonnaise on the entire sandwich.  I hate mayonnaise.  Part of me wanted to pitch a fit, but the other part of me wanted so badly to get back on the road that I paid for the sandwiches and herded us all back to the car.  While I pumped gas, Jennifer worked on scraping the mayo from my half of the sub--she did a good job; I didn't taste it.

The final 170 or so miles are a bit of a blur to me.  I remember as the sun set the deepening shadows caused the trees on either side of the road to look as if they were closing in on me.  I felt claustrophobic.  Finally, mercifully, we passed the New Jersey state line.  This made me feel better, but not completely.  In my planning, I had found a Best Western in Ramsey, NJ that offered a very good deal for a 4 night stay.  It was located on Route 17 South.  Route 17 turned out to be a main thoroughfare with cars traveling at 55 to 65 mph.  At the same time, I was supposed to find the hotel and get off the road in the dark without causing anyone to bury themselves in my trunk--fun.  Somehow, I managed to execute this major maneuver.  We checked in and tumbled gratefully into our room.  Ben decided to record our arrival.  I was able to capture this shot of me from the video to show how hammered I felt.  But, we had made it to our destination in 4 days, we were safe and happy to be there.  At that moment, all these things were good enough for me as I fell into bed after a verse of scripture was read and prayers were said.