Monday in Pittsburg

I tried uploading pictures and little signs talking about internal errors popped up. I have no idea whether it is my photos or blogger. I will try again tomorrow.

After a 10 hour drive yesterday, we arrived in Pittsburg, city of bridges. Something like Paris but in Pennsylvania. There are many steel bridges, one ever few blocks which span a narrow river, were built at the beginning of the last century. There are pictures of the bridges when they were "paved" in wooden planks with horse drawn carriages and ladies with parasoles walking across them. From the little that we have seens, one side of the city seems to be built into hills and across the river, the city becomes much flatter.

Julia and I went to the zoo today -- a bit hotter than I would have like but with all the museums closed (and no swimming pool at the hotel), the zoo was the place to be. Julia was pretty grumpy for a good percentage of the day. Maybe it is a new place, a new adventure, the heat, or plain grumpiness. She kept saying she didn't want to be at the zoo after the zoo had been her first choice! Very frustrating indeed! Then, she decided that she wanted to buy some animals -- toys! Throughout our time looking at the live animals, she kept reminding me that she was going to stop into one of the stores and that we would buy a toy. I am so not in favor of buying souveniers everywhere we go, and I hate the expectation. Such an American kid! In the end, I did not buy her anything and by that time she was complaining about getting into the car.

In between all the complaints and whining, she did have a good time. We saw two very tiny baby elephants, pretty close up. She pet a kangaroo and a dear (I had to wonder if they were drugged.), saw sharks, penguins, and lots of cool fish, sea lions, polar bears, and a small tiger. The zoo like that part of the city is built into the hills and there was lots of walking up and down, not quite a vertical zoo, but closer than most.

Tonight, we went to the historical museum for dinner and free run of the museum. Pretty cool place, and definitely cool to be there without a crowd. I wish we had a more patient little one in order to read some of the accompanying information with the exhibits, but I was grateful that Julia allowed us a bit more than an hour to absorb some of the museum. There was a great Hienz exhibit -- of course, this is a Hienz town! Katsup was once bottled in really lovely bottles and pickles, oh, we saw a whole history of pickles.

Ah, almost forgot. As part of dinner, there was a chocolate fountain with lots of stuff to be dipped and sprayed with the stuff. Strawberries, of course, different cookies, marshmellows, other fruit, and some cake. We don't overdo the chocolate at home by any means, but I allowed Julia to eat what she wanted to tonight. She had a great time dipping but her favorite was the plain undipped orea cookies. We did have to let her unwind for a good while, first, walking the museum and then back in our room, she played with her clay for a long time. too much sugar for that girl.

Right now, for better or worse, Julia prefers sleeping in Daddy's bed in the hotel. That means I get a really good night's sleep, but I do feel a bit guilty that David gets the night time kicks, pushes, and snuggles. Maybe tomorrow, I'll convince her to sleep in my bed.