Wrong.
Dustin and I arise to some lingering showers and then sunny skies on Saturday. It's time for us to pack up, and begin the epic driving portion of this trip. Today's segment is supposed to take us to Detroit to see a Tigers game...and if we got there early enough, we wanted to head into Canada and visit Point Pelee, the southernmost point of continental Canada (there's an island or two south of the point in the lake that's still considered Canada).
We pack up, thank Jackie profusely, tell her we'll see her in like a week, and take off for the freeway. As we close in on the loop, traffic grinds to a halt. A halt. Over the next 2 1/2 hours, we move, maybe, 5 miles. Maybe. It's brutal. We can't find any information on why things are this freaking slow...until we get up to the issue. The freeway is closed, and everyone is being shuffled off to surface streets. Awesome. Apparently I-94 is flooded. Still. Hours after the storms left. And they had not cleared it out by 11am. Brutal.
So we get shuffled to side streets, eventually get back on the highway, and continue our trek...3 hours behind schedule. The rest of the drive is mostly uneventful...
I said mostly! Luckily this little accident didn't cause us any delay. However, the Chicago delay was enough to prevent us from being able to cross into Canada. This was to be a one country trip after all. Sadface.
On the trip we ate at a roadside restaurant called Cracker Barrel. Dustin raved about it going in. When he saw one on the side of the road between Milwaukee and Chicago, I'm pretty sure he squeeled in delight and declared we had to eat there, because it was awesome. Upon partaking in the delectabilities of this eating establishment, I can say that it is...ok. The food quality is decent...not great, not terrible. It's food. But, it's a whole shitton of food. For cheap. I had chicken and dumplings, a small bowl of corn, two biscuits, a side of mac n cheese, smashed potatoes and a soda for about 10 bucks. That's a lot of food...and that's just the standard meal size. I didn't order all of that individually (even I don't eat that much). Cracker Barrel is known more for quantity than quality, it seems. So, if you are super hungry and broke, try out a Cracker Barrell. If you are not, then maybe look elsewhere. That's my review on it anyways.
We got into Detroit around 5, which was only a little before the gates opened for the game. So we parked, and wandered over and took some pictures. Ford Field, home of the Lions, was right next door, so we checked that out too. After one trip around the stadium, we entered. The stadium was pretty cool. I mean, it's nice enough...there's statues of real, striped tigers on top of the scoreboard. There's also statues of famous Tigers baseball players, including the amazing Ty Cobb. So that was pretty cool. All in all, a very nice stadium for watching a ballgame.
The game was entertaining, and the Blue Jays ended up winning 3-2. After the game they put on a free fireworks show in the ballpark! That was a nice surprise. Nice, also, to see a team that's in a dying city have the money to pay for a fireworks display. But, then again, the stadium was pretty darned full.
After the fireworks, we wandered back to the car, and then drove out to Joe Louis Arena...home of the hated Detroit Red Wings. We couldn't get inside, obviously, but just being outside it was interesting. It's right by the river that runs between Detroit and Canada. It's an old building. But it's definately full of hockey history. We took some pictures and then took off for Toledo, where we would be spending the night.
And with that I had successfully entered, stayed in for a few hours, and left Detroit without getting shot. Awesome! On the way to Toledo we stopped at my first ever White Castle! And, I must say...it was amazing! Those tasty little tiny burgers really hit the spot. I'm now craving them every day, and there's not a White Castle anywhere near California. Sad times. They really are delicious (and terrible for you...but hey, its fast food!).
After a sleepless night in Toledo (it was a pretty skeezy Motel 6...by far our worst one of the trip), we hit the road Sunday morning for Pittsburgh! First off, I should say that Pittsburgh is a cool freaking city. It's basically built right at the confluence of three rivers and then into the surrounding hillsides. It's very interesting terrain, and very green. And, there's plenty to do. Between downtown, sports games, the strip district, and south side, there's plenty of places to explore. I'm sad I only had the one day there. The game was a day game, so we park and head to the park. Sadly, it is lightly raining at the time. The field is tarped. But even with the grey sky, my first view inside PNC Park is one of awe. This park is amazing.
Upon inspection, I've decided that PNC Park is the most gorgeous, amazing park in baseball. The only one that can compete is AT&T Park in San Francisco, but I think Pittsburgh has it beat. With the perfectly framed downtown skyline, the riverside walkways, the yellow bridge that crosses the river and leads directly to the park...I mean, it's such a perfectly positioned park, its incredible. If they A's ever get a new stadium, I hope they look at PNC for ideas.
Dustin and I brave the rain and wander down to the riverwalk. We take pictures of downtown, the bridges, and the confluence. Then we wander back inside and have some in park Primanti Brothers sandwiches. These are odd sandwiches. They are burger patties with french fries in the sandwich. Very odd. I'm not a huge french fry fan, but apparently its a Pittsburgh institution, so I give it a go, and its pretty good! I mean, I pulled half the french fries out of the sandwich...there were a ton, and that made it just about right! Interesting stuff. The rain stops a bit before gametime, and we head down to our seats, which are about 15 rows off the field. Awesome seats. At least, they were awesome until the sun broke through. When the sun broke through, it was unbearably hot and humid. Like, the most uncomfortable I've ever been. Unreal. Luckily, the game wasn't sold out...not even close...so we moved up into the shade for most of the game...and that was pretty comfortable.
The Padres beat the Pirates, and we took off. We walked over the bridge to get some views of the park over the river, and wandered down to Heinz Field, home of the Steelers...then went to check in at our Motel 6 (much nicer). After a quick nap, we headed into town for the evening. Being as it was a Sunday, it was pretty quiet. First we headed over to Mellon Arena, and the next door Consol Energy Center...the former and future homes of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The igloo is a famous arena because it looks so ridiculous. It's gonna be destroyed, though, since they finally built the Pens a new arena.
After seeing the arenas, we headed to Church Brew Works in the strip district. Basically, this is a brewpub made out of an old church building. Kind of awesome. But their kitchen was closed when we got there. So we had a drink and took off for the south side. We had an amazing meal at Margaritaville up there, and then headed over to HKAN to smoke some hookah and relax. It was a pretty chill evening, and looking around south side on our way out, I could definately see how it would be an awesome place for 20-somethings to hang out on the weekends and some weeknights. I'm going to need to head back to Pittsburgh at some point...very cool city.
After a nice night's sleep in Pittsburgh, it was up and at em early the next morning...with three states on the docket and three major stops before the Indians game in Cleveland!
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