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| Mr. Roger's Neighborhood |
The Allegheny and the Monongahela (which means "muddy banks, aka The Mon) rivers pour into the Ohio River at Confluence Park, aka "The Point," which projects out into the waters we traveled today.
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| Carnegie Science Center w/Submarine |
We took off from the Carnegie Science Center on The Discovery Boat, which contains almost as many microscopes as it does kid-sized life jackets. The microscopes were for viewing water critters and plankton. Various experiments were set up for measuring rates of sedimentation and the workings fracking for oil extraction. Specimens of pickled river dwellers were displayed in large jars, including paddle fish, direct descendants of dinosaur era fish that use their noses to paddle upstream. This is the city that claims "Mr. Rogers" as a favorite son, with a riverside memorial.
We used outdated but reliable technology to get ourselves downtown in our borrowed car, yes, we used a map and a highlighter. We marveled at the houses tucked away among the trees--Pittsburgh seems smaller than Denver, as the traveling over hill and dale and around about green belts and orange belts provides a limited sight line.
This is a city of bridges. The boat guide said Pittsburgh has more bridges than any city in the world except Venice. With the combination of hills and bridges we were reminded of San Francisco, though San Fran no way has this tree cover. We passed the quaintly futuristic Carnegie Science Center, the casino, the new convention center jutting out into the river with a dock underneath, the old Heinz Factory with the twin smoke stacks, Heinz Field where the Steelers play, the Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and The Incline, a tourist attraction hauling you almost vertically up the cliff to the town's fanciest restaurants. My Dad used to volunteer as a docent at the Science Center. In all the decades I've been visiting my family in Pittsburgh, this is the first time I've been out on the water.
Jesse said, "Imagine the view 500 years ago with only a few Indians camping on the river banks where the three rivers meet."
