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September 11, 2007
Pittsburgh
Hell bent on making it to Pittsburgh by sunset, we set off late morning Saturday. Alas, the road between Chestertown and Western Pennsylvania happens to pass right through Annapolis and within spitting distance of everyone's favorite place to eat.
In fact, we were at the Annapolis Mall for several other purposes. I needed a new pair of running shoes after thoroughly exhausting the ones I've been using since a year ago June. And Robbi needed to stop by the Mac store to purchase some rather unwieldy conversion boxes needed to allow her old monitors to speak to her brand new MacPro.
Shoes and computer equipment in hand, we got our burritos.
I like Chipotle for various reasons. First, it goes without saying, the burritos are excellent. But also they provide little bins of sliced lime and lemon for placing in one's soft drink. And their marketing language is lively and clever. You've seen all the clever signage from corporate headquarters that hangs throughout the restaurant and on their cups, bags, etc. But perhaps you have never seen (as I had never seen) a handmade sign such as this one, hanging on the inside of the men's room door.
After clearing Annapolis, there was nothing between us and Pittsburgh but a whole lot of Maryland. Or so we thought. After coasting blissfully for hours without incident, and within about ten miles of our destination, traffic suddenly ground to an unexpected halt. After musing for a few minutes on the fact that we were not moving, we saw a sign that indicated, inexplicably, that the highway was, in fact, closed. It took us a few minutes to digest the news that the road that was to take us to Christian and Emily was simply not available. There was a detour, it seemed, and it seemed we had no choice but to take it. And so we did.
For the next two hours we moved wormlike from long red light to long red light in a single file line of other infuriated drivers. Drives enraged and drivers despondent, the line of us railed against Pittsburgh and the inexplicability of closing a critical highway on a Saturday afternoon.
Fortunately, there were various police officers situated at key intersections to help traffic along.
Unfortunately, they seemed content to sit like the one pictured above, watching with mild amusement as the traffic situation worsened from dismal to comical. At one point we openly debated whether the many virtues of friendship with Christian and Emily were equal to the utter dreariness of the current situation. Nearly manic with frustration, we resorted to clownish behavior to distract us from homicidal impulse.
Just when we were about to throw in the towel and drive back to Chestertown, the highway came into view and we were released back into the speedy flow of traffic. And so Christian and Emily dodged a bullet. For now.
We arrived at the Sewickley Inn and changed into swank party garb.
At the party, there was a pleasant greyhound named Kemper.
And a truly impressive sundae bar.
Various members of Christian's and Emily's families were on hand, and so we took pictures of various configurations of people.
Christian and his sisters Victoria and Amy.
Christian and me
Emily, Robbi, and Emily's Uncle Art
Emily and her dad, George
The siblings Vainieri, with their parents, Deborah and Humberto, our hosts for the evening
Kemper head on, not her best angle
The next morning, we ate some more. Ruby was in attendance.
When we had eaten all there was to eat, we headed home using obvious routes.
If you can't tell from the picture above, this sign was truly enormous. The person who made it was either blind or really concerned that people be able to find the Turnpike. Even people five or six miles away.
On the way home, we saw some windmills. Both of us agreed that we'd like to have some on the mountainside where we will live someday
Ah Pittsburgh (with the exception of your closed highway and the resulting hells it inflicted), how we love thee.
Posted by bogenamp at September 11, 2007 09:46 AM
Comments
I like the exceptionally large turnpike sign.
It seems that whenever I am looking for the turnpike there is always a small sign behind a tree that I don't notice until it is far too late to get into the correct lane.
Viva la Comically Large Turnpike Signs!!!
Posted by: ming at September 11, 2007 12:10 PM
I turned to Kate on OUR drive back from Pittsburgh on this very same weekend and said "there's just something so majestic about windmills." Can we buy some and put them in really unusual places in Chestertown, do you suppose? Perhaps where the fountain of Fountain(less) park once stood?
Posted by: Nick Smerker at September 17, 2007 07:38 PM