Pittsburgh Pirates - May 26, 2012

 Our Pittsburgh Pirates trip was a part of a birthday surprise that I planned for Lee.  We stayed at the Splash Lagoon Water Park in Erie, PA, then drove on to Pittsburgh for a tour of the stadium and the game.


The stadium tour was amazing.  We got to visit all of the places where the players go - the batting cage under the stadium, the dugout, the press box and the field.  Our tour guide was amazing and clearly loved the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Pittsburgh wasn't really a team that either Lee or I followed as a kid, so we learned a lot about the history of the organization.  The Pittsburgh ball park felt a lot like Comerica.  We learned during our tour that it was built around the same time. 

They took us down to the field so that we could sit in the actual Pittsburgh Pirates dugout.  The kids loved seeing the view of the field that the players get.  It was really sweet to see some of of the grown men on our tour look around with child-like wonder at the field and the stadium.  Pittsburgh was clearly their team and they were so excited that it was contagious.

One funny thing happened while we were down on the field.  The tour guide told us that we could walk on the on deck circle and anywhere in the sand, but he asked us please DO NOT STAND ON THE GRASS.  The groundskeeper was fierce and protected every blade of grass so that it was just perfect for the players and the game.  It was the first time we got to see how much work goes into maintaining a grass field and how much pride the groundskeeping staff at Pittsburgh takes in their home field.


The funny thing about Pittsburgh is that we really don't have any memories of the food at the stadium (and believe me, we are food people).  I think we had standard stadium fare.  It wasn't really until we went to Cincinnati later that year that we perfected our art of ferreting out the best food in the stadium.

That weekend, we also got to take in another Pittsburgh classic - Primanti Bros. I wish I had taken a picture of our food.  Imagine that God decided she wanted a sandwich after a hungry day.  She would order from Primanti Bros.  It was the food of heaven - a HUGE sandwich stuffed with handmade fries and cole slaw.  To this day, I consider driving from Michigan to Pittsburgh just to order a Primanti Bros. sandwich.