2012-04 Baltimore

Ray went to Baltimore and had the opportunity to go to the Oriole's Wednesday night baseball game at Camden Yards.  the park is located near downtown and has a neighborhood feel.  This is the 20th season that the Orioles have been at Camden Yards, although it doesn't seem that long.  Camden Yards was one of the first modern parks to be built more like the old style parks.

On the way to the park, he stopped at the grave site of Edgar Allan Poe.  He is buried right in the middle of town in a small graveyard next to a church.  There are about a dozen grave sites at the church.

Just outside the stadium is a statue of Brooks Robinson, one Ray's favorite ball players growing up.  The statue has a gold glove on, representing the great fielder and many gold gloves that Brooks Robinson won during his career.

Ray walked around the stadium before going in and and entered at the center field gate.  There is a street that goes between the stadium and the building that can be seen in right field, but it is int he stadium.  There are vendors and stores that are in the building, along with vendors all along the street with food and souvenirs.  A very community-like setting.

Ray had looked on line for tickets and got very lucky finding a single ticket in the 12th row behind home plate (for about half price of face value) and jumped on it.  There were quite a few scouts and baseball people sitting down in this area with their briefcases and charts.  The guy in front of him was keeping track of the umpires and how well they kept the game moving between innings and how they reacted in different situations.

On Thursday after his meetings, Ray went to the inner Harbor area and walked around.  There are multiple piers that have a lot of restaurants and shops.  On one of the piers was a squat light house called 7 foot knoll lighthouse that had been moved about 15 miles from its original location.

In the harbor were various ships that were open for tours, including the coast guard cutter Taney that was at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attacks in 1941.  This was last ship from the Pearl Harbor attack to be retired from active service.  There was also a submarine and a mobile lighthouse.

A couple of tall ships were docked in another area of the harbor, also open for tours as part of the Maritime Museum.  One was the USS Constellation.   Adjacent to the Maritime museum was the World Trade Center, a 27 story building with an observation deck at the top offering great views of the harbor and downtown Baltimore.

On the south side of the harbor was Federal Hill, which is a popular park that is an rising above the harbor.  The view back to the city is fantastic.  Beside the park are a lot of art studios.  All along the harbor are many museums, so there were a lot of school buses and kids touring the area.


 
Even though Ray didn't have a lot of time, he was able to see a lot and enjoyed Baltimore.  There is so much history in the area and famous people who are from there (such as Babe Ruth, Francis Scott Key and Betsy Ross), that it would be easy to fill a few days exploring.

2012-04 Pennsylvania

I visited a supplier in Franklin PA, which is located about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.  This was my first time in Pennsylvania, and I did not realize how hilly this portion of Pennsylvania was.  It is a very pretty country.  The area around Franklin was where the first US oil wells were drilled (think Quaker State and Pennzoil).  Being from the Midwest, where everything is relative "new" in terms of history, I enjoyed seeing the old courthouse and civil war (or the great war of the rebellion) memorial statues in the adjacent park.

On the way back to the Pittsburgh airport, I had an extra hour, so I decided to take a ride on the Duquesne (pronounced Dukane) Incline Railway.  The incline is about 30° and starts at the river and goes to the top of Mount Washington.  It was built in 1877 and is located just across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. 



The ride up and the view from the top is incredible.  You can see Heinz Field (Steelers), PNC Park (Pirates) and the whole of downtown from the top.

Pittsburgh is at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers (remember 3 Rivers Stadium?).  I was surprised how many bridges I could see crossing the river, and many of them were painted yellow.

The incline railway consists of 2 cars connected by a steel cable to each other (to keep the load in balance) and to a large wheel which winds and unwinds to pull the cars up or let them go down (thanks to gravity).  Even though the track is built at 30°, the cars are built horizontal so you sit level when inside the cars.  The large drive wheel has wooden teeth and is adjusted by a series of shims to keep the gear round.