Sitting in the Pittsburgh bus depot

I'm surrounded by napping travelers lying along the floor of the Greyhound Bus terminal in downtown Pittsburgh. I have my ticket to Cincinnati in hand. Millennium Hotel booked downtown. I just don't have a ticket to either of the games tomorrow/today/in about nine hours. But I will deal with that when I'm back in Cincinnati.

We visited PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, this evening. They clobbered the Orioles in front of a large Bucs crowd. The stadium is gorgeous. We were sitting in section 115, behind home plate. It was a good view of the action. It really is a breathtaking park. There appeared to be dozens of standing-room nooks throughout the stadium for you to catch some of the action. But having that view of the Pittsburgh skyline and bridges — at least from our seats — really gives the stadium a cavernous, yet open feel. Leave it to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates were honoring the 1971 team, which is the second most recent Bucs team to win the World Series. The players looked sharp in throw back jerseys. Both teams sported those '70s pull-over jeserys and belt-less pants. There weren't enough stirrups, however, for them to truly be throwbacks.

Thanks to the pregame ceremony we made it inside in time for the first pitch. We watched the top of the first from the deck beyond the left field wall. By midway through the game, we could see that area and the spiral ramps behind it full of fans leaning on the railings, watching baseball.

At the suggestion of a family friend back in Connecticut, we grabbed a Primanti sandwich. The line was long for the roast beef, steak or capiola fried up and thrown on freshly baked white bread with french fries and coleslaw (I hope I'm not forgetting something). The sandwich was pretty good. It was sure a lot of stuff between bread. I would like to try it some time at an actual restaurant than at the ball game. The worst part was, where our line was we had no TVs to keep up the action during the game. There were six lines for these sandwiches on three sides of a square-like building on the first base side that houses the Pitt delicacy. If you are going to have to wait at least a half inning to get food, it would be nice to be able to see some of the game.

If I had any complaint of the park, it's that there is not enough monitors to see the action when you are out of site — but still still — to the game.

This was supposed to the official end to the baseball road trip — with some options open for games elsewhere if schedules and budgets allowed it. Going back to Cincinnati was certainly not in the plans. But the double header later today was just too much to pass up. Now I just need to find some tickets.

Since I started writing this, we've loaded onto the bus, made room for all the passengers and the lights are off while some people sleep and college kids trade traveling war stories. I'm typing at my laptop while I have some power. We are scheduled to arrive in Columbus at 7 this morning. Then I change for Cincinnati while this bus continues on to Indianapolis and St. Louis.