Summer vacation 2010 was a blast - but it went by way too fast! We began our road trip on Tuesday, June 29 by heading to South Bend, Indiana. We stayed near Notre Dame, and played golf Wednesday morning at a course that crossed the St. Joseph River four times. I teed off on this hole and actually made it over the river with one mighty swing! I wasn't so lucky the second time. It was a beautiful course, and I only lost two balls in the river:)
We took a little side jaunt up into Michigan to visit my Aunt Anne on Wednesday night. It enjoyed a special time together looking at pictures on the computer and playing games - Scrabble, anyone? We had breakfast on her deck and were entertained by a beautiful swallow-tailed butterfly.
I learned how to make a collage on my computer from Anne - here are some shots from her beautiful garden. See the butterfly? I really got that close. He wasn't at all afraid of me!
We arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and headed for another golf course on Friday morning. It is very hilly in this part of Pennsylvania, so we enjoyed having the cart. It was another beautiful course, and if you use the Casey Incentive Scoring Method, it is LOTS of fun!
This was a beautiful hole - and what a perfect day. Not much wind - just a fresh breeze to keep us comfortable.
Friday night we met Jane and Chuck and Jenna's in-laws - Greg and Angela for dinner at a great Italian restaurant - yum! It was fun getting to know them over the next few days. We really enjoyed their hospitality.
On Saturday morning we connected with Jane and Chuck again and headed to a famous Frank Lloyd Wright built house called Falling Water. It is built hanging over a water fall! We took a guided tour that was really interesting. What a house - you can walk down those steps from the living room and right into the creek.
There are huge beams that attach to the bedrock so the house won't fall into the water. All the furniture and cupboards that were built in the house (we couldn't take pictures inside - bummer) were also cantilevered so the theme was carried out throughout the house.
We had a chance to hike around the grounds a little to get different views.
Cool, huh?
Saturday afternoon we headed to downtown Pittsburgh to see the sights. Pittsburgh is built where three rivers join, and there are big bluffs separating some parts of town from the business area. There were ten on these incline railways built after the Civil War and into the early 1900s for people to get to work. We were able to ride one of the two remaining railroad cars from a renovated shopping area called Bessemer Station.
The cars are totally closed in - three compartments with eight people in each - not heat in the winter, and no air in the summers. It was really getting hot by the time we made it to the top! Good thing there was an ice cream store conveniently located near the top station:)
This picture printed out looks just like a postcard, if I do say so myself.
I took pictures from this overlook. It was a bit freaky standing out there.
Back down at Bessemer Station, we saw this first steel furnace that helped make Pittsburgh the steel capital of the world, and a dirty mess up until recently.
There is a very cool fountain that spurts in time to music on a twenty minute cycle. It was fun to watch the children get close to get splattered on a hot day.
The pigeons needed a drink near the fountain, too.
Paul and I took a Ducky Boat Tour of downtown, and the three rivers - the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela. Occasionally we had to "quack, quack, quack" at the folks on the street. It was really a fun and interesting tour. Our boat ride was very safe - and I feel sorry for the folks in Philadelphia who had such an awful experience just days later.
This church was made of sandstone, and when they tried sandblasting to clean it recently, it started to crumble! Most of downtown Pittsburgh used to look this dirty!
I loved the "crown" on this building.
Someday I'm going to do a tour on one of these things - it really looks like fun.
This is just a cool building as we wove our way through town. We went past
PNC Park where the Pirates were playing the
Phillies, and also Heinz Field where the
Steelers play.
This building is one of three or four owned by Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.
Pittsburgh Paint invented this special bridge color for many of the bridges in the downtown area.
This is actually the point where the three rivers come together.
It was a beautiful night, and I got some cool pictures after we had supper at
Hoolihan's.
I love the lights reflected in the river.
The fountain lights up at night with various colors, again timed to music.
It was really a fun day for a photographer.
On Sunday, we went to church to see Charlie get baptized by his
grandpa Greg. Andy's dad is the pastor, and Charlie wore Andy's baptismal suit - it looked like a little white tuxedo, and he looked so cute.
Here are four generations of Charlie's family. We had a great time eating (boy, Angela is a great cook) and talking with all the members of Andy's family. The heat wave was coming in on Sunday, so we spent most of the day in the house just hanging out.
On the way back to our hotel we saw this beautiful display - God's fireworks instead of
man-made ones. We headed home Monday and got all the way to Janesville so Tuesday could be a short day. I had lots to do on Tuesday to get ready for our kid's program at church called Wacky Wednesday that was starting the next day. Maybe we'll have some more vacation later this summer. It will be hard to top this one!
We took a little side jaunt up into Michigan to visit my Aunt Anne on Wednesday night. It enjoyed a special time together looking at pictures on the computer and playing games - Scrabble, anyone? We had breakfast on her deck and were entertained by a beautiful swallow-tailed butterfly. 
I learned how to make a collage on my computer from Anne - here are some shots from her beautiful garden. See the butterfly? I really got that close. He wasn't at all afraid of me!
We arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and headed for another golf course on Friday morning. It is very hilly in this part of Pennsylvania, so we enjoyed having the cart. It was another beautiful course, and if you use the Casey Incentive Scoring Method, it is LOTS of fun!
This was a beautiful hole - and what a perfect day. Not much wind - just a fresh breeze to keep us comfortable.
Friday night we met Jane and Chuck and Jenna's in-laws - Greg and Angela for dinner at a great Italian restaurant - yum! It was fun getting to know them over the next few days. We really enjoyed their hospitality.
On Saturday morning we connected with Jane and Chuck again and headed to a famous Frank Lloyd Wright built house called Falling Water. It is built hanging over a water fall! We took a guided tour that was really interesting. What a house - you can walk down those steps from the living room and right into the creek.
There are huge beams that attach to the bedrock so the house won't fall into the water. All the furniture and cupboards that were built in the house (we couldn't take pictures inside - bummer) were also cantilevered so the theme was carried out throughout the house.
We had a chance to hike around the grounds a little to get different views.
Cool, huh?
Saturday afternoon we headed to downtown Pittsburgh to see the sights. Pittsburgh is built where three rivers join, and there are big bluffs separating some parts of town from the business area. There were ten on these incline railways built after the Civil War and into the early 1900s for people to get to work. We were able to ride one of the two remaining railroad cars from a renovated shopping area called Bessemer Station.
The cars are totally closed in - three compartments with eight people in each - not heat in the winter, and no air in the summers. It was really getting hot by the time we made it to the top! Good thing there was an ice cream store conveniently located near the top station:)
This picture printed out looks just like a postcard, if I do say so myself.
I took pictures from this overlook. It was a bit freaky standing out there.
Back down at Bessemer Station, we saw this first steel furnace that helped make Pittsburgh the steel capital of the world, and a dirty mess up until recently.
There is a very cool fountain that spurts in time to music on a twenty minute cycle. It was fun to watch the children get close to get splattered on a hot day.
The pigeons needed a drink near the fountain, too.
Paul and I took a Ducky Boat Tour of downtown, and the three rivers - the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela. Occasionally we had to "quack, quack, quack" at the folks on the street. It was really a fun and interesting tour. Our boat ride was very safe - and I feel sorry for the folks in Philadelphia who had such an awful experience just days later.
This church was made of sandstone, and when they tried sandblasting to clean it recently, it started to crumble! Most of downtown Pittsburgh used to look this dirty!
I loved the "crown" on this building.
Someday I'm going to do a tour on one of these things - it really looks like fun.
This is just a cool building as we wove our way through town. We went past PNC Park where the Pirates were playing the Phillies, and also Heinz Field where the Steelers play.
This building is one of three or four owned by Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.
Pittsburgh Paint invented this special bridge color for many of the bridges in the downtown area.
This is actually the point where the three rivers come together.
It was a beautiful night, and I got some cool pictures after we had supper at Hoolihan's.
I love the lights reflected in the river.
The fountain lights up at night with various colors, again timed to music.
It was really a fun day for a photographer.
On Sunday, we went to church to see Charlie get baptized by his grandpa Greg. Andy's dad is the pastor, and Charlie wore Andy's baptismal suit - it looked like a little white tuxedo, and he looked so cute.
Here are four generations of Charlie's family. We had a great time eating (boy, Angela is a great cook) and talking with all the members of Andy's family. The heat wave was coming in on Sunday, so we spent most of the day in the house just hanging out.
On the way back to our hotel we saw this beautiful display - God's fireworks instead of man-made ones. We headed home Monday and got all the way to Janesville so Tuesday could be a short day. I had lots to do on Tuesday to get ready for our kid's program at church called Wacky Wednesday that was starting the next day. Maybe we'll have some more vacation later this summer. It will be hard to top this one!
