From Blue Hens to Tartans

Well, we left the Delaware Blue Hens behind a few days ago and headed toward "Tartan-land" for a visit with Nick at Carnegie-Mellon (CMU) in Pittsburgh. The CMU sports teams are nicknamed the Tartans as a nod to Andrew Carnegie's Scottish heritage and sport a Scottish Terrier as their mascot. It's pretty funny to see "Bad to the Plaid" shirts around campus and who can question he ferocity of a sports team represented by a cute Scottie on their shirt?  Not me.

We had good travels from U-Del to CMU, stopping in Frederick, Maryland, Rocky Gap State Park, Harper's Ferry West Virginia and finally Cumberland, MD as we made our way west to "the burgh".  In Frederick, we walked around Carroll Creek Park, enjoying the beautiful water flower exhibit, the likes of which we had never seen before. It was stunning.

We enjoyed spending a few hours walking around Harper's Ferry National Park. It was the first time we had used our free annual "Volunteer" National Park pass we'd gotten upon completion of our Big Bend gig, and it also afforded us the opportunity to walk once again on both the Appalachian Trail and the C&O Canal Tow Path, a bike path that goes from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC that we'd ridden end-to-end with the boys many years back. These trails meet briefly at Harper's Ferry.

We spent one evening at Rocky Gap State Park, enjoying the beach late in the afternoon, and one night in Cumberland, MD, home to the start (or end, depending on your direction) of the C&O Canal Bike Trail. We spent a few hours in the evening walking around the town and enjoyed listening to some free outdoor music at a downtown street festival before turning in for the night. The hotel we stayed at was right on the bike path, so we were able to run on the bike path in the morning before heading out.

Eventually got to Pittsburgh and had a great visit with Nick. On Saturday night, we walked around down by Point park, Heinz field and P & C park, where there was a Pirates game being played. We enjoyed seeing the new water fountain on the river at Point Park and also touring Heinz field which was open to the public during this weekend prior to the start of the NFL. They were gearing up for a PITT vs. FSU college game to be played in the stadium on Monday night, so there was Pitt stuff as well as Steeler stuff to be enjoyed.

After a great visit in Pittsburgh, we are finally heading north and East again toward Rhode Island. Looking forward to many long-awaited reunions with friends and family.  Look out - WE ARE COMING YOUR WAY!!