To The 'Burg... Pittsburgh that is!

This past weekend we headed up to Pittsburgh to visit Ben and Marci. Ben is one of our friends from summer project back in 2001. Neither of us had ever been to Pittsburgh, and I have to say it is a very beautiful city (despite the fact that when we left here on Saturday it was about 80 degrees and sunny and when we arrived there it was about 50 degrees and rainy.) It is very hilly/mountainous with a river going right through the middle. There were lots of tunnels to go through and Andrew and I held our breath through each one. I know, we are very talented.

Before we headed up, Andrew and I were watching the travel channel and saw a show about best places to pig out. And one of the places was, Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh. So, Ben and Marci agreed to take us there. They are famous for their sandwich below that has whatever meat you want, topped with fries, coleslaw and tomatoes. It was pretty good.


But, the main event of the weekend was curling. You may not have ever heard of curling. But, it is actually an olympic event. And of course, Andrew has a dream of going to the olympics and figures this is the only event that might get him there. We figured out that maybe Madeline and him can go to the olympics together in 2024.


I didn't get to learn too much about curling because I hung out on the bleachers and watched with Madeline and her new friend Julia. Madeline isn't quite old enough to learn yet. But, in about 8 years she can begin her training.

But, basically, you throw a stone across the ice and try to get it as close to the target on the other side of the rink as you can. After you throw it, sweepers can sweep the ice to make the stone go in certain directions and to go faster or slower. You can also try to knock your opponent's stones out of the way. Perhaps it is a little bit like shuffleboard on ice. I posted a few videos of Andrew throwing the stone and sweeping so you can get an idea of what it looks like. Madeline and I are so proud of Andrew. We are excited for him to bring home the Gold!!