The Pitts, again

After the hockey game let out, we went back to the hotel to swim. It is not a Cook Family Vacation unless it involves a swimming pool at the hotel. (This, despite the fact that the kids can swim any day of the week at the Y or in the back yard at home... but I digress.) When we booked the hotel we made very sure that it had a nice pool. Chad went downstairs to check it out while Mallory put on her swimsuit. And then, wouldn't you know it, Chad came upstairs with bad news: the pool was closed for the exact duration of our stay for resurfacing.

After Mallory had a good cry, we decided to head up Mount Washington instead. It was a gorgeous day and the next day was calling for rain so we decided to take in the view while it was clear. Mount Washington has two inclines on it. The one closer to our hotel was the Monongahela Incline, which has been running up and down the mountain since 1870. I expected it to be old and rickety and scary, and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. Although I will admit that Mallory was not entirely convinced.It's a good thing she is too little to read some of the graffiti in the car: On top of Mount Washington, there are several lookout platforms with panoramas of the city. The incline ride did not bother me but I could not walk out on this thing without feeling like I was going to throw up.I did make it out there for a picture though... a kind man offered to take the family picture I posted a few days ago, of us in front of the city skyline. That made up for the botched photo in the Consol Center.Pittsburgh sits where three rivers intersect and there are lots of cool bridges and waterfront parkland that I imagine would be really pretty if it were green.

The next morning we were out the door early... we were off to the Carnegie Science Center, one of four Carnegie museums in Pittsburgh. The part we enjoyed most was the sports complex which offered lots of activities and almost no crowds. The kids both tried the rock climbing (in preparation for this summer's vacation!): Liam did not enjoy himself at this museum at all... no sirree... Mallory was fascinated by some of the cool exhibits in the robotics room. In this one, you draw a picture on a touch screen and then a robot arm recreates it out of little steel balls.
My favourite part was the 1945 submarine parked in the river out back that you could tour from the torpedos in the front end to the sleeping bunks in the back. Aside from being very claustrophobic, it was very cool.Back to the sports center again. We competed in many, many computer-timed 50m dashes against each other, and here's Liam taking a ride on the Human You-Yo.

For dinner that night we went to a seafood restaurant and ate buckets of crab legs. Well, three of us did. Mallory opted for macaroni and cheese. Surprise, surprise.