The Mysteries of Pittsburgh in the Summer

Lately my heart has been overflowing with love for my city. Which is not unusual in the slightest. I wouldn't have a blog dedicated to Pittsburgh if this feeling wasn't the norm. I'm sure that the onset of summer is cause for the recent surge of pride and love. Summer + PGH = favorite time. No matter what, whenever I'm in Pittsburgh in the summer, I feel like a kid again. I want to be out with friends. I want to ride bikes. I want to dance. I want to see the sun come up. There's hope and courage and reckless abandon that comes with every Pittsburgh summer.

This morning, while killing time before setting out for the day, I came across this video, which I'm sure has already made the official PGH-blog rounds, but I'm sharing here now because it's just so awesome and not to be missed:



I'm not ashamed to say that I started to get a tad misty-eyed toward the end. The tears started welling up at the scene of soccer-playing at the Point. That's from the (very terrible) adaptation of one of my most favorite books, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. When that movie came out, I was living in Boston and was incredibly homesick. I saw it by myself in a Cambridge theater because I couldn't subject anyone I knew to a) a movie I knew would be terrible and b) the crying I knew would happen because I missed my home so so much. It was the soccer-playing scene that cued the waterworks then, so it's only fitting that's what did it for me this morning too.

Every summer I make it a point to reread The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. That annual tradition will begin today, when I take my signed, dogeared, underlined copy down to the Arts Festival. After four long years of being dormant, the fountain is back on - and it's glorious! Several hours today shall be spent sitting near its wonder, feeling its mist when the wind shifts, and soaking in the best thing: Pittsburgh in the summer.

"When I remember that dizzy summer, that dull, stupid, lovely, dire summer, it seems that in those days I ate my lunches, smelled another's skin, noticed a shade of yellow, even simply sat, with greater lust and hopefulness--and that I lusted with greater faith, hoped with greater abandon. The people I loved were celebrities, surrounded by rumor and fanfare; the places I sat with them, movie lots and monuments. No doubt all of this is not true remembrance, but the ruinous work of nostalgia, which obliterates the past, and no doubt, as usual, I have exaggerated everything." - m. chabon

Here Comes Summer: The Three Rivers Arts Festival

a) How is it already June 4th?
Winter was so long and miserable and awful. Of course summer would officially start by going by in the blink of an eye. Right now I am on overdrive at work, trying to get as much done before my weeklong birthday adventure through Ontario. I look up from my work and it's 5:30 and I can't believe another day is behind me.

b) How is it already time for the Three Rivers Arts Festival??
Oh, right - because it's already June 4th. And the festival starts on Friday!

I took a walk around Point State Park at lunch today to see everything getting set-up for Friday. That's when the festivities start - AND - when the fountain at the point turns back on! It's been hibernating since 2009. So glad to see it come back to life.

Here's a sampling of the music I'm most interested in taking in over the course of the week, but make sure to check out the full listings here.

FRIDAY: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Point State Park, 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
(Sadly, I'm going to be missing this, because I would rather torture myself by watching another Pens-Bruins playoff game.)

SUNDAY: Cello Fury w/ Joy Ike and the dude from The Clarks - Point State Park, 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
(Here's another I'll probably miss due to hockey. I don't even want to think about the possibility of catching this, because it means things got REAL BAD REAL FAST for the Pens...)

MONDAY: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Point State Park, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Glen Hansard - Point State Park, 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
I've seen Glen Hansard play with The Frames and Swell Season before, and he is quite the performer. I highly recommend this show. Knock on stick, but hockey best not interfere with this one.

If you come to the festival by bike, BikePGH is offering FREE bike valet right at the entrance of Point State Park. I'll be there volunteering to take your bike off your hands while you go have fun. I'll also be there taking pictures of people with their bikes in the I <3 My Bike photobooth.

This will be a totally great weekend to be a Pittsburgher (especially if the Pens figure something out). Now, if I could only squeeze in a few extra weekdays to get all this work done before I scurry north for a week of Canadian people, places and things.

Ride Bikes All Night: The DC-PGH 24-hr Relay 2012

Over beers after the Carrie Furnace ride, my friend Mark mentioned that he was doing a 24-hour relay ride between DC and PGH. It didn't take much more than that simple explanation for me to be intrigued and want to participate. A couple Fridays ago I tried to stay up all night. I tried to sleep all day Saturday. (It didn't work; I was up by 11 a.m.) And by 8:30 p.m. I was setting off on my bike toward Edgewood, where I'd join my team for the second leg of the relay, from Cumberland to Pittsburgh. We didn't get to Cumberland until after 11:30 p.m., and once there we eagerly awaited the arrival of the first team, who had started in Georgetown at noon. They were tasked with riding the C&O Canal, much rougher and a bit longer than the Great Allegheny Passage. We saw the first set of headlights close to 1 a.m., and the first members of our team set off into the night. I didn't get my first go at the trail until the third leg (which was really fine with me, as the first two legs were the uphill journey that I didn't reeeeeallly want to undertake). So, at around a.m., with the temps in the 40s and darkness obviously surrounding us, my partner and I took off down the GAP. We had a series of lights on our bikes and helmets, but still could only see about 10-15 feet in front of us. When we entered into patches of fog, the visibility was cut to only a few feet. It was kind of terrifying, but also incredibly fun. We needed to keep going at a fairly quick pace to not fall behind a very tight schedule that would get our team into Pittsburgh before the 24-hour period was up. When we rolled into Rockwood, we were ahead of schedule. The next pair of riders took off, and I devoured a peanut butter sammich, several handfuls of Cheez-Its, and then I passed out in the back of the van until it was again my turn to ride, sometime around 7 a.m. As the miles counted down on my second leg, I felt myself slowing down. A combination of lack of sleep, the cold, and the race against the clock were wearing down my legs and my stamina, and any plans I had of joining the final leg into Pittsburgh were quickly fading away. I had mentioned so much when we got to the van when the leg was over, and a couple of my teammates scoffed and said I would do it. I just shook my head and started shoveling all food possible into my mouth. But they were right. By the time we got to the Boston Bridge, 22 miles away from the Point, I was ready to go. We had two hours to go 22 miles, so the pace wouldn't need to be killer to make it by noon. Three of us set off toward Pittsburgh, and - after a quick bathroom break at the Waterfront Eat N Park - we were on the Eliza Furnace Trail, quickly heading toward the end. My ride partners had me lead the charge into Point State Park, and it was an overwhelming feeling of awesome to get there and to finish the 24-hour relay with time to spare. It was an even awesomer feeling to get to Over The Bar and drink beer and eat food and sit around a huge table with both teams recounting stories and having some great laughs. After meeting my dad and brother for a beer (okay, a margarita and a beer) in Market Square, I was home, on the couch, and ready to watch the Steelers game. Of course, I slept through it, and through the next fifteen hours. 

I didn't take many photos. In fact, I don't think I took any until after my second leg ended. And then the ones I did take were while I was riding my third and last leg into Pittsburgh. But, enjoy.

Doug and Mark, my partners for the last leg of the relay.

Supposedly, the trail is going to be done by Spring 2013. I hope so. Jumping the fence after Sandcastle and then traversing the makeshift "trail" by the railroad tracks was annoying.

Oh, hey! I'm doing it!

Bikes in the back of the van.

Cumberland--Pittsburgh team: Doug, Chris, Mark, Me, Mark, Mary, and Mike. No one warned me that bright-colored jerseys were required. But, now I know for next year.

This was very honestly one of the best things I have done since moving back to Pittsburgh. I'm sure everyone has tired of hearing me espouse the joys of biking, but it really has given me something I can be proud of. This ride - moreso than either of the solo treks I've done on the same trail - showed me how strong I've become and how much I can accomplish when I'm determined. It was a total blast.

Things have been a little slow on EvBetPGH lately. I hope that changes soon. I'm almost over the cold that sidelined me post-relay. And it's fall. As much as I enjoy summer in Pittsburgh, the fall...it can't be beat.

PGH CHEAP: Oh Yeah! We're Going to a Laser(tainment) Show!

Ladies and gentlemen, Fountains of Wayne:

Oh yeah, I went to a laser show. Part of Pittsburgh's 2012 Regatta (you gotta regatta!) was a nightly laser show at Point State Park. Of course, it was free and that fits into my budget for PGH CHEAP this July. I could think of no better way to spend an evening last Monday night, so I biked down the Eliza Furnace Trail toward the city at sunset and took in Lasertainment's highly enjoyable production. I have to admit, right before it started, I wondered if I wasn't about to be very disappointed in my choice of activity for the night. But I was pleasantly surprised, and even a little impressed by the show. 

The small screen was my first cause for concern that this laser show might not be awesome.

Waited for the sun to go down by reading and writing and sitting in the grass.

I cannot recall what song they used this dancing chicken for, but oh my gosh, the laser dancing chicken made my night.

This second video is really where it's at. Lasers and fireballs.

Cost of Lasertainment: FREE.