A Day Out in Pittsburgh

While visiting in Ohio, we wanted to find something to do that would be fun for Andrew and his cousin Mikey. We decided spend an afternoon in Pittsburgh and go to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. Some may say that going to the zoo in the winter is a silly idea. We figured there would be no crowd and besides, there was an aquarium.

The drive to the zoo was more exciting than planned. Once again, the GPS had good intentions, but missed a critical turn right after crossing the Allegheny River. OK, to be fair, I am the one who missed the turn, but I didn’t see it listed on the display. Thankfully, Mom was able to get us back on the right path.

There weren’t a lot of animals outside. We saw a Snow Leopard, a Tiger, and a pair of Lions. The elephants were inside and I don’t know where they hid the Bears and Giraffes. It was pretty cold, so we quickly moved from one area to the next. It was good to get into the Tropical Forest display.

Another thing that was missing was the food establishments. It was past lunchtime and we were all hungry. When we finally found one open, it turned out to be packed.

After lunch, we visited the Aquarium. The Aquarium was new since the last time I visited the zoo and it was very nice. I thought the Ray tank was pretty cool. It had a small opening at either side for kids to crawl through and under the tank. I think Andrew and Mikey had more fun playing near the rocks than looking at the fish.

Next came the Water’s Edge. This was also new since my last visit. This was home to the Polar Bear and the Sharks. The Polar Bear put on quite a show while entertaining himself with an old buoy. To our amazement, the display also contained an underwater section that included a large tube below the pools. We were directly below the bear as it jumped off the rocks into the water. It is completely mind boggling how huge those bears are! I certainly wouldn’t want to have one of them chasing after me.

The Shark tank was equally amazing. We were surrounded by about a half dozen Sharks, gliding by just inches away on the other side of the glass.

Back outside, we spent some time watching the Sea Lions play in their pool. I took a few pictures of Andrew in the nice afternoon light.

After the zoo, we drove through town and headed for the inclines. At first, we drove up to Grandview Avenue, overlooking the city, to ride the Monongahela Incline. The price for parking was too confusing, so we drove back down to Station Square. From there, we found the incline and got in line. Kelly decided to back out at the last minute and Susan stayed with her as the rest of us took to ride up and back. The boys really enjoyed it.

Finally, we were back on the road, headed for dinner at Aunt Patty’s. On the way, we called ahead to DiCarlo’s Pizza to fulfill a promise to Aunt Cathy and Uncle Dave. It is a long standing truth that anyone arriving in Florida from Ohio must bring along some “suitcase pizza”. We have been on the receiving end of this tradition several times. Now it was our turn to deliver.

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		Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Christmas in Virginia

When we’re home for the holidays at the Haksch house, we always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. Celebrating usually involves getting dressed up, going to church, eating fried fish for dinner, singing some carols, and opening presents. A month or two ago, Susan bought a very cute outfit for Andrew to wear on Christmas Eve. Without a doubt, he looked quite handsome wearing it.

This year Andrew did very well with his wish list items. Some of his highly sought after gifts include: Mouse Trap, a plasma ball, a Fushigi magic gravity ball, and a Pillow Pet, which he named Freddy the Frog.

The plasma ball had an interesting story behind it. Earlier in the week, we went to a toy and train show in Richmond. Andrew and I discussed our budget and decided that $20 should be our limit. We walked up and down the rows and looked at everything on offer. When we reached the middle aisle, we found a small plasma ball. Andrew showed a strong interest, but I was able to keep him moving along. At another table, we found a cool build-it-yourself project kit that uses magnets. While he played with this, I told Susan and her mother about the plasma ball. After a while, Andrew and I continued walking the aisles. My list for him was at four items, but he said he had six or seven items on his list. Eventually, the show was about to end and we found ourselves back at the display with the plasma ball. Andrew was nearly in tears as we tried to tell him he couldn't get it now (because Susan's mother already bought it). Just as we had him calmed down and ready to leave, the salesman showed him the voice-activated option. Argh! Again, we calmed him down and finally left the show.

After everything was opened, Andrew opened his new Fushigi ball. The package contained a DVD showing how to manipulate the ball. We all watched it and laughed as the demonstrator said how easy it was, with just a little practice. After the video, we enjoyed watching Andrew and Noah attempt to demonstrate some of the gravity-defying tricks for us.

Even with all the great things he got this year, Andrew was still a little sad because he didn’t get what he “really” wanted this year. According to Andrew, he really wanted underwear!

Luray Caverns

For the past two years, we have talked about stopping at Luray Caverns. We pass nearby every year, as we crisscross the state on our drive to Ohio and back. My in-laws gave us a DVD a few years ago and we’ve watched it several times with Andrew. He showed a lot of interest in visiting, so this year we made it happen.

The drive up to the mountains was perfect. The weather was ideal – clear and crisp with unlimited visibility. I had Peter in the front and Andrew in the back, while Susan rode along with her dad. The drive took about 2 and ½ hours, with half of up being in the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley. Andrew enjoyed being pulled around in his seat as we rounded all the sharp curves. I couldn’t help but think about the sharp contrast of landscape as compared with oh-so-flat Florida.

We arrive in Luray right at noon. Luckily, we had pre-made sandwiches so we didn’t have to stop to eat. Susan paid the entrance fee and we hung out in the gift shop until our tour was ready to start. Andrew found a rock display and couldn’t resist playing with all the colorful stones.

Before the tour started, we were all given little audio devices and headphones. Down in the cavern we entered the code for each stop along the path. We had to two choices – the 100s or the 200s. The 100s were geared for adults and the 200s were for kids. I started on 101, but decided to switch to the 200s after seeing how much fun Andrew was having with his channel. The 100s talked about geology and other boring stuff, whereas the 200s talked about finding things like ghosts, eggs, bacon, and other things made out of rock.

The tour wound around one amazing rock sculpture after another. In one place, it looked like a dense collection of stalagmites on the floor, but it was really a reflection of stalactites hanging on the low ceiling. Another amazing site was a column from floor to ceiling, penetrating the walkway. There was a wide open cathedral room with an organ that uses rubber hammers to gently tap stalactites to make music. At another stop, we saw a stalactite and a stalagmite separated by less than an inch. Andrew plans to return in 100 years to see if they have reached each other.

After the tour, we visited the other gift shop. In there, we found homemade chocolate fudge. Of course, we had to buy some and try it out. There was an old car and carriage museum on site, so we quickly walked through it, too.

On the way home, we decided to take a detour and stop somewhere to play in the snow. We ended up at Montpelier, James Madison’s home. It was still open, but tours were done for the day. It didn’t matter to us, since we didn’t plan to stay that long anyway.

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		Luray Caverns 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport outside Washington D.C. opened in December 2003. Since then it has been on my short list of must-see destinations. Being in and/or near D.C. every year, you’d think we would have found a way to knock this off this list. Unfortunately, there has never been enough time in our schedule.

This year, we made the museum a priority. Since we were scheduled to arrive in D.C. early in the morning, we planned to spend a few hours touring the museum prior to driving to Richmond.

Andrew wanted to ride the Metro subway, so we considered doing that first. After some further thought, we knew we might not make it to the museum once we got downtown.

We turned around and headed back to Dulles. The GPS was a great help, but it wasn’t flawless. At one point, the GPS specified the route, but in reality, there were two options – toll road and non-toll road. It wasn’t clear which to choose. We chose to go on the non-toll road. This turned out to be the wrong choice. Our road led straight to the airport and was specifically for passengers and employees. The toll road was adjacent to us, but there were no exits from this section of the highway to the other. As we drove along and the exit for the museum approached on the toll road, we pondered our predicament. To our surprise, we spotted a crossover coming up on the right. We zipped off the non-toll road and entered the toll road, then dove off the exit ramp, where we did have to pay a toll. Wow, what good luck. As it turned out, we should have taken the “A” ramp rather than the “B” ramp. We were heading away from the museum. DOH! After a quick U-Turn, we were back on track.

Another few miles later, we turned off onto Sully Road, then Air and Space Museum Parkway. We drove past the approach end of Dulles’ RW 11R. We pulled up to the main gate and found that the museum has no fee, but it does cost $15 to park in the lot. I found a parking spot near the door and Andrew jumped out of the car and quickly got busy playing in the snow. From the outside, the control tower dominated the scene.

Inside, the initial view was limited due to the architecture. The main visual attraction is a Space Shuttle with an American flag draped behind. We talked to guest relations for a few minutes, picked up a map, then began our exploration. The museum layout includes planes on the ground, hanging low, and hanging high above in a large, 300 yard long hangar.

We started the tour on an elevated walkway that put us at the low hanging level; perfect for close-up views and the hanging aircraft and cockpit views of the ground level displays. To the left was the commercial aircraft, and World War II aircraft were on the right. The coolest view from the walkway was the nose view of the B-29 “Enola Gay”. We could see right into the cockpit though the dozens of windows.

At the end of the walkway, we descended the steps and entered the commercial aircraft area. As we walked past the Air France Concorde, I described to Andrew the crash in Paris that was a factor in the eventual termination of all Concorde flights. The original Boeing 707 was a familiar sight, previously seen parked at Boeing Field in Seattle.

We continued our tour along the rear elevated walkway. I was excited to see my favorite old fighter jet – the F-86 Sabre – displayed in the Korean and Vietnam era fighters section. Back on the floor, Andrew and I spent quite some time watching the internal workings of a split, animated rotary engine.

By this time, we couldn’t ignore our growling stomachs any longer. The museum has a McDonalds upstairs near gift shop, so we stopped in for a quick bite.

After lunch, we headed back downstairs, ironically, to go to the control tower. We waited in line for the next elevator while Susan called someone and disappeared. Andrew and I caught the next elevator and rode to the 7th floor. From there, we had a great 360 degree view of Dulles airport and the surrounding countryside. Dulles Ground Control was audible and planes flew right past the tower on their way to RW 11R. Then we rode down to the 6th floor, where there’s an air traffic control simulation of Newark airport.

Back in the museum, we pinged Susan while looking at the SR-71 “Blackbird” and the space displays. Eventually Susan found us beside the full size mockup of the Space Shuttle “Enterprise”. While looking at it, I noticed that there was no mock up of the hydraulic systems in the wheel wells. This made me wonder if the real shuttle has systems to retract the landing gear. Once the gear is down, it has no need to come back up until it returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building, so why add the extra weight and complexity?

Overall, I was truly impressed by the quantity, quality, and variety of the displays. Being from Seattle, I couldn’t help be compare it to the Museum of Flight. I think the Museum of Flight’s Personal Courage Wing does a better job immersing you into the era of the aircraft. I also compared it to the primary A&S museum in D.C., which has one-of-a-kind displays that can be seen nowhere else.

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		Smithsonian Air & Space Annex 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL