Pittsburgh, PA Home, and Cleveland, OH

Sisters reunited!!

Last day in Niagara dealing
with 60 mph winds

Long break but that was because I was back in Sacramento for Anna's sister's wedding. I hope I saw all you who have diligently been reading my blog :)

Lake Erie

It was great getting back to the city I call home and the State that I can say is the most amazing with strong conviction. With Anna and I sick for home this was a much needed reminder of why we want to be back so badly and a slight satiation till we roll in with Maander.

Good 'ol Sacratamato

We didn't explore Pittsburgh at all when we were waiting there before the flight. We stayed around this commercial area close to the airport and just surfed the net and ate poorly. I had the oil changed on Maander by Firestone. I explained to them that it should take 7 quarts of oil. I officially switched from 20w-50 to 10w-40, a lighter weight which means I don't have to warm up the bus every time we turn it on. We just zipped around not very far at all from the Firestone and parked and after seeing a movie walked over to Maander and he had a significant oil leak underneath! Crap I thought. I could tell from where it was leaking was the valve cover which is a brand new place for this bus. I thought that likely the thinner oil was able to seep through the gasket and that is whats causing it. I checked the oil while the engine was running and the levels were good so I was just like I will keep an eye on it.

Bride and some of the Bridesmaids

The rest of the time which was about 3 days in Pittsburgh I kept an eye out and there would be varying degrees of leakage but nothing catastrophic. We drove to the airport and were off to Sacramento. I will continue with Sacramento but allow me to finish this thought. When we drove back from the airport with Maander it was late evening and the oil got hotter than it had ever before got quite quickly. I was very concerned. I turned the car off and checked the oil and found that it was waaaaayyyyy over filled and knew that was the issue. I brought Maander back to where I had it worked on and explained the situation. It really pissed me off how defensive the guy was about the work that was performed. I said that I told them it should take 7 quarts and they must not of checked their own work. Anyways it all got situated but they were still really dumb about it and wanted me to seem like I was the unknowledgable one. I vented to Anna for quite sometime after that.

Pittsburgh 3 rivers so lots of bridges

Staring contest Anna lost

Sacramento was as I remembered except maybe about a point or two better. The weather was amazing and it was great not having to reference a map to get places all the time. Anna and I were just go go go the whole time because we didn't have much time but wanted to see a lot of people while we were in town. Elizabeth's wedding was very nice and being with friends was a great break from exploring this country.

Notable building in Pitts

Courthouse that used to
be the jail as well

When we got back to Pittsburgh and situated with Maander we went to the Cultural District. This was basically the downtown area where people go for business or what have you. We walked the streets and got a feel for the city. The stadiums there are very prominent and everyone has a great deal of pride for their teams and I don't blame them they are championship teams. We got some food and walked around. After walking around for a few hours we decided we wanted to see a movie. We went across the river and ended up in a neighborhood that felt a great deal like midtown/downtown in Sacramento. There was a long road where everything was really happening and lots of young people were walking and eating at the various venues. After the movie we went to a restaurant there and had some good food. We walked around that area after getting a dessert, we really enjoyed that area in particular.

We all know what you mean ;)

In the morning we left for Cleveland planning on staying a day or two there. The only thing I know about Ohio or Cleveland is that it has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Besides seeing episodes of Cleveland on the First 48 where they document homicides in the area. We got to Cleveland earlier than I expected and we had enough time to go the the HOF. The HOF was really interesting. They had a lot of multi media and we easily took 3.5 hours there. It inspired me to look into some of the music that pioneered rock and roll music.

Carson right by Pittsburgh, nice area
We really liked how the houses climbed up
the very green hill

Creamy goodness
the real challenge was not getting it in
my beard

The weather started to change and we headed to the local Walmart. It was stupid hot and humid so trying to get to bed was not fun. At about 1 am the security guard started honking his horn and I knew we were about to get the boot :(. We had to drive a few miles down the way to another Walmart

Cleveland and the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame
can't take pics inside though

Kinda confusing pic...
building on top that is the HOF
then harbor that goes out into Lake Erie