Living Our Dream

Flight 93 Memorial

Pittsburgh, PA - Events of Saturday, July 21, 2018

On Saturday, Lora and J. Michael planned to go to the annual reunion held by the breeders from whom they got their two boxers so we planned a day trip of our own. We went to visit the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with our RVing friends from the Pittsburgh area, Pat and Mike. We picked them up in the morning and headed out the PA Turnpike to the memorial.

September 11, 2001, was unlike any previous terrorist attack. That day, terrorists belonging to the extremist group al Qaeda instituted a new tactic. Instead of hijacking an airplane and holding the passengers ransom for some concession by the United States such as the release of one or more of their members who had been captured, the terrorists used the planes as weapons.

Three of the four planes that were hijacked early in morning of September 11 made it to their intended targets - both of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, was delayed because of heavy air traffic. Once the flight was finally in the air and was approaching Cleveland, Ohio, the terrorists herded the passengers to the back of the plane, forced their way into the cockpit, took over the controls, and turned the plane to the southeast toward Washington, D.C.

A number of passengers made calls to 911 and to loved ones using cell phones and Airfones. Because Flight 93 had been delayed, they found out about the other suicide attacks that had already been carried out that morning. Although the intended target of Flight 93 was unknown at the time (investigators have since concluded it was the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C), the passengers decided to try to take control of the aircraft to prevent their flight from reaching its target. During the attempt by the passengers to storm the cockpit, Flight 93 went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

As we arrived at the memorial, we noticed a line had formed at the Learning Center near the parking lot. Two journalists who were involved in the reporting on the crash right afterward and over the following weeks were scheduled to speak in just a few minutes so we decided to find seats and listen in.

Learning Center at the Flight 93 Memorial

Dennis Roddy (left in the photo below) works for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and covered the investigation of the terrorists following the 9/11 attacks. Tim Lambert works for a radio station in Harrisburg and covered the families of the victims. Tim's family also happened to be one of the owners of the land on which Flight 93 crashed so he was given unprecedented access to the crash site. That also gave him the opportunity to develop close relationships with many members of the victims' families.

Journalists Dennis Roddy (left) and Tim Lambert speaking on the crash of Flight 93

The presentation by Dennis Roddy and Tim Lambert was very interesting because it gave some insight into what went on behind the headlines. Afterward, we headed out past the visitor center to the observation platform. From there, we could see the actual crash site. The walkway to the platform follows the flight path of the plane.

Walkway to the observation platform overlooking the crash site

The approximate location of the impact is marked by a 17-ton boulder, which is the dark spot at the far end of the brighter green strip of grass in the center of the photo below.

Flight 93 crash site as viewed from the observation platform

Because Flight 93 hit the ground at a fairly steep angle (40º) going 563 mph, the 154-foot aircraft was reduced to tiny, unrecognizable fragments. The largest pieces of the wreckage measured only about 6 feet by 7 feet, and there were only a few that were anywhere near that big. With such destruction, bodies of the victims were unrecoverable. The impact location and surrounding debris field is considered to be the burial site of all passengers and crew and is therefore fenced off and closed to the public.

Shortly after the crash, a temporary memorial was erected on a hillside near the site. In 2002, Congress approved a bill to establish a permanent National Memorial. During the presentation we heard when we first arrived we learned from Tim Lambert that negotiations for the acquisition of land went very slowly. It wasn't until about 9 years after the crash that the National Park Service finally acquired the land. The first phase of the memorial was completed just in time to be dedicated on September 10, 2011, one day before the 10th anniversary.

Tim Lambert's family owned the land at the center of the impact zone and donated 6 acres in the immediate area of the impact for the memorial. Organizations representing the victims' families and various conservation groups have purchased additional land to act as a buffer zone. Other adjacent land owners have signed agreements not to develop their land resulting in a total of 2,200 acres dedicated to the Flight 93 Memorial.

The first phase of the memorial was a shelter and the Memorial Plaza. The shelter is to the left in the photo below taken from the observation platform, and the Memorial Plaza extends from the shelter to the impact site at the right.

Visitors shelter (left) and Memorial Plaza

From the observation platform we headed back to the Visitors Center where there are displays featuring timelines of the September 11 attacks. There is a lot of specific information on Flight 93 including an animated flight simulation of the final minutes of the flight. There are also videos of news reports from the time, information on all of the passengers, and voice recordings of some of the phone messages they left for loved ones. It was all very interesting and very moving. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday so it was also very crowded so we couldn't see and listen to as much as we would have liked. We strongly recommend visiting on a weekday if at all possible.

From the visitors Center, we drove down to the Memorial Plaza and walked the to impact site.

Memorial Plaza

At the end of the Memorial Plaza is the Wall of Names listing all 40 of the heroic victims of Flight 93.

Wall of Names

Also from the end of the plaza you can view the 17-ton boulder that marks the approximate location of the impact.

17-ton boulder marking the impact site

We knew we would spend a couple of hours at the memorial so we anticipated we would be hungry by the time we left. Therefore, Margery had done some research into possible places to eat in the area and found the Lincoln Cafe located only a few minutes down the road from the memorial. The cafe gets excellent reviews on Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Facebook.

Lincoln Cafe

Lincoln Cafe has a variety of sandwiches that include one side for about $6 to $9. They also have smoked ribs and chicken on weekends. Pat and Mike got a half rack of ribs and half a smoked chicken to share. They said both were good, but they liked the ribs better. We both got Philly cheese steaks, which were also very good.

Margery, Paul, Pat, and Mike at Lincoln Cafe

After lupper, we headed back to Pittsburgh. We stay in touch with Pat and Mike by phone and by text message, but it's been a long time since we've seen them. It was great to be able to spend the day together.

The next morning, we said our good-byes to Lora, J. Michael, and Lydia and took off for Berlin, Ohio, where we spent the next week eating out and playing tourist. We'll tell you about our stay there in upcoming posts.

Pittsburgh Children's Museum

Pittsburgh, PA - Events of Thursday, July 19 to Friday, July 20, 2018

The next adventure on our recent journey to Pittsburgh was a trip at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum that we took with Lora and Lydia on Thursday morning while J. Michael was at work. The museum has all sorts of fun and educational activities for kids. We started off in the craft area where Lydia did a watercolor painting.

Grammy watching Lydia paint

The craft area is near the entrance/exit so you can leave the artwork to dry on a rack and pick it up on the way out. We had fun watching Lydia as she spent the next couple of hours investigating the many areas of the museum.

There are is a water activity area on the third floor, which Lora deliberately saved for last in case Lydia got wet. Fortunately, Lydia stayed pretty dry while playing in the water.

There is a "snow" table in the water activity area where kids can make snow molds and play in the slush. The snow is actually shaved ice that is periodically replaced as it melts.

Mommy and Grammy watching Lydia play in the snow

Adults can join in many of the activities, too. On the way out, Lora and Paul stopped to check out an exhibit where animated characters on the screen mimic your body's motions.

Lora and Paul watching animated figures mimic their body motions

After the museum, we stopped for a late lunch at a new barbecue restaurant located in Robinson Township near where Lora and J. Michael live called Mission BBQ. Mission BBQ is a chain of barbecue restaurant with a patriotic theme that was founded by two friends.

Mission BBQ

We both had a pulled pork sandwich ($6.49), and we added a side of fries and a drink to share ($3). We've sampled a lot of pulled pork barbecue as we traveled around the country, and this was right up there with the best. It was smokey, moist and tender. There are about half a dozen sauces, and they were all very good. We each did eventually decide on a favorite. Margery liked Smokey Mountain, and Paul liked Texas Twang. We were pleased to learn there are several Mission BBQ restaurants not too far from us in Florida.

Paul and Margery with our pulled pork sandwiches

J. Michael had Friday off work so we headed back over to his brother's in the afternoon for another swim. After we got back and changed, we all headed out to Bahama Breeze for dinner. They have half price appetizers from 4 to 6 pm Monday through Friday, and we frequently make a meal of just appetizers. This time, we also got a couple of regular menu items to share as well. We topped off dinner with a Chocolate Island dessert, which is chocolate mousse atop fudge brownie covered with chocolate sauce, toasted almonds, and whipped cream. It is all surrounded by a sea of chocolate sauce and crème anglaise. Yum!

We have yet another adventure from the Pittsburgh area on which to report so look for our next post. 

Off to Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA - Events of Thursday, July 12 to Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Back in 2014 when our granddaughter Lydia was born, we were full-timing so we were able to spend most of that summer in Ohio's Amish Country about 2 hours away from where our daughter and son-in-law live in the Pittsburgh area. We drove to Pittsburgh to meet Lydia when she was only one day old. Ever since then, we have spent all summer in Ohio, and we drove to Pittsburgh from there fairly often to visit...up until this year, that is.

Now that we're no longer full-timing, we aren't spending the summer two hours from Pittsburgh anymore. However, we still want to visit so we decided to do it this year in time for Lydia's birthday. We packed up the car and headed north on Thursday, July 12.

On our overnight stop in Rock Hill, North Carolina, we met our RVing friends, Dick and Barbara, who live nearby, for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We had a good time catching up with what's new with them.

On Friday, we continued northward and pulled into Lora and J. Michael's driveway around 4:30. Lydia has gotten a lot bigger since we saw her last Christmas. We also learned she has gotten quite good at playing "pretend" - things like going camping, going to an amusement park, kayaking, living in a castle, and playing traffic cop. Grammy's imagination got quite a workout while we were there trying to keep up with Lydia. 

On Saturday afternoon, we headed over to J. Michael's brother's house to swim. Like most kids, it was hard to get Lydia out of the water when it was time to go home.

Grammy and Lydia in the pool

We had pizza and Italian subs from Hunner's Pizza for dinner after we got back from swimming. They were yummy!

Lydia's birthday party was on Sunday so there were decorating and other preparations to be done in the morning and early afternoon. Friends and family began arriving around 3:00, and we all enjoyed snacks that included delicious meatballs that J. Michael smoked. After a yummy dinner of burgers and dogs, it was time for Lydia to open gifts.

Aunt Barb demonstrating an otter hand puppet for Lydia

Lydia got lots of new toys, but we got her something a little different. We went together with J. Michael's mom, sister, and brother-in-law to get Lydia swim lessons at a local swim club. She wasn't too excited at the time, but we know she will appreciate the lessons once she finds out what she can do with the new skills she will be learning.

Lora and J. Michael got Lydia a piñata so after the gifts were opened, J. Michael and his brother brought it out. We've all seen on "America's Funniest Home Videos" the disasters that can occur with piñatas so they got one that is opened by pulling on ribbons instead of smacking it with a stick.

Lydia pulling ribbons to open the piñata

When the right ribbon was pulled, out poured a ton of candy.

Out came the candy

It was time for ice cream and cake after the piñata. Lydia wanted Mom and Dad to help blow out the candles.

Mom and Dad helping Lydia blow out the candles

Monday was mostly a relaxing day. Grammy's imagination got another big workout playing pretend with Lydia much of the day. They went on all sorts of adventures.

We were off to a couple of appointments in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning. Lora and Lydia picked up Paul's step mom around 1 pm, and we met them for a late lunch at Bella Frutteto. Paul's step mom is in her upper 80s, and although she has a few health problems, she is still very sharp and pretty spry. She still drives, and she gets out just about every day.

On Wednesday, the girls went grocery shopping while Paul went to have lunch with some of his former co-workers. Paul and his buddies had a good time swapping stories and jokes, and it was good to see all of them again; but he is very happy to be retired.

We went to out to dinner with Lora, J. Michael, and Lydia on Wednesday evening to Casa Amigos. Casa Amigos is a Mexican restaurant located in an office building near Pittsburgh International Airport, which is not too far from Lora and J. Michael's house.

Casa Amigos

We started off with the traditional corn chips and salsa. The chips were thin, warm, and crispy and the salsa was also quite good. The 5 of us went through 4 baskets of chips.

Margery had a "pick 3" combo with a ground beef taco, a ground beef burrito and a chicken chimichanga, and Paul had a "pick 2" combo with a ground beef burrito and a chicken chimichanga. Everything was delish! This Mexican restaurant is right up there with our favorite, Pancho's Villa, in San Antonio, Florida.

Margery, Lydia, and Paul at Casa Amigos

We had several more adventures during our stay in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you about them in our next post. 

More Favorite Foods and a Trip to Pittsburgh

Berlin, OH - Events of Wednesday, May 10 to Sunday, May 14, 2017

Last Wednesday, we went to Walmart to restock the larder. On the way, we stopped at Hershberger's Farm Market and picked out a hanging basket. In our opinion, Hershberger's has the best selection of hanging baskets in the area. We hung the flowers outside the door of the rig when we got back. A few days later, we also found a nice pot of Gerber Daisies at Lowe's, so we added them to our display.

Hanging basket and pot of Gerber Daisies outside our door

On Thursday, we headed out to Walnut Creek Cheese to do more grocery shopping. In addition to a huge selection of bulk items like spices, snacks, candy, and dry mixes, Walnut Creek Cheese has a big deli with lunch meats and cheeses. They also have a butcher shop with good quality meats at very reasonable prices. On the way to Walnut Creek Cheese, we stopped at Der Dutchman Bakery for cream sticks.

Margery with her cream stick

After we got what we needed at Walnut Creek Cheese, we headed to Lowe's in nearby Massillon to get some charcoal for our smoker. While in Massillon, we also stopped at the new location of Smoke the Burger Joint for a late lunch. Smoke has delicious smoked burgers that are available with a variety of toppings. They also have gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and smoked hot dogs. We used to have to drive about an hour to Canton, Ohio, to eat at Smoke the Burger Joint, but their new location in Massillon is only about half an hour away so we'll probably be eating there more often.

New location of Smoke the Burger Joint in Massillon, Ohio

Margery decided to try a new, jalapeño popper toasted cheese sandwich that had cheddar cheese, American cheese, pepper jack cheese, cream cheese, grilled bacon, jalepeño relish, and a dipping sauce made from raspberry preserves. The cheese sandwich also included either house-made kettle chips or twice-cooked fries for $8.49. Margery chose the fries, which we shared. Paul had a house burger, which is 1/3 pound of Angus beef with cheddar cheese, house-made ketchup, house-made mustard, and house-made pickles on a toasted bun for $6.49. Everything was yummy!

Paul with his burger

Margery had gotten an email coupon for $5 off at Smoke for her birthday, but when she had trouble bringing up the coupon on her phone, they took pity on her and ended up comping us the burger instead. Everything was delish!

On Saturday, we headed to Lora and J. Michael's house in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Lora had a couple of Mary Kay appointments in the morning and early afternoon. J. Michael needed to cut the grass and then had some errands to run so we watched Lydia.

Lydia likes to help cook and bake, so Margery brought along ingredients for mini monster energy balls (similar to monster cookies except smaller and baking is not required). Lydia was a big help. Not only did she help mix, she also helped do dishes.

Lydia helping wash dishes

Later in the afternoon, the sun came out so we headed outside with Lydia. She still likes her swing, and she likes to be pushed quite high.

Lidia on her swing

After Lydia's nap, we went to Bahama Breeze for dinner. As usual, the food was delish! We finished off our meal by sharing a Chocolate Island for dessert.

Chocolate Island

We spent the night, and on Sunday morning, we went to church with Lora and J. Michael. After the service, the church had a photo booth set up in the lobby so people could have pictures taken with their moms.

Lydia, Lora, and Margery

After church, we enjoyed a delicious casserole Lora made for brunch. In the early afternoon, we headed back to the 5th wheel in Berlin.

We planned to work on a couple of small projects over the next few days and to fire up the smoker. We didn't use it much over the winter due to our involvement in co-op activities and due to working on projects for our new site. We'll have another update soon so stay tuned.

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Winding Up Our Pittsburgh Visit and Heading Back to Florida

Pittsburgh, PA/Wauchula, FL - Events of Monday, December 26 to Friday, December 30, 2016

After a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas day with J. Michael's family, we relaxed the day after Christmas. J. Michael's mom came over, and we spent the day playing with Lydia, chatting, snacking on appetizers and watching movies.

On Tuesday, we had an errand to run in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh. We had recently gotten an email coupon for buy-one-entree-get-one-free from Qdoba Mexican Grill so we met Lora and Lydia at Qdoba for lunch on our way back to the house.

We took Paul's step mom to lunch at Sesame Inn on Wednesday. As usual, we had General Tso's Chicken, which was delish. We hung around and chatted for good while after lunch. Lydia was very patient.

Lora, Lydia and Paul's step mom as we were preparing to leave Sesame Inn

Lora and J. Michael invited friends over to the house on Wednesday evening. While we were waiting for them to arrive, Lydia kept busy playing in her new kitchen.

Lydia playing in her new kitchen while we waited for guests to arrive on Wednesday evening

We were planning to leave for Florida early Thursday Morning. Since it was likely Lydia wouldn't be up yet, we said our good-byes to her on Wednesday evening after the guests left. We also got her to pose for a farewell photo.

Farewell photo with Lydia

We got on the road around 8:30 on Thursday morning. Traffic didn't get heavy until we got to the stretch of I-77 north of Charlotte that is always congested. There now is construction going on in that area that presumably is going to eventually help alleviate the congestion once the work is finally completed, but in the meantime it's making the back-ups worse.

Last year, we used the Google Maps app on our smart phone to check traffic north of Charlotte, and it gave us an alternate route that saved us time. This year, we found a new app we like even better. It's called Waze. Waze is available for Androids and iPhones, and not only does it give traffic conditions and suggest alternate routes, but it also gives alerts for road hazards such as vehicles stopped on the shoulder and obstructions on the roadway. It also alerts you to police presence and red light cams. The alerts are submitted by users of the app. As other users pass reported delays or obstructions, they can submit comments, which are useful in determining the nature of the problem and how long it might last. Users can also dismiss an obstruction as no longer being present as they pass by the specified location of the obstruction.

Waze predicted a significant delay north of Charlotte, and it suggested an alternate route that took us cross country. Even though the alternate route was over local roads and out of our way, it supposedly was at least 20 to 30 minutes faster than staying on the interstate.

We pulled into the Hampton Inn in Rock Hill a little before 5 p.m. After checking in and taking our luggage to our room, we headed out to the Dixie Pig for dinner. Dixie Pig is a barbecue joint that has pulled pork, ribs, smoked chicken, brisket and sausage. We both had a pulled pork platter that includes two sides for $9.50. We both had slaw and mac and cheese for our sides.

Margery with her pulled pork platter at the Dixie Pig

The Dixie Pig gets excellent reviews online, but we're not sure why. While the the service was fast and friendly, the portions were generous and the pork was tender and moist, the pork had absolutely no smoke flavor. In fact, it tasted like left-over, oven-roasted pork. The mac and cheese was pretty good, but the slaw was just so-so. Not only didn't it have much flavor, but there were a good many large chunks of cabbage in it. We like the cabbage in our slaw to be a little more finely cut.

On Friday morning, we pulled out of Rock Hill around 7:30 after our complimentary breakfast at the motel. The breakfast, which is surprisingly good, consists of eggs (they had scrambled on the way north and cheese omelets on the way south), breakfast meat (they had sausage patties on the way north and maple sausage on the way south), fruit, hot and cold cereal, juice, pastries, toast and make-your-own waffles.

The drive down I-77 and I-26 to I-95 went smoothly. I-95 through South Carolina is 4 lanes wide, so there were periodic slow-downs. I-95 through Georgia and Florida is 6 lanes wide, so it usually moves pretty well if there are no accidents. At least I-95 moves pretty well until you get to Jacksonville, Florida. The Waze app said there were delays on I-95 going through Jacksonville, so we took the East I-295 Beltway around the city. There were some slow-downs on the beltway, but no major delays. The interesting thing about taking the East Beltway is it passes the harbor area along the St. Johns River where you can see freighters and container ships being loaded and unloaded. The next photo shows a freighter loading sand or gravel at the Martin Marietta Jacksonville Marine Terminal.

Freighter loading sand or gravel at the Jacksonville Marine Terminal

South of Jacksonville, we headed inland on I-4 toward Orlando. Since it was late afternoon as we approached Orlando and since I-4 through Orlando at rush hour is impossibly slow, we followed the advice of our Waze smartphone app and took the route around Orlando that follows toll roads. We spent about $6 in tolls, and we took a significantly longer route, but at least we kept moving the whole way. Traffic on the toll roads was very light.

We stopped for a fast-food dinner at Arby's on our way through Avon Park and pulled into the SKP Florida Resort a little after 6 p.m. We unloaded the truck, unpacked our suitcases and put them away. We then relaxed with a little TV before heading off to bed. We'll tell you about our start to the New Year in our next post.

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