Falling Water...

While visiting Pittsburgh we took a trip out to Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house but I did take this gorgeous picture.  The house design was more impressive than I thought.  The area was so calm and relaxing. 

Submarine...

We had the opportunity to visit a submarine while in Pittsburgh.

It is the USS Requin. 

Watch out for those torpedoes! 

This is some sort of office. 

These were where the important people slept...

...and these were where the more ordinary people slept.

There were all sort of buttons and knobs to investigate.  The boys left nothings untouched. 

This is the kitchen for the majority of the crew.  There was a smaller one for the higher ranking people.

There were little nooks and crannies of storage everywhere.  This one was below. 

This is where the lower ranking people ate.  The higher ranking people had a slightly more fancy area to dine.

The bathroom facilities were also a little different depending on which part of the submarine you were in.

Here is the shower. 

Here is the toilet.  I guess you can't be picky if you live on a submarine. 

I definitely had an advantage since I am shorter than Mike, Alex, and Christine.  

So many things to see in such a small place!

I'm glad we didn't have to go in and out through these.  Visiting a submarine was definitely a fun experience! 

Science Center...

We visited the Science Center while in Pittsburgh.  

They had a really neat robot exhibit that included a robot with a basketball shooting percentage better than 90%.  In comparison the human basketball shooting percentage was less than 20%.  I had so much fun I forgot to take pictures during most of the visit.  I googled a picture of this robot because I would feel guilty if I talked about it so much and didn't show a picture. 

I did remember to take pictures when we got to the sports area.  This fan caught our attention because we are fans of Mythbusters and we recently saw the episode where they test a myth about a ceiling fan cutting off a persons head.  For the record the ceiling fans didn't do much damaged unless they were scary and industrial looking.  Based on those qualifications this one could definitely do some damage!

Alex was excited to ride the unicycle that was really high in the air.  The scared face was just for our entertainment. 

Mike tested his balance on the skateboard. 

Christine measured her reach and standing jump for basketball. 

You can test your hockey goalie reflexes.

You can also give major league pitching a try. 

There were lots of kids who enjoyed bouncing and trying to do flips.

There were also plenty of people interested in climbing the big rock wall.

You could ride a virtual roller coaster. 

We were very excited to try this huge Operation game. 

In the gift shop Mike saw this and had to try it. 

He actually got it going pretty good. 

They dancing windup robots in the gift shop made me giggle.

I've seen gum ball or candy machines but I had never seen a machine that dispenses gems.  Mikes fathers would love it! 

Breakfast...

Since Pittsburgh has some colleges in the area there are plenty of interesting places to visit.

During our visit we did save money by not eating out for every meal but Christine and Alex did take us to some of their favorite places.  Pamela's Diner is said to have the best breakfast in the state of Pennsylvania.

This was my kind of place!  I love games and they had board games all over the walls. 

They even had some very unique games I hadn't heard of. 

One of my nostalgic favorites was a game called "Cootie".   Alex and Christine really kept us busy during our visit! 

Gettysburg Part Two

This monument was the largest.  You could climb to the top and see for quite a ways. 

There were lots of people dressed up for the occasion. 

There were also the typical annoying tour buses.

These guys were dressed to represent the Union Army.  They did some demonstrations and marched around. 

They were all very knowledgeable and willing to answer the same questions multiple times. 

I can't imagine how hot there were in their long sleeve shirts and jackets.  They all seemed very glad to have a water break. 

There were lots of houses in the area but it was difficult to tell if they were from the Civil War time period or not.  We tried to guess but of course we could not be sure. 

This motorcycle in Baylor colors caught my attention.

There were a lot of bikers visiting that day. 

I'll be honest.  We were so hot, tired, and hungry that we pretty much skipped the last stop which was the Gettysburg National Cemetery.  From the parking lot we didn't see anything we were interested in getting out of the car to see. 

While I was putting together this blog I felt a little guilty about it so I googled some pictures to help finish up the post.  I didn't really want to finish a post about Gettysburg with a group of bikers. 

I can barely imagine what it was like to be at the Battle of Gettysburg more than one hundred years ago. It was interesting to see so many people who are so passionate about this time period. 

We were glad to have the opportunity to visit Gettysburg!  It was a great reminder of our rich history as well as the people and events that made the United States what it is today.