George Washington Trail

Day 6: August 26th, 1999 Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh

Ft. Pitt gift shop

I have breakfast again at King’s Family Restaurant. At a quarter to ten I drive to Pittsburgh. I follow Highway 60 and Ft. Pitt Bridge to reach Downtown. After a long search for a parking spot, I decided to drive into one of these very expensive parkhouses, where you have to pay $10 for three hours!

At first I walk to the banks of the Monongahela River. From there I reach the remnants of the old Ft. Pitt. After a short walk I arrive at the Ft. Pitt Museum. There I learn, that this Fort was originally build by the French under the name Ft. Duquesne. This Fort was one of the key positions for the Ohio valley. So there have been a lot of fights around this Fort. In 1758, the British conquered the Fort from the French. They build it up new from 1759 to 1761 under the name Ft. Pitt.

Pittsburgh Welcome Center

Skyline Pittsburgh Point State Park

After the visit, I walk through the Point State Park to the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela River. This is the place, where the Ohio River is born. I will follow this River in my next trail. There is also a giant fountain at the confluence, but today it is shut down because of maintenance work.

I walk back downtown and have the chance to reach some shelter exactly in time, before a heavy thunderstorm started. It lasted only a couple of minutes, but it would have been enough to wet me completely through. Then I walk on to the Towers Watson with the mirroring walls. Together with the 4 little towers at the corners it is nowadays a landmark of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Towers Watson

Point State Park Ohio River

I walk back to my car and head off to visit a family, where I have been 15 years ago for one month during a student exchange. After a short time of searching, I find the house again. It is still David, one of the sons, living there together with his girl friend. At the evening we visit Helen, his mother, who invited me also to the birthday dinner for John, one of her grandkids. As the whole family is there, I have the great luck to see everyone after 15 years again! We sit a long time at the porch talking, but I have to leave not too late, because of my George Rogers Clark Trail starting tomorrow. I say goodbye and promise to visit them again as soon as possible. At this time I did not knew, how soon this would be and how much influence this visit would have on all my future USA travels. But read more about this in my Sullivan, Clinton and Broadhead Trail in the year 2000.