{Photo Essay} Gettysburg National Military Park

 Valor (noun) - great courage in the face of danger, esp. in battle

In July, I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg National Military Park. This year marked the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg of the American Civil War. To learn more about my experience and see additional photos, please read the entry Gettysburg Day Trip from Washington DC on the Viator Travel Blog.

Disclosure: Viator.com sponsored my day trip to Gettysburg, including transportation from and to Washington DC, park entrance fees and guided tours. In addition, I was compensated for creating a blog post of the Viator Travel Blog. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here. 

Lehigh Valley Zoo Run Wild 2013 10K - Race Recap

On Sunday, I ran the 5th Annual Lehigh Valley Zoo Run Wild 10K. This time I signed up for a 10K that was actually the correct distance! The race was special to me because it was the first race I ran with Raisin Bread. Let me tell you running with the hubby is a lot of fun. We drove up to Pennsylvania on Saturday and spent some time with his dad, stepmother and brother - helping them clean up from their yard sale, shooting hoops and bouncing around on their trampoline.

Look at these crazy kids jumping around! Oh wait, it's just Raisin Bread doing the jumping. 

After dinner and more hanging out, we completed the remainder of the drive to the Lehigh Valley and Raisin Bread's mother's house. We didn't make it until almost midnight, which meant very little sleep before our early wake-up time.

I had my usual pre-race breakfast: water and a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Mmm...nommy! 

Raisin Bread's mother offered to join us to watch us run. What a nice thing to do! We left the house around 6:45 am. The main road leading to the zoo was closed and we hit a dead end. Luckily, there was a lady jogging, who actually works for the zoo, and she gave us directions on how to get to the parking lot. Better signage would have been helpful! There were a lot of other cars behind us that did the same thing. Not fun to get lost on the way to a race.

After another 10 minutes, we finally got to the zoo and picked up our race packets. The 10K had only about 225 registrants, so our line was very quick.

We had a few minutes to kill before we had to get to the starting line. Raisin Bread saw that there were massages being given nearby, so he wandered over to see if they cost money. They were free! So we promptly got in line for a pre-race massage! So nice! 

Since we were in a zoo, located in a nature preserve, there were some animals around, such as this peacock! 

We had just enough time to hit the bathroom before it was time to get to the starting line. We discovered that there were lots of mosquitoes around the park at this point. Raisin Bread had a bite on his forehead and I got five bites on my legs. Boohoo!

The race quickly started and we were off. It was very crowded because the 5K and 10K both started at the same place and time. The race was mostly on pavement but there were about three spots that ventured onto trails. Here we are heading into the woods!

The weather was very nice that day. Not sunny and not humid in the 70s. It was perfect race weather for me!

Soon after the 2 mile mark, the 10K and 5K split onto different routes, which was so nice because there was so much room and no more need to weave around people. It was also at this time that we started climbing uphill along some switchbacks. Just when we thought the climbing had ended, we came to a monster hill! I couldn't run uphill anymore so I walked up the killer hill as did most people my pace. From the bottom of the hill to the top, we had gained over 320 feet! Ugh.

Big mean hill!

When we got to the top, we got a pretty nice view of the valley!

Around mile 4, we were greeted by these furry guys. I love bison. They are such majestic creatures although I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that fence!

After the fourth mile, it was pretty much two more miles of very fast downhill, which was amazing after such a grueling middle route. As we entered the final stretch, we re-entered the zoo grounds. I was able to spot some emus and kangaroos as we were finishing.

Raisin Bread and I sprinted to the finish and I beat him by a hair. I think he let me beat me since he's such a nice husband.

We grabbed some snacks and headed home.

My clock time was 1:12:22. The race wasn't chip timed, and we started in the back of the pack. My actual time might have been a minute or so less than the clock time.

My Nike Running app keeps crashing, so I'll update with my split times once it's working again. It doesn't look like this was a PR for me though. The route was just too tough.

Splits from my Nike Running app:
Mile 1: 10:38
Mile 2: 10:11 *fastest mile
Mile 3: 14:32 *big hill!
Mile 4: 11:55
Mile 5: 10:48
Mile 6: 10:35

Average pace: 11:27

Overall, I thought this was a great race. My only complaint was the difficulty we had finding the parking lot. Other than that, it was well-organized and well-staffed. The route was challenging, but it was scenic. I also didn't like the mozzies, but they can't help that. 

Runners also had the chance to visit the zoo after the race, but we had brunch plans and didn't take advantage of that. 

Weekend in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has never been on my top 10 list of cities to visit, but Raisin Bread and I wanted to do a short weekend trip within driving distance. Although I did quite a bit of traveling this summer, all of my trips were solo, so I was excited to spend some time with my hubby out of town.

Pittsburgh, it turns out, was much more interesting than I assumed it would be. Our first day was spent exploring the downtown area including some visits to art galleries, places with good eats and the Cathedral of Learning (aka Hogwarts).

The day was very wet and rainy, so it was a good thing that we had planned indoor activities for most of the day. Our first stop was breakfast at Pamela's Diner. It was greasy, kitschy and everything a diner should be. I ordered an omelette that came with toast and potatoes. Raisin Bread had banana French toast. I don't know what was in the potatoes but they were like crack.

After breakfast, we went to The Mattress Factory, a museum located in a former Stearns & Foster mattress factory, hence the name. The museum actually is situated in a number of buildings now, but the main exhibition space is in the factory. What makes The Mattress Factory different is that each piece is a room-sized installation that is created on-site.

Ever since I saw MOCA's Warhol retrospective in 2002, I have been pretty fascinated with Andy Warhol. Pittsburgh was his hometown and it is now home to a museum dedicated to his life's work. My two favorite parts of my visit was learning about Warhol's archives. Warhol created over 600 Time Capsules, which were in essence cardboard boxes filled with the stuff that passed through his hands. When he filled a box, he sealed it and sent it to storage. I can't imagine the stories those objects can tell about what his life was like and what the time was like. The other thing I most enjoyed was the educational aspect of the museum, where you can learn in a hands-on way some of Warhol's methods in art-making.



The butterfly is one of my creations from that afternoon!

Once we ran out of creative juices, we visited the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. Located inside this building are a series of Nationality Rooms. The rooms are styled to represent some of the cultures that settled in Allegheny County, such as Polish, German and Irish. We were only permitted to see the rooms on the third floor that afternoon and these included Armenian, Japanese and Austrian. How lucky are the students who get to attend courses in this beautiful building and in these rooms.

The common area of the Cathedral of Learning made me feel like I was at Hogwarts. I believe if I were a student at Pitt, my favorite place to study would be this space.

The second part of our weekend was spent with Raisin Bread's aunt and uncle. His uncle was participating in a vintage car race.

During the lunch break, spectators can make a donation to take a lap around the track in one of the vintage cars. I doubt there will ever be another opportunity for me to ride in a 1950s Lotus 7 on a race track!

I was pleasantly surprised by Pittsburgh. It was fun, relaxing and filled with plenty of good times. 

Pamela's Diner

60 21st Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

The Mattress Factory

500 Sampsonia Way

Pittsburgh, PA 15212

The Andy Warhol Museum

117 Sandusky Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15212

University of Pittsburgh - Nationality Rooms

4200 Fifth Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

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Funny Food Names: Pennsylvania Edition

 Chow chow - pickled vegetable relish 

Shoofly pie - Pennsylvania Dutch molasses pie with crumb topping

Birch beer - made from birch bark, similar to root beer

Whoopie pie - two round cakes with cream filling. Available in red velvet, chocolate, pumpkin 

and other varieties

Irish potatoes - candy made from cream cheese and coconut with ground cinnamon topping