DAY 2 Revisiting our childhoods in Pittsburgh. Friday September 11, 2026:

The Three Little Girls in front of the fireplace
on Old Clairton Road.

Good Morning, Pittsburgh! 

After a nourishing breakfast of toasted Thomas’ English Muffins housing pools of Land O’Lakes butter, we loaded into the car and drove to Castle Shannon Antiques Mall. Mom and I used to visit this place when we lived here as adults together. Same place. Same walls. Some of the same antiques. 

My sisters and I gathered trinkets. 

Dave waited in the car.

Trekking to the Antiques haunts.

Our trusty chauffeur took us next to Daniel's Hardware. This place has seriously not changed in fifty years! Maybe longer. Thank you Lord, for keeping it the same. The clerk told us the owners died fairly recently and they weren't sure if the next gewneration could keep it going. The roof leaks, and it needs some TLC. I reached in my pocket for the only cash I had. I gave her a $20 bill and told her to give it to the owner to start the new roof fund so it could remain. It represents the time in America when we didn't order our tools and goods with the touch of a finger and pick it up at our front door. Mom taking me to Daniel's represents rows and rows of possibility as I imagined what I could make with all those bins of screws and nails and striups of balsa wood and paint.

Our handsome chauffeur.

Afterwards we drove the few miles to Pleasant Hills, our old stomping grounds. The hills feel less pleasant on old lady legs.

First to the Arboretum, where innumerable varieties of trees gather in safety. When I was in 5^th Grade I was chosen to give a speech in that field wrapped in trees, at our annual school hike on Arbor Day. Funny how one remembers when they are "chosen" as children. Our kids in Utah are learning the reverence for the Great Salt Lake the way we learned to revere trees in PA. 

Pleasant Hills Arboretum.

Next, we stopped at Pleasant Hills Library, the old stone edifice that housed our imaginations as kids. Mostly we wanted to smell the books. But the whole place was a step back in time.

This Library was a safe place for us as kids.

The beloved children's section is still tucked down in the basement.

Back in the van, we drove up Old Clairton Road, past the house where the old man handed out whole dimes for Halloween, and the Barton's house on the right, who were rich. And the Stoops', Shattings and Kotsko's. We made Dave slow the car as we passed our house, commenting on that time the car almost rolled off the wall on the side of our driveway, remembering that Thursday was our designated burning day when we carried the trash down to the incinerator in the back yard and burned what would burn. We lamented the loss of the old crabapple tree and giant evergreen in front of the kitchen window.

The houses were terraced into the hillside,
with a steep drop off next to our driveway.
The Pontiac Rocket never knew that garage. It was filled with stuff.

Libby and I shared the bedroom with the window in the dormer.
I recall the comforting sound of traffic on Old Clairton Road lulling me to sleep
through the open window in the summer. No one had air conditioning then, 
except people who were rich. We were rich, just not in the money department.

I can hear the screen door slapping shut.

The memories rushed like water and our thirst was unquenchable. But the traffic behind us forced Dave to roll on up to the corner of Old Clairton and National and down to Pleasant Hills Middle School. So many memories were made in that place. 

Then up the hill and down the road to the cluster of shops that used to include Rexall Drug, the Red Bull Inn, Stop ‘N Go and Bob’s Dist.  Bobs Distributer's was the only way we had to earn money as kids. You could get 2 cents for every glass pop bottle you returned. We scoured the streets and paths for bottles. On lucky days we earned enough to buy a candy bar. Down in the gully next to Bob’s is the VFW building where we took dance classes. If my legs would let me I could still to the "step- kick- ball- change" to Jingle Bell Rock, snapping our fingers low by our thighs in syncopated time to the music.

We drove on over to the Garden Apartments, where mom and Libby moved when I left for BYU.

AM and Lib in their Gunne Sax dresses, circa 1977.

Knowing time was slipping from under us, we decided to move on toward downtown, creeping through the Liberty Tunnel. Usded to be we counted the lights above us in that long tunnel. If there wasn't any traffic we could hold our breath, touch the roof of the car and make a wish. If you could make it to the end of the tunnel without breathing the wish would come true. Never worked for me... but it's a long tunnel. 

Lib tried unsuccessfully to make it to the end of the tunnel without breathing. Her asthmadd

Emerging like Dorothy in the emerald City, we came out from the dark tunnel to sunlight sparkling off the rivers. Three rivers converging at the Point. Used to be the air was too smoggy to see anythning. Steel mills lined the rivers. Now the mills are closed and the sparkle is back as God must have intended. We wove our way to the Heinz History Museum. This is one of my favorite sites to visit in Pittsburgh. But first it was a stop at Walmart to get a charging cord for my phone, a Steelers shirt for Libby, and rain jackets for AM and Lib because it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. Heinz Museum blasted us right back to the Pittsburgh we knew and gave us deeper appreciation for the Pittsburgh we hadn’t known.

Lib revisits a Kennywood Park ride.

KIng Friday's Castle in Mr Rogers' Neighborhood.

One of the original Mr Rogers sweaters, knitted by his mom.

Hangin' with Fred.

Heinz is the only ketchup we'll buy.

Afterwards we drove to Scenery Hill to have dinner at the Century Inn. Nearly 50 years before we had gathered there with our dearest dears, celebrating our wedding luncheon. We were married in Washington DC, stopped at Century Inn for a quaint and glorious luncheon for  75 at this beautiful historic site.

Century Inn at Scenery Hill, PA

My mother hosted 75 of our dearest dears here,
nearly fifty years ago.
I still adore this man all these years later.
I know I'm lucky. 

On the way home we stopped at Target, because I needed a new pair of pants and some glue for the sole of my shoe.

Back home, we sat and reminisced, planned a flexible itinerary for tomorrow, and watched a TV special on the 25^th Anniversary of the tragedy on 9-11.

Climbing the wooden steps to bed, we raised the windows to let the scents and sounds of our childhood sweep over us as we drifgted off to sleep.