US Golf Open 2007 and Visit to Pittsburgh PA

Since I am a golf nut there was a good opportunity to go to the US Open Golf Championship this year because it was in Pittsburgh which is fairly close (6-hour drive) to Pickering. It was also a great chance to visit some old friends that moved to that area eight years ago. They are Brian and Mary-Jo with their children Liam (18), Emily (16), and Colin (14). Inasmuch as all the motels were taken for the golf it was good fortune that they had an extra room for me.

I arrived Thursday and enjoyed the hospitality of my hosts. It was early to bed to get to the open to meet Cal at 8:00 a.m. Cal and I walked parts of the course and sat at the viewing stands that he had figured to be good vantage spots. The course is quite amazing and difficult. Although there are no water hazards, there are plenty of deep traps, slanting fairways, quick greens and deep rough. The US Open is set up to be a difficult test and the winning score of +5 was a testament to that. All the details can be found at:

http://www.usopen.com/

After the round we went to Cal and Joanne’s beautiful bed and breakfast house in the hills north of Pittsburgh. We went out for dinner; I had soft-shelled crabs and ate them whole!

The Open was sold out on Saturday so it was a good opportunity to do some sightseeing with my hosts. Pittsburgh is a difficult city to drive around because of all the hills, windy roads and bridges. It has the second most bridges of any city after Venice. I was convinced of the use of a GPS tracker to figure out where to go and how to get there so I ordered one.

We had spectacular views of the city from the hill across the Monongahela River at the Duquesne Incline and other viewing spots. You can see the football and baseball stadiums on the other side. The Allegeheny and Monongahela Rivers join at Pittsburgh and create the Ohio River, which flows into the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans.

For dinner we went to The Church Brew Works which was a church turned into an upscale restaurant. They make their own beer and ales. Their motto is: "And on the 8^th day … man created beer!" I definitely liked the perverse nature of this place! We sampled 6 beers and settled on one for each for dinner. The web site is: