"Walking to the Sky"

 As Monday was a driving day, with a nearly 6 hour drive from Pittsburgh to Louisville on our agenda, we didn't anticipate doing much on our last morning in Pittsburg but having breakfast at the famed Pamela's diner and popping into one of the toy stores in Shadyside that had closed before we had a chance to visit it the evening before.

 

However, as we were driving back into Shadyside and passing through the streets in and around Carnegie Mellon, I began reflecting on how much I'd love to visit the location of Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" (the lecture and the book it became) and Maddie recalled that her beloved Zachary Quinto graduated from CMU.  Over a delicious brunch (as breakfast soon became lunch as morning quickly became early afternoon), we did a bit of research (you've got to love the smart phone!) and learned that there was a campus tour at 1:30.  Deciding this was exactly the sort of flexibility we wanted to have on this whirlwind trip, we opted to enjoy the shops in Shadyside for an hour and then head over to the campus.

 

When we arrived to the inner part of the campus, we were greeted with Jonathan Borofsky's "Walking to the Sky" sculpture, which had been installed by the artist, a CMU alum, in 2006.  Walking around the gorgeous university campus, knowing that late next summer we will be taking Maddie to some campus somewhere in the state or country to begin her college journey, the sculpture felt quite fitting :)

 





Maddie contemplates the sculpture, the university, and her FUTURE.... ;)

Below are some of the shots I snapped while we took the hour stroll through the campus, led by two CMU students, one an engineering major and the other a creative writing major.  The school is known, of course, for its science and engineering schools, but it has become just as famous for its drama program, boasting graduates from behind the scenes talent such as John Wells (longtime er director and the director of the upcoming August: Osage County, he has a directing school at CMU named after him) and the aforementioned Zachary Quinto (and a whole mess more), so Maddie was more than a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities.

Students practicing their music in a stunning setting.

The lobby of the auditorium where Pausch, and many, many others, delivered his famed lecture.

This fence comes with a great story, which must wait.... as Louisville awaits :)

Of course, our detour meant that we didn't START  our drive to Kentucky until 3:30 or so, which didn't leave us much time to explore Louisville when we arrived to The Brown Hotel (historic, of course!!) after 10:00 last night.  We came thisclose to being able to add West Virginia to our list of states visited, as a break in Wheeling was imminent, but for an ill-timed conference call Dana had to take.  Alas, this was as close as we got! ;)

 

 

Now we're off to the Kentucky Derby museum...