Baby, it's cold outside!

Actually, we're having a warm spell in Western PA. It's 44 degrees outside (up from 6 degrees when we arrived on Monday night). So, what would be a teeth chattering experience in the Santa Cruz mountains, is cause for shorts and sandals in Pennsylvania (OK, not quite....but still a noticable difference)!

We spent our first night with Mike's parents in greater Pittsburgh. The next two days, we stayed with Michelle in Johnstown, which is 2 hours east of Pittsburgh. Johnstown is the site of early industrial boom and then the terrible flood of 1889, which killed over 2,000 people (considered the biggest U.S. natural disaster at the time). After a visit to the Flood Memorial, we learned that this "act of God" was in fact caused by men, including the area's bigshots Andrew Mellon and Andrew Carnegie, who failed to maintain the dam that held their exlusive lake retreat, 450 feet above the city. The flooding was also caused by the pilfering of the forests along the river. Sad, how history can repeat itself (we couldn't help but think of the poorly maintained levees in New Orleans, and the loss of the wetlands surrounding the city). Here is the site of the Johnstown tragedy:


Andy couldn't have cared less about the area's history, but he enjoyed sledding at the park across from Michelle and Craig's Park Hill home:


He was mostly frustrated with the snow at the park, however, because it nearly came up to his waist. He couldn't move without diving face first into the powder.

Now we're in Evans City, PA, at the home of Matt, Donna, Chris and Courtney. Here is Andy enjoying cousin time with Courtney: