Kids Travel to Favorite Sports Venue: Pittsburgh Steelers Heinz Field

Ok, folks, our family getaway Thursday has taken us hours to recover from. Some of you sports or travel fans might know what I’m talking about. Being passionate about both travel and sports – it shouldn’t have been so strange that this happened. We just woke up from a dream day!

Originally from the Pittsburgh area, George and I met at Ohio State and found so much in common – especially our faith, passion for life, and our beloved sports teams :-). We’ve been to tons of Buckeye games but neither one of us recalled ever having been to a Steelers game. Once we started a family, both kids became die hard Buckeye and Steelers fans, by default . We all truly enjoy watching football games – live or on the big screen. (yes, girlfriends, I am a real sports fan – ask my son) So, the dream to actually get to a Pittsburgh Steelers game was a big carrot out in front of us.

My awesome hubby came up with the idea just days before and got it in his head to look for preseason game tickets vs. regular season which we knew we’d have to pay a sweet ransom to get tickets from a broker (the Pittsburgh Steelers are the six-time World Champions, ya know) . Well, he got four tickets together (under $200) on the 20 yard line and we put the game on the calendar…

Thursday afternoon we headed to Pittsburgh for the first preseason game – a rematch of the Super Bowl – Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals!  Using the guidelines you can download from the Steelers.com website, we found parking for $5.00 at a garage at Sixth & Fort Duquesne Blvd., right across the street from the bridge to the North Shore. We walked over the pedestrian Roberto Clemente bridge (my son just did an essay on him this past school year – got an “A”) and before us was the Ohio River and PNC Park – home of the Pirates.

As we walked along the riverfront, you could see fashionable boats docked (tailgating), the Incline, the skyline of downtown Pittsburgh and, finally, Heinz Field! Every person, I mean every person, we talked with was super friendly and dressed in Steelers colors! My kids freaked out!

Once inside the park, we immediately noticed how modern, comfortable and clean the stadium was. Better yet, the bright yellow-gold seats were super comfy. Something we’d recommend to any sports fan going to their first professional game is to get there at least two hours early. Pregames really set the tone & build excitement. What really wowed us about pregame was the Great Hall and the Pitts-burger sandwich from Primanti Bros. 

The pictures give you a glimpse of some of the displays but this place is immense in size and content. From the Six, yes six! Championship trophies to the Immaculate Reception by Franco Harris in 1972 to the locker room personal artifacts in famous players lockers (ex. Bradshaw, Swann).

Pregame is also the time to get out those binoculars and try to find your favorite players warming up. The stadium camera hones in on various players and produces their interesting stats on the scoreboard. That, and they offer lots of contests pregame and have areas outside the stadium for kids. In the stadium’s west wing (home side) stands, we even took in a great jazz band playing.

Gametime was the most surreal of all – really too hard to put into words (but, if you see me at a booksigning sometime – ask me for more details). Btw, the Steelers won 20 to 10 and both touchdowns were at our end of the field! Oh, how sweet this day was..

For those of you following along by means of KIDS LOVE PENNSYLVANIA, pages 174 and 178 seem pale by comparison – that’s why you can always stay updated along with us by: UPDATES pages.  We promise, with our books as your base, combined with our updates, give you all the help you need to plan any daytrips – even the Sports fanatic kind!