south side, the strip, and other points of interest, then the road to binghamton

So, we're in Binghamton, the town so nice, they named it once.

We split the Holiday Inn Greentree before 10, to book it to the South Side. My first major mistake of memory: the South Side doesn't open for business until 11, except for a few joints. Our first destination was open: the Beehive Coffee House, where we sat, took int the ambience (the walls and ceiling are festooned with art produced by locals, largely out of junk, and is hyper cool). By the time we had done a circuit of Carson Street (while I noted the subtle shift toward faux Mexican [can you say "faux Mexican"?] restaurants, South Bank Galleries was open, and we toured that. I noticed another subtle shift there: they've expanded.

That was the keynote of the day: there's a subtle, but definite expansion happening in Pittsburgh. Sometimes it's not so subtle. PNC Park and Heinz Field, for instance, are enormous structures. The subtle changes are happening all around. An old abandoned warehouse adjacent to Union Station just where Downtown opens onto the Strip District is being torn down; more shops, and way more upscale joints, are open already in the Strip. The North Side, alongside the new ballpark, has sprouted restaurants galore. On the way back across the 7th Street Bridge, I was struck by a new PNC structure, built in a curved, wavy way. If I had to guess at all, I'd say there are about a dozen substantial new buildings in the city, centered around the new ball fields, but extending across the Alleghany.

The day was also marked by my strange memory for geography. I unfailingly steered us all around the city, even to places I didn't go that often, finding routes I knew were there. When I drive a city, or really anywhere, I learn it, and henceforth I know it.

I also found myself not wanting to leave, which I never wanted to do the first time, eight years ago. But we did, and we drove out PA 28, along the Alleghany, up to Kittaning - a route I drove dozens of times to get to Clarion or Punxsutawney to teach. It felt so familiar, and I remembered driving it and thinking to myself how great and lovely a city Pittsburgh is. Again, people don't seem to know this.

From PA 28 we grabbed I-80, pounding east toward Williamsport to pick up I-180, eventually on up to US 220 to head north into New York. US 220 follows the Susquehanna River, crossing over and back up to Sayre, where it turns sharply right, following NY 17, all the way to Binghamton. There I got frustrated, knowing there was a quick route south to Vestal Parkway and our lovely HoJo room, but we hadn't a map. We drove a handful of miles out of the way - dammit, dammit - because I didn't trust my instincts.

Pictures will arrive later. We've got in just a little before 9 pm, and the conference starts tomorrow, early.