Pittsburgh – CountUp

The Keystone State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This post is all about the great state of Pennsylvania – America’s second state. It became a state just 5 days after Delaware became America’s first state in December 1787.

The last time I was in Pennsylvania was almost 19 years ago in October 2007 when I flew from South Florida to Philadelphia International Airport (#PHL) for my overnight flight to Rome Italy (#FCO) where I embarked on a 14-day Transatlantic Carnival cruise from Rome (Civitavecchia) back to Miami. (What a great cruise that was – one of the best ever.)

13 months before that in September 2006 I was in Pennsylvania on a military work trip at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove (north of Philadelphia).

15½ years before that in March 1991 I was in Pennsylvania en route to Miami out of #PHL. Me and a group of Airmen had arrived at Dover Air Force Base from Saudi Arabia (Operations Desert Shield / Storm), and we were transported (by bus) up to the Philadelphia area for a night at a hotel before flying back to Miami the next morning.

Of course – as I’ve written about for the past 3 weeks – I drove I-70 from Illinois to Maryland way back at the end of October 1985 as an 18-year-old. 168 miles of I-70 are in Pennsylvania.

Before that in the Boy Scouts – we may have entered Pennsylvania once or twice along the Appalachian Trail at the Mason-Dixon Line. I may have taken an elementary school field trip to Philadelphia during the mid-1970s. And I definitely visited Hersheypark a few times as a kid with family and extended family (cousins). We also visited the “Outlet Capital Of The World” – Reading – a few times so that my parents could go shopping at the Vanity Fair Outlet Center.

Late tonight I was supposed to be entering Pennsylvania again as part of my Ohio River cruise. We would’ve been docked in Pittsburgh shortly after daybreak tomorrow. I would’ve been exploring Pittsburgh (for the first time in my life) in the morning via a guided tour – and in the afternoon visiting the Heinz History Center. There probably would’ve been a third guided tour this Saturday morning.

I was supposed to be on the Ohio River right now (and since last Saturday). But it wasn’t meant to be. I’ll share why next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. “I’m going on a cruise” – are 5 words I never thought I would say anytime soon. My 24TH and final cruise was back in January 2023 on the Carnival Celebration. It was on the newest and biggest cruise ship I had ever been on, and it was a fantastic Eastern Caribbean cruise. It was the perfect cruise to end on after 31 years. I wrote about it in a 6-part / 6-week series.

And then I bought a home in Sebring a month later, and I moved in to it a month after that – while still owning my longtime 30-year home in Homestead. And then I retired after almost 39 years with the USAF.

A 25TH cruise was definitely not on my docket.

And then I went on a retirement road-trip in April 2024. It lasted 18 days, and I accumulated 2,800+ miles to and from North Texas. On Day 3 of that road-trip I arrived in Natchez Mississippi for the night, and I ventured downhill on steep Silver Street to alongside the mighty Mississippi River. And that’s when I saw a Viking cruise ship docked on the banks of the river. Lots of passengers were enjoying their port-of-call for the day.

Ever since that moment on April 03RD 2024 I was intrigued about Viking cruise ships, river cruising in general, and how much money I would have to spend to get on one of those cruises to continue my retirement goal of seeing the U.S.A. They are not cheap. Nearly every river cruise (whether it’s here in the U.S.A. or abroad) costs more than nearly every ocean cruise.

I continued my research off-and-on throughout 2024 and 2025. After seeing their magazine and televisions ads I began zoning in on the family-owned American Cruise Lines (#ACL) and their 28 ships operating solely along U.S. rivers, lakes, and coastlines. They offer about 50 different itineraries in 35 states.

I eventually booked what I like to call a “starter cruise”. It’s on the Ohio River. It starts in Louisville Kentucky, and it ends in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 8 days later. (I’ve never been to either city.)

Ports-of-call along the way upstream (with 14 locks and dams) include Madison Indiana, Cincinnati Ohio, and Marietta Ohio. (Cincinnati is the only city I’ve visited, as my family lived there for 6 years during the 2010s.)

I got a really good deal on this cruise – with free airfare from Sarasota-Bradenton (#SRQ) to Louisville, and then from Pittsburgh back to #SRQ. Also – the hotel night before the cruise is complimentary, and I got $1,000 in instant savings when I booked in February. It’s still my most expensive (by far) cruise to date, and it’s on the smallest cruise ship. I’ll be 1 of 150 passengers (if sold out).

I’m following several Facebook groups of #ACL cruisers (past, present, and future), and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. And I know that river cruising – just as ocean cruising – is not for everyone. I’m looking forward to this cruise. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great time onboard and in each of the ports-of-call. I also have a feeling that I may be enticed to book my next cruise with them (for 2027), so I’m already looking at potential itineraries so that I’m ready in the event that I get a really good deal onboard.

This cruise is later this year, and you’ll know that I’ve returned back home from it once I begin an extended series documenting it all here on #TravelThursday. As for next week – it’s an update on miles driven so far in 2026. Let’s keep traveling together.