It began behind Maggie Mo at Carnegie Mellon. Sitting in the car, waiting to pick up a tuba and a grad student, I realized it was going to be one of the last times I was going to drive through Schenley Park at the height of summer, with all the trees fully leafed and all the best things about Pittsburgh fully ready to be appreciated.
The fountain between CMU and the golf course.
Up ahead, Phipps Conservatory. Turn left at the three-way and head over the Panther Hollow Bridge, passed the playground and Blvd. of the Allies, into Schenley Park proper.
Looping trails and roads. Green pastures and fireflies. I've been to a lot of public parks, from Griffith Park in Los Angeles to Central Park in NYC. Schenley had plenty to please the senses and I never felt "unsafe."
The last leg.
If you recognize this from a certain HBO series, good for you. On the screen it looped several times, making this section of the park seem endless, but it takes less than 30 seconds to pass the guard rail and trees.
The last leg of the drive home, the entrance to the bridge that went over the parkway and led to my little neighborhood. Yes, that's a hub cap on the side of the road. One of those tiny houses on the hillside beyond the bridge was my tiny little home.
I drove this road so many times, taking it for granted, but looking back on it now, I still have the visceral experience of its smell and its feel.
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