Tuff and Mary: Lots of Travel

Tuff headed home in mid April for a week long visit with friends and family. He had a fantastic time and each day was filled to capacity.

Tuff and kids at a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Tuff's dad put together.

Tuff's nieces Shawnee and Amara.

Tuff's niece Kaydee.

Tuff's mom hard at work for the after school program.

A reservation staple: Indian Tacos. Auntie Roberta made these special one night while Tuff was visiting.

After Montana, Tuff met up with me in Portland, Oregon. We went there over Easter weekend to visit our friend Jeff.

When we got to Portland Jeff picked us up and showed us around some great recreation areas. First was the Vista House in the gorge.

Then still driving along the gorge area, we visited a few of the many waterfalls. Behind us in the picture below is a wall of moss. Moss is everywhere because of the constant moisture.

Tuff snapped a picture of this car in Portland. It reminded us of our times in Missoula. A lot of hippies around.

Tuff loves to imitate things.

One of the days in our trip we had a meeting with Sam McCracken at Nike World Headquarters. Tuff met about possibly being an ambassador to the Nike N7 program/products. They are interested in having him as an ambassador but first he needs an endorsement from Nike and before that a contract with a team. One thing at a time.

Sam showed us around the Nike campus, which was amazing. Everything is state-of-the-art and available to the employees and their families. Below is a playground on campus which has a floor made of recycled Nike shoes. And the basketball court in the picture above is also made from recycled shoes.

Walking around Nike campus.

Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike Inc., made the shoe soles in the picture below using his wife's waffle iron.
He revolutionized running shoes.

The waffle iron.

The last day in Portland, Jeff took us to an extreme go kart place. After one race I had my fill, but Tuff and Jeff completed four races.

Jeff won everytime.

We flew back to Pittsburgh on the redeye and the next day flew to New York City. This trip was for the 20/20 program Tuff is a part of. It also coincided with the 2011 NFL Draft so we were able to participate in a lot of the happenings revolving around the draft.

They put us up in the W Hotel in Time Square. Early our first morning there we heard loud roars out our window....the royal wedding was showing on the big screen in Time Square.

When Tuff got some free time, we took the subway to lower Manhattan and hopped on the free Stanton Island Ferry ride.

The wait for the ferry ride.

Statue of Liberty from the ferry.

Tuff and I making our way back to lower Manhattan on the ferry.

Lots of deals and fun things around the city. Five dollars?

Why not?!

More five dollar items.

One of our open nights, we went to the observatory tower in the Empire State Building.

The view from the 86th floor.

They let you walk down six flights of stairs.

The $20 photo we did not buy.

On the last day there we took a bike ride through Central Park. I highly recommend this. Done very leisurely it takes about an hour and a half.

Where's Waldo?

No matter where you go in Manhattan there will be thousands of people.

After our bike ride we made a trip to China town.

While in China town we accidentally discovered Little Italy.

The last night there we attended the 2011 NFLPA Rookie Debut. Tuff got to walk the red carpet for picture opportunities along with all the first round draft pics of the 2011 draft, current and former players, and Miss USA to name a few. At the end of the night, Snoop Dog preformed.