We've Arrived at 'American Idol' Auditions

At 5 a.m. on Route 80W, the only other people on the road are the tractor trailers. I could feel the fear mounting. I felt like a new driver as they sandwiched my car. We made it out of NJ safely and entered PA.  

We soon realized what else PA is known for besides steel….CONSTRUCTION! As soon as we got on the PA Turnpike, the construction started and the speed limit was dropped. 

After a challenging 6 hours of driving, we faced a huge mountain range, (really should have paid more attention in geography class) and was really worried we had to go over them. To our surprise there were tunnels that went thru the mountains.  How cool was that! Each tunnel had the name of the mountain on them and we realized this was part of Appalachian Mountains.   

We arrived in Pittsburgh a little after 1 p.m. and checked into our hotel. Nikki wanted to see Heinz Field and we wanted to map our route for the next morning.  The plan was to arrive at Heinz Field by 5 a.m. on Thursday, wait on line with the other thousands of people and then return on Friday for the audition.   

I can’t explain how confused we were when the registration area was empty. I had to ask the silly question, “where are all the people”? They had camped out over night and registered by 10 a.m.  By 1:30 the place was empty. We walked right up and got our wrist bands.

Thursday was a day off and we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo to see the most amazing animals. We felt like a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders knowing we didn’t have to face that line in the morning. We did the “tourist thing” and headed right to Primanti Brothers for a huge sandwich.    

Friday morning came fast! We left the hotel at 5:30 a.m. and headed to Heinz Field. It should have been a 20-minute ride but this morning so many “Idol hopefuls” jammed the expressway. We questioned why Pittsburgh was chosen for an audition site since parking was terrible. All the lots around Heinz Field filled up quickly with contestants that arrived at 1 a.m. and camped out again. 

Nikki made friends from other states that came to audition. The common love of music, made strangers into friends. In a matter of minutes, they were hugging and singing in perfect harmony. Everyone was so friendly and it reminded me of Woodstock minus the hallucinogenic items. An overall good time was had by all, until they started to fill the stadium. This was the signal that this is real and it was truly happening. 

Wish I could stay and blog more, but we’re heading into the audition area. I can tell you there’s about 10,000 people here jamming into the stadium. 

Wonder if someone here will be the next American Idol??