Dave's brother Damien was in Pittsburgh for business and since it was only a 4 hour drive from us we decided to visit and say hi.
The drive was really pretty, I LOVE Fall! But really, who doesn't? The drive in was smooth sailing and we didn't hit any traffic until our last 30 minutes, coming into the city. I thought navigating the roads in DC was crazy, but I was wrong, Pittsburgh roads are crazy! And Google Navigation didn't know where to send us. I can't tell you have many times we drove in circles listening to her.
The city basically consisted of lots of rivers, lots of awesome bridges, lots of stadiums and one giant rubber duck (more on that later). The weather was overall pretty good, a little warm, a little humid. It made me realize I want to go to New York in the dead of winter. Living on the East Coast seeing New York City is really high on my to-see check list, but the humidity of Pittsburgh made me realize I would rather walk around NYC in a coat and boots rather then feeling like I am drenched in sweat. Yuck. See you in January (possibly) NYC!
Upon coming into the town we grabbed Damien, Dave's brother, from his work conference and drove around for a near 30 minutes, lost, driving in circles, again, thanks for being no help Google. Eventually we parked and walked over to Market Square for dinner. Taking the recommendation of a local we ate at The Original Oyster House, a place open 140 years. It was really yummy. I have been craving fresh foods, so I just got a small salad and a cup of clam chowder and shared a crab cake with Dave. Dave got a Italian sausage sub. Everything was so yummy! And we only spent about $16. If you are ever in the area and want good seafood at a good price, go there.
After dinner we decided to see if there were any Geocaches in the area. There was one, right in front of the restaurant we ate at, a micro, really small, but we could not find it! Our waitress noticed us and asked what we were doing, after we explained she joined in the hunt. Eventually she went back inside but returned with another waitress who started helping us look. We weren't really discrete about it, and ended up having even more people help us look, but in the end we still didn't find it!
We decided to go look for another one, along the river, another micro. The fencing it was supposedly near was covered in huge spiders. So nasty. After about 20 minutes we heard some rustling in the leaves and watched a huge, absolutely massive rat run past us. We heard more rustling and saw a few other rats on the other side of the fence. So nasty! I think I even saw a spider riding one of the rats! Kidding, but seriously, the grossest thing ever. We threw in the towel and made our way back to the hotel.
The next morning Dave and I decided to visit the Carnegie Science Center. We parked our car near the Sheraton, and walked to the Science Center. Really, we should have just parked at the Science Center and just hunt for parking for lunch, I'm sure we could have found something. But wanting to save money and not deal with traffic or spending time hunting for a parking spot we just walked. And Google said it was only a 30 minute walk. Lies! I guess we walk really slow compared to what Google expects. We walked a total of nearly 7 miles and we both wore terrible shoes for walking. Not to mention my still healing knee, and I will spare you the gory details of my infected pinkie toe. By 10am is was hot and humid. So gross. And we didn't bring any water with us or snacks so we were starving and dehydrated. How dumb could we be? But we survived and had a good time despite the sore feet, sweat, and growling stomachs and I am grateful for the memories with my Davey.
On the way over to the Science Center we decided to visit the giant rubber duck that just recently came to make a visit in Pittsburgh. It was about 10am when we got to the duck and no one was really there. By the time we had left the Science Center and were passing the duck, heading to lunch around noon a huge crowd had gathered to see the duck. Crazy! Read more about the duck here.
The Science Center cost $17 per person. I have to say I do not think it was worth that much money, but oh well. They had a few different levels, the first level had this water table;
A history of bicycles exhibit, which was one of the top highlights.
Butterflies
Dave pretending to be an astronaut
I think the robot level was our favorite. You could make a drawing, whatever you wanted on a touch screen, and a robotic arm made it out of beads.
Next we played air hockey against a robot. We both played, but we couldn't beat it, but it also didn't beat us, so a tie I guess. Still fun.
The final level had things about weather and earthquakes. They had a "Earthquake Cafe" were you could sit at a booth and select a few different real past earthquakes and feel what it would have been like to actually experience it. Fun stuff.
There was also a submarine parked in the river outside that you could visit, included in the museum fee. It was so tiny!
We made the trek to lunch, a place I had looked up online that had been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Starving and tired I just told Dave to get me their chicken sandwich, make sure it didn't come with pickles on it, and I went to save us a seat. I hadn't really read up on the menu before hand, just read the reviews, but I didn't realize all the sandwiches came topped with coleslaw and french fries. That's right, french fries on the sandwich. If we are ever back there I will ask for the french fries on the side, all the potatoes on the sandwich was just too much, but the flavors were really good, and I know I will crave that sandwich. Dave also ordered a side order of cheese fries (yay more fries). The fries came topped with what looked like nacho cheese and at first I didn't like them but the more I ate them the more I loved them. I scrapped the paper bowl clean. It wasn't just nacho cheese, but it wasn't like Velveeta either. I have no idea what I ate, but it was delicious.
We trekked back to the Sheraton, said our goodbyes to Damien and hit the road.
UGH! The trip back turned out to be horrific. I took one wrong turn out of the city and it jacked up our entire way back. Technically I didn't take a wrong turn, Google Navigation wanted me to take an illegal left hand turn, so I obeyed the law, took a right hand turn and Google rerouted us. We took the same back roads we took to get to VA in the first place. It was pretty with all the fall leaves but man, I hate the back roads here. Tiny, two lane, tree lined, winding, hilly roads with 40-50mph speed-limits. Insanity I tell you. And then, when we were a mere 15 miles from home we hit standstill traffic on the freeway and sat for 45 minutes trying to get home. UGH! What would have been a 4 hour road trip turned into a 7 hour road trip. FML. But we made it home and I'm sure will look back it all and laugh, right?
The drive was really pretty, I LOVE Fall! But really, who doesn't? The drive in was smooth sailing and we didn't hit any traffic until our last 30 minutes, coming into the city. I thought navigating the roads in DC was crazy, but I was wrong, Pittsburgh roads are crazy! And Google Navigation didn't know where to send us. I can't tell you have many times we drove in circles listening to her.
The city basically consisted of lots of rivers, lots of awesome bridges, lots of stadiums and one giant rubber duck (more on that later). The weather was overall pretty good, a little warm, a little humid. It made me realize I want to go to New York in the dead of winter. Living on the East Coast seeing New York City is really high on my to-see check list, but the humidity of Pittsburgh made me realize I would rather walk around NYC in a coat and boots rather then feeling like I am drenched in sweat. Yuck. See you in January (possibly) NYC!
Upon coming into the town we grabbed Damien, Dave's brother, from his work conference and drove around for a near 30 minutes, lost, driving in circles, again, thanks for being no help Google. Eventually we parked and walked over to Market Square for dinner. Taking the recommendation of a local we ate at The Original Oyster House, a place open 140 years. It was really yummy. I have been craving fresh foods, so I just got a small salad and a cup of clam chowder and shared a crab cake with Dave. Dave got a Italian sausage sub. Everything was so yummy! And we only spent about $16. If you are ever in the area and want good seafood at a good price, go there.
After dinner we decided to see if there were any Geocaches in the area. There was one, right in front of the restaurant we ate at, a micro, really small, but we could not find it! Our waitress noticed us and asked what we were doing, after we explained she joined in the hunt. Eventually she went back inside but returned with another waitress who started helping us look. We weren't really discrete about it, and ended up having even more people help us look, but in the end we still didn't find it!
We decided to go look for another one, along the river, another micro. The fencing it was supposedly near was covered in huge spiders. So nasty. After about 20 minutes we heard some rustling in the leaves and watched a huge, absolutely massive rat run past us. We heard more rustling and saw a few other rats on the other side of the fence. So nasty! I think I even saw a spider riding one of the rats! Kidding, but seriously, the grossest thing ever. We threw in the towel and made our way back to the hotel.
The next morning Dave and I decided to visit the Carnegie Science Center. We parked our car near the Sheraton, and walked to the Science Center. Really, we should have just parked at the Science Center and just hunt for parking for lunch, I'm sure we could have found something. But wanting to save money and not deal with traffic or spending time hunting for a parking spot we just walked. And Google said it was only a 30 minute walk. Lies! I guess we walk really slow compared to what Google expects. We walked a total of nearly 7 miles and we both wore terrible shoes for walking. Not to mention my still healing knee, and I will spare you the gory details of my infected pinkie toe. By 10am is was hot and humid. So gross. And we didn't bring any water with us or snacks so we were starving and dehydrated. How dumb could we be? But we survived and had a good time despite the sore feet, sweat, and growling stomachs and I am grateful for the memories with my Davey.
The Science Center cost $17 per person. I have to say I do not think it was worth that much money, but oh well. They had a few different levels, the first level had this water table;
A history of bicycles exhibit, which was one of the top highlights.
Butterflies
Dave pretending to be an astronaut
I think the robot level was our favorite. You could make a drawing, whatever you wanted on a touch screen, and a robotic arm made it out of beads.
Next we played air hockey against a robot. We both played, but we couldn't beat it, but it also didn't beat us, so a tie I guess. Still fun.
The final level had things about weather and earthquakes. They had a "Earthquake Cafe" were you could sit at a booth and select a few different real past earthquakes and feel what it would have been like to actually experience it. Fun stuff.
There was also a submarine parked in the river outside that you could visit, included in the museum fee. It was so tiny!
We made the trek to lunch, a place I had looked up online that had been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Starving and tired I just told Dave to get me their chicken sandwich, make sure it didn't come with pickles on it, and I went to save us a seat. I hadn't really read up on the menu before hand, just read the reviews, but I didn't realize all the sandwiches came topped with coleslaw and french fries. That's right, french fries on the sandwich. If we are ever back there I will ask for the french fries on the side, all the potatoes on the sandwich was just too much, but the flavors were really good, and I know I will crave that sandwich. Dave also ordered a side order of cheese fries (yay more fries). The fries came topped with what looked like nacho cheese and at first I didn't like them but the more I ate them the more I loved them. I scrapped the paper bowl clean. It wasn't just nacho cheese, but it wasn't like Velveeta either. I have no idea what I ate, but it was delicious.
We trekked back to the Sheraton, said our goodbyes to Damien and hit the road.
UGH! The trip back turned out to be horrific. I took one wrong turn out of the city and it jacked up our entire way back. Technically I didn't take a wrong turn, Google Navigation wanted me to take an illegal left hand turn, so I obeyed the law, took a right hand turn and Google rerouted us. We took the same back roads we took to get to VA in the first place. It was pretty with all the fall leaves but man, I hate the back roads here. Tiny, two lane, tree lined, winding, hilly roads with 40-50mph speed-limits. Insanity I tell you. And then, when we were a mere 15 miles from home we hit standstill traffic on the freeway and sat for 45 minutes trying to get home. UGH! What would have been a 4 hour road trip turned into a 7 hour road trip. FML. But we made it home and I'm sure will look back it all and laugh, right?
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