Pittsburgh Trip July 14-16 2007

Colleen actually had off of work two days in a row last weekend (Sunday and Monday) so we decided to take a road trip out to Pittsburgh. Here we are at the top of Mt. Washington. We had a great time - what a wonderful city! But be forewarned should you decide to visit BRING A GOOD CITY MAP!!! Within two days we were old pros - but if we made one wrong turn, we made 50. Nothing is where you think it will be - on ramps are elusive, last second lane changes are frequenly required to avoid missing your exit, and witnessing drivers turning the wrong way down one way streets gets almost boring after seeing it so much. Our best advice is to settle in, get yourself in sightseeing mode, and learn to enjoy the journey because it will probably be about 30 minutes longer than you thought and a bit convoluted!

It was due to being hopelessly lost our first evening in town, after being diverted off Rt 376, that we discovered the fabulous neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. We actually made a point of returning there the next night to wander the area eat ice cream, drink coffee and see a movie. This place won our vote for "if we ever move to Pittsburgh, this is the place."

On Sunday after eating breakfast at Eggs-R-Us in Greentree, we struck out for downtown and actually made it there on our first try. We spent some time walking around visiting Heinz Field, PNC Park (home of the Pirates) and enjoying the views of the three rivers. We then took the Monongahela Incline to the top of Mt Washington and had lunch some lunch. Mt. Washington is another great Pittsburgh neighborhood with lots of shops and cafes.

After descending the incline we returned to downtown and managed to find the Andy Warhol Museum. Andy Warhol was raised in Pittsburgh and this museum is an wonderful tribute to his life and his art.

Around 4pm we returned to our hotel - the Radisson in Greentree ($49/night thanks to Hotwire.com) - and then headed out to Station Square for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and a one hour boat tour of the city. We then headed down to South Side, which was a bit of a madhouse, even on a Sunday night, and on to Squirrel Hill.

Visit our Pittsburgh City Photo Album.

Monday morning we checked out of our hotel, after getting takeout again from Eggs-R-Us, and made what we thought we be a quick stop at the Phipps Conservatory. What an unbelievable place! We stayed about an hour longer than we expected, and finally had to leave much earlier than we wanted. They were having an exhibiton by Dale Chihuly called the "Gardens and Glass Exhibit." See our Phipps Conservatory Photo Album

A little over an hour east of Pittsburgh is the site of the United Airlines 93 crash that happened on September 11, 2001. We decided to stop and pay our respects. The landscape that surrounds the crash site is just beautiful; peaceful, rolling meadows and farmland. The temporary memorial that has been set up is very moving and visitors are encouraged to leave something of themselves, a small item or a note, to thank these brave people for the sacrifice they made that day. Colleen left a gold ring she's been wearing for several years, and left a note of thanks. Here is a link to a video on Google that includes recordings of dialog between the terrorists and air traffic controllers - the video is pretty grainy but the audio is good and the information is very interesting. See our United 93 Memorial SlideShow