Pittsburgh!

Two weekends ago we decided to take a road trip to Pittsburgh - about a 5 hour drive straight west - and are we glad we did! We thoroughly enjoyed the city and could have spent an other night or two there easily. We were struck with how different it felt from the other big east coast cities we've visited. While still a big city, it's significantly smaller than Philly, and it has a much more mid-west feel. Located at the convergence of 3 rivers, we had no idea the town would be so picturesque, have so many bridges, or be such great exercise hiking up and down the inclines in town. (We thought Conshy was hilly...check out my past blog post with the steps we ended up tackling at the end of Saturday - yikes!)

In our quest to check out all Mike's favorite ball parks, we enjoyed a Pirates game on Friday night. I think it's the most fun I've ever had at a non-Twins game with a great crowd and even better venue. We even got free t-shirts so we could cheer on the home team. :)

In our Pirates gear - free tee shirt night!

Awesome view from the game!

Roberto Clemente's statue outside the ballpark

The view of the city from the ball park was awesome, and we got to explore it even more on Saturday. The Ranger in me came out too - the tallest building in town had the familiar US Steel logo flying on the flag out front.

I had expected a more industrial town - and apparently a couple decades ago, that was the case - but Pittsburgh of today was a great downtown with a vibrant cultural scene, and only hints of the industrial past. We walked all over town, and checked out the downtown area, the north shore district which houses the sports stadiums, and East Carson Street which has a funky and eclectic vibe.

Fireworks on Saturday night

We drove up to the Mount Washington neighborhood which gave us some amazing views of the city before we started the drive home.

We realized too that just about a hour outside Pittsburgh is the Flight 93 crash site - the 9/11 airplane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field. It's a national memorial that is still being completed, but we were so glad we stopped. It was an eerie site to visit, but was something special to see especially after seeing the memorial in NYC as well.

Forbidden Road

Since Mike is spending the day in Baltimore with Kurt, I am enjoying exploring a new part of the city: Forbidden Road. Sounds ominous, but so named because cars have never been allowed. I think I found a great new hiking location!

The best part? Finishing the 80 degree afternoon with homemade ice cream at Scoops!

Our backyard

Is apparently the best place for the local firetrucks to train...

Happy 4th of July!

This year, we wanted to embrace the city for the 4th - and we sure embraced a LOT! The common theme was crowds, but we had so much fun.

Wednesday night was the Conshy fireworks. We hauled the lawn chairs to the city park - along with everyone else in town. It was a beautiful warm night and we realized we now live in a climate with lightning bugs! Fun!

On the actual 4th, we wanted to participate in the Philly celebrations. It is, after all, the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed! We went for a tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary (not so patriotic, but cool and in the vicinity!), and had dinner before heading to Franklin Parkway for the concert and Fireworks. Holy moly - I have never seen so many people in my life! It's estimated 500,000 people showed up for the festivities. Well, we decided that was too many people for us and turned our car around to enjoy some local ice cream and relaxing at home.  I think it's the first time we have actually stopped our plans due to crowds, so that's saying something!

The Penitentiary: one of the first jails in the world of it's kind. It's more of a living ruin now after being closed in the 70's.

Al Capone's cell

Us and half a million of our best friends...

The fun continued on Friday on our road trip to south central PA. We had 3 major stops to see: Amish Lancanster county, Hershey (chocolate!!), and Gettysburg. We stayed at the most incredible B&B in a small town between Lancaster and Hershey and were able to see everything we wanted to and more. The "crowd" story here is that we showed up at Hersheypark wanting to just do a simple tour. While waiting in line, we realized that there were a LOT of 14 year old girls. In puffy painted matching shirts. It was a One Direction concert! (for those of you not familiar: the most popular boy band in the world right now) Needless to say, we met a lot of parents without their kids at the local brewery down the street!

We got to go on a buggy tour in Amish country, go sampling at some local wineries, and stopped in at our favorite new little town: Lititz!

An Amish buggy driver

Our last day we went to Gettysburg. It happened to be the 150th anniversary (remember that thing about crowds?), and while we didn't get to see any re-enactments, it was so wonderful to see so many people visiting and taking in this amazing site.

The view from the beginning of the 20+ mile tour

View from Little Round Top

Minnesota's Statue! This is one of the biggest ones on the battlefield dedicated to the bravery of the MN troops who held the line with nearly 80% casualty - one of the highest of the battle.

Steps

Last weekend we had a great time in Pittsburgh! More to follow, but here's the insane staircase we trekked on Saturday afternoon. Rocky, you've got nothin' on these steps!

Fuchs Family Visit!

Last weekend Mary and Steve came to visit (yay!). They stayed conveniently close (walking distance) in Conshohocken and we were able to see all the sights in the city and still have a few rounds of euchre each night. We really enjoyed getting to see a few spots that Mike and I hadn't checked out yet too.

Our number one task: run the Rocky steps (all singing the theme song, naturally).

We celebrated by the statue

We got to historic boat house row too. We've driven by many times, but never actually stopped to walk around the area and it was beautiful.

Boathouse Row

The art museum and waterworks - such a beautiful spot!

We saw the famous "Love" statue, and even got to one of our favorite restaurants in the city for lunch: Barbuzzo. Mary and Steve were adventurous too and tried the egg pizza with us - mmm!

We stopped at one of our other favorite restaurants for lunch the next day: Ponti's in Conshohocken where Mary and Steve got their first Philly Cheesesteak! Walking main street Conshy takes only about an hour, so after that we decided to head outside the city to Valley Forge. It was a hot day, but beautiful, and so much fun to see it in a different season than when Mike and I were there last.

Steve outside Washington's headquarters

Hanging with George!

That night we took the train to Manayunk. It was great to walk Main Street and do some shopping and check out some new bars and restaurants too. We happened upon some great spots, the best being an awesome gallery - both households went home with some amazing art! 

Dinner at The Bayou

Luckily Mary and Steve's flight wasn't until Sunday evening, so we had all day to check out Old City. We saw Independence Hall, Elfreth's Alley, Christ Church, and all the great historic sites that we've come to love so much living in Philadelphia. Unfortunately we got rained on, but I think it was a true testament of recent Philly weather: 90 and sunny one minute, pouring rain the next! We couldn't have had a more fun time touring around the city. Thanks for the amazing visit and come again soon!!

Brunch at National Mechanics - an old bank building in Old City

Christ Church - and Mike's awesome hat! :)