Pittsburgh
Welcome to Pittsburgh, PA! I had promised KT I'd visit her and that I did (Thanks for everyone else coming out too!)! A great time to visit this "sneaky", beautiful city! I picked up Decker near Harrisburg and zoomed 4 hours due west. We're looking at a shot from North Shore with the Roberto Clemente bridge on the left! Mt. Washington, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Homestead, Waterfront, Strip District, North Shore, Golden Triangle and Route 376 -- we did quite a lot in just a weekend's time!
Friday night we met up with KT and at an Acapella concert hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. (we walked in just in time eh?! :)). Then we cruised to the popular tourist location - Mt. Washington. Here's a view from "the top" before we rode the cable cars down the mountain viewing the lite-up bridges and famous three rivers (Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny). On our way to get some food at a local bar, we stopped in a small strip mall and saw a few ceiling fixtures dangling from the roof. I don't know how it got started, but the next 30 minutes were taken up by bets on who could actually "touch the stars" and attempts to do so. hehe.
Next stop was Club Matrix. I've been clubbing throughout the country and I have to say this ranks as one of the best. I'm always a fan of "options" and with 4 seperate dance rooms (techno, 80s, rap, latino) the place was always hoppin'. My buddy Andy came down to visit and showed why he attracts women from all over with his "I'm taken, but not married" approach to the dance floor! hehe. Later that night we had a "college night" chillin, chatting and watching Buried Alive 2 (now one of my favorite movies!). I'd like to say the room we stayed at had some of the darkest curtains I've ever seen, making for a mid-afternoon awakening on Saturday!
Saturday afternoon we met up with Nicole and Mark in Squirrel Hill and toured the campuses of Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. This is a shot from the Center for Learning Tower. About 40 stories up - this houses a seperate room/floor where many countries can demonstrate their heritage. The colleges are soooo close to each other we're actuually looking at a few Carengie Mellon buildings.
There we are! Myself, Nicole, Decker, Mark all relaxing in front of the Architecture building at CM. Who can forget our Subway stop that turned into a few hours of heart to heart discussions. Sooo much fun (felt like our Larison dining hall conversation freshman year)! After wandering around the city, we stopped back at Nicole's apartment and conducted surgery on her ailing computer. (A successful surgery in very very warm conditions ;)). Next we drove to "The Waterfront" in Homestead and I got to taste true PA food -- Eat 'N Park! I was delightfully impressed by the quality of the food for the low cost. We rounded out the evening with a Dave and Buster's visit! (More on that forthcoming).
Heinz Field - where the Steelers play!
Jen, this is for you - ever been to this stadium? Are the Pirates making any big offseason acquisitions?
Postcard shot of the Steel City at night.
My new favorite game at Dave and Busters! Basically you slam a mallot on that metal stump and it measures the strength of your "smack"! Well Decker and I faced off and well let's just say Decker lived up to his "Decker Effect" billing and was defeated! hehe I will give him credit, he won that game where you push a trigger indicating the spinning light source matched with your position.
Sunday we found KT again and had lunch at Primanti Brothers in the Strip District. I highly recommend going there. They have the craziest sandwiches EVER! Basically they put everything IN the sandwhich - yes the toppings, AND your side orders (including french fries).Yummy and Yucky at the same time! There we chatted with a super cool waitress, who after an inauspicious start (I asked where the menu was and she exclaimed "on the board kid!") eventually made nice-nice, which was great for scoring free refills on our SODA drinks. hehe (I was in POP land). We ate, watched the Steelers win again (9-1), and parted for Point State Park and the Golden Triangle area at the hub of Pitts' famous 3 rivers! We played football IN the water fountain. Yes we got some weird looks from people fishing and walking around the park, but hey it was fun!