Pittsburgh

For our summer vacation this year, we went to Pittsburgh. Yeah, I know. The reaction we got from friends and family was classic but, you know what, we had a great time so shut it!

Since the boys are still little, we prefer to drive so we needed a city that was less than six hours away. We had already done Chicago and we didn't have passports so we couldn't do Toronto. We also love to check out baseball stadiums so that eliminated Indianapolis. We had heard Cincinnati was cool but the damn Reds were on the road! And, Cleveland, Kevin and I have been there lots so we were looking for something new. And, quite frankly, Pittsburgh was awesome! I was very pleasantly surprised with everything there, except the shopping and that is just fine.

We left on Saturday, July 3 and after checking into the hotel, and after our first of many trips through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and over the Fort Pitt Bridge, we checked out the Pitt campus. I was shocked to find that Pitt was founded before U-M! We visit a lot of college campus and that's not often the case. Pitt was cool - VERY URBAN - and the boys had a great time in the Cathedral of Learning. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory to get a Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake - a vacation breakfast tradition for me and Kevin.

On Sunday morning, we hit the Carnegie Science Center in the morning. We had a great time checking out the USS Requin Submarine, as well as the Miniature Railroad & Village and the Highmark Sports Work. I think this was Harmon's favorite part of the trip - he could not stop talking about it. After the science center, we wandered over to PNC Park for the Phillies @ Pirates game. PNC Park is beautiful and, despite it being one billion degrees, we had a good time. After all that, the boys just wanted to hang at the pool so that's what we did in the evening with the sound of Pittsburgh's fireworks in the distance.

On Monday, we started at the Children's Museum of Pittsburg. I was excited about our visit because there was a Curious George exhibit and it did not disappoint. Actually, the whole museum was wonderful and the boys had a great time. There was one room that had cars and ramps - the jackpot for our boys - and another great water play area ... all in addition to Curious George. We were there for a long time - they did not want to leave! After a quick lunch, we headed to the National Aviary to check out all the birds. The penguins were awesome and you could get close enough to touch them as they swam by. Kevin even noticed there was a penguin named Simon! So many great birds, including some amazing owls! I was glad we made this a stop during out trip. We then did a bit of shopping and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, always on the agenda for us, no matter where we are. After dinner, we took the boys up the Duquesne Incline and saw some amazing views of the Steel City and it's 1,582 bridges!

Tuesday morning, we headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. Honestly, it was SO HOT that I barely remember anything about the zoo other than the animals just being passed out everywhere. We all were sweating like never before and were tired and grumpy and hungry and it was nice to just get to the car and the air conditioning. We had planned a drive down to Morgantown, WV and it couldn't have come at a better time. The drive was beautiful. The hills and all the green were gorgeous and, again, I just never expected so much out of this part of the country. Once we got into town, the first thing we did was sneak into the football stadium. After that, we checked out campus and just missed sneaking into the basketball arena. The way we came into campus - a winding road up on a bluff above the river - made WVU seem very pretty and quaint. I was mildly impressed! We got back to our hotel late that night but had some packing to do since we were leaving around lunch time the next day.

On Wednesday, before checking out, we headed back into downtown to tour Heinz Field. It was $6 for the tour and it was so worth. Also, I figured there would be NO ONE touring in the middle of the summer but the tour was packed. People LOVE the Steelers! We went to to the field level, got to see the locker rooms, visited the press box, the suites and the stadium club. What a gorgeous facility, from top to bottom!

Overall, it was a great trip and we were impressed with Pittsburgh, despite the stigma attached to it. Being from the Detroit area, I was kind of sad seeing how Pittsburgh has been rebuilt. Detroit COULD be like that if there was ever any direction, leadership, etc. Maybe one day ...

There were a few things we didn't get to do on our vacation - Pro Football Hall of Fame, Fallingwater, Fudgie Wudgie - but we can always go back. I'm happy we visited to learn that it was indeed worth one visit and maybe even a second!