One Day of Sunshine in Pittsburgh

Alex and I had one beautifully glorious sunny day in Pittsburgh.  It was sunny and 75 degree weather. We had a lightning and thunder storm the day before our sunny day, so to have a beautiful day was a true treasure for us.  We were able to explore the city of Pittsburgh and it turned out to be a pretty decent place. 

Pittsburgh Cityscape

Pittsburgh is full of trees and hills like the one behind this bridge

Downtown Pittsburgh Market Square

Pittsburgh is a fairly large city. There is a pretty good mixture of old and new architecture, which I always think is a neat contrast.  It has a beautiful river and tons of trees.  I love all the green hills and trees that adorn the city. It feels so fresh and full of life. The downtown area was easily walkable and we took advantage of that. We walked all over the place.  We walked a little on the river, but most of the river walk was closed due to winter and it was to be opened for the season starting the next day. That was pretty lame, but we still enjoyed the part we did get to walk by. Pittsburgh has a Cultural District full of museums, art, restaurants and parks which we walked all the way through, as well. 

Old Pittsburgh Court House and Jail

Old Court House and jail

Art and Fountain in the Cultural District of Pittsburgh

Staring into the biggest eye I've ever seen. And I thought I had big eyes....

Little History fact: Lewis and Clark started their exploration west at this very spot.

After about two and a half hours of walking, we decided to cross the river on the southeast side of Pittsburgh and watch a movie at the cinema.  The Southeast side of Pittsburgh was really neat and had a ton of character.  I think there may have been a college nearby that area because there were tons of young people walking all over the place.  It had a very young college age vibe.  All the buildings in the area looked like they were built in the late 1800s to early 1900s, I think that contributed to the character of the place.  There were a ton of unique pubs, bars, restaurants and boutiques.  Alex and I ate dinner at a place called “The Library” and the menus they used were a variety of used art books with the menu pasted to the first few pages of the book.  I thought that was a unique way to present a food menu.   For dessert we stopped at a little ice cream shop, but it wasn’t really icecream.  They served Old fashioned frozen custard and flavored frozen ice(a better version of an Icee).   Frozen custard is soooooooo good!  It’s smoother and creamier than regular ice cream.  I got their frozen dessert called Gelati, which is a combination of the frozen custard and flavored ice.  Seriously, it was the best frozen dessert I’ve ever had in my entire life!!  If we hadn’t decided to see a movie then we probably wouldn’t have experienced that cool little area.  I’m so glad we did! It kinda made me wish we had of explored Pittsburgh sooner. Before our trip back to Sacramento we had 4 days in Pittsburgh, but we just stuck to one area because it rained the entire time.  I’m glad we at least had one nice day.  I think Pittsburgh would be a great place to visit again someday.

The river in Downtown Pittsburgh

Enjoying Frozen Custard in a Waffle Cone

Gelati: Frozen Custard on top of Cherry Flavored Ice. Soooooooo Good!!!

Southeast side of Pittsburgh

So, Alex and I are continuing our journey west.  We drove to Cleveland, Ohio and stopped at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It was a little pricey, but definitely worth it!  We couldn’t take any pictures of the exhibits, which I was really bummed out about.  The museum is full of all kinds of music stuff and history like famous music artists clothing, personal notes and song journals, biographies of their rise to fame, band memorabilia, and one exhibit of media propaganda portraying the “evils” of Rock and Roll.  I thought the exhibit about the “evils” of Rock and Roll was pretty hilarious.  Sure, there are some Rock songs out there that don’t give out the greatest moral message, but to say that all Rock and Roll is the work of Satan is pretty stupid and ignorant.  All in all, it was neat to see how far Rock and Roll has come.  

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

In the front lobby of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio

The weather forecast for this week looks pretty grim. It’s full of rain and thunder storms. It supposed to be warm rain. I guess kind of like the rain we had in Florida, which produces lots of scary lightning. That one day of sunshine in Pittsburgh was such a tease.  I’m hoping we get more sunny days during the next three to four weeks across the country, but we shall have to see.