Happy Memorial Day!

For Memorial Day weekend last week, we took a vacation to the popular Summer vacation destination of...Pittsburgh, PA. Yeah, that's about the reaction I got from some work friends when I told them where we were going. But it's a major US city in the area that we have never been to, so it seemed like something that could hold enough promise and interest for a weekend trip.

It's about four and a half hours to Pittsburgh, so we figured we needed to break the trip up for Karina's sake. Cumberland, MD is about at the half-way point, so we planned on stopping there as it has a charming downtown and lies right along the C&O Canal with the railroad running alongside it (it's at one end of a touristy steam engine route that we've yet to go on). We had researched Cumberland beforehand and planned on going to some nearby tunnels along the canal. Unfortunately, we discovered the nearby tunnels weren't really that nearby - it was another 25 miles in the wrong direction. So we didn't make it there, but before we continued on, we did get a couple nice pictures along the river like this one.


One of our favorite things about Pittsburgh were the steep rolling hills and the rivers surrounding it. There are two inclined trains that take you up to the top of the hill (Mt. Washington) for beautiful sweeping views of the city. We rode both of them over the course of our trip. Here's the Duquesne Incline - look how steep it is!



Karina was fascinated looking out the window during the ride.


Here's the view of the city skyline from the top. Pittsburgh does have a gritty charm, and the downtown was as impressive as any major city I have visited. One of the coolest things I saw was a large cargo train going along an elevated track past all these skyscrapers downtown - it was cool to me to see the city still holds to its industrial roots even after the steel mills have mostly closed down.


These next pictures are from the other incline, the Monongahela. The views were similarly impressive - just a different angle.



Before going on the trip, we bought Snoopy a stroller. Laugh all you want (we did too), but when it is hot and muggy, he wears out very quickly and doesn't want to walk anywhere, plus he needed to be in a carrier to ride the incline trains and any other public transportation we took in Pittsburgh. He didn't seem to mind the stroller when it was hot and muggy, it was a way for him to still be on the walk without expending too much energy. If you zoom in on this picture taken along the river, you can see him in his stroller.


We passed by a Pirates Major League Baseball game in action when we were driving along the river. By the time we walked there, it had ended. I still decided I might as well get a picture - seems like a pretty place for a field (Heinz Field, the Steelers football stadium is just down the river from the baseball stadium).


And of course, here's Karina, the Urban Princess, wandering down the mean streets of Pittsburgh demanding loyalty from all her subjects!


More pictures in the next post.