City of Bridges

Pittsburg is the ‘City of Bridges’ with around 446 and the bridges are rivaled by the tunnels. The city uses both sides of the Three Rivers so there needs to be bridges for the drove of people to cross these rivers. The area is one mountain after another so there are also numerous tunnels to pass through.

We saw revitalization in action near the Duquene area. A neighborhood full of quaint row houses on narrow streets was in total disrepair with many boarded up. We traveled about 8 blocks through this neighborhood and then crossed a street and saw the exact same style of row house, but they had been taken care of and it was an appealing homey neighborhood . It shows how places can be fixed up to be inviting ,but if the inhabitants don’t keep it up things quickly go into disrepair.

Jerome

Had lunch outside, on the water, at Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36 restaurant. He picked a spot on the river and close to both the Pirates and Steelers Stadiums.  I had a Portobello Burger and it was delicious. 

Boats of all sizes were docked along the bike/walking path. We spoke with a couple and they said it is Free docking on a first come first serve basis and they were staying for two weeks so they could attend two Steelers games. That would be a nice perk to live on your boat for free and attend sporting events.

We found out that about an hour after we left the restaurant Jerome and a group of players arrived for drinks and a meal.

Sheetz

There are gas stations around Pittsburg that have a clean, upbeat, inviting vibe. One thing I also noticed is the sign with Reserved for Veterans and that was quite impressive to me.

31 st Street

Thirty First Street Studio is located near The Strip in Pittsburg and is where the new Mr. Rogers with Tom Hanks was filmed. Many films have been made at these studios and around the city. My cousin, Jodi, worked in this studio as a form consultant for a bowling commercial!
They were filming something but not giving tours so we just saw the outside of the huge building.

Down on the river Duffey had a moment with the Mr. Rogers statue.

The Strip

In the early days of Pittsburg the Strip District was an industrial neighborhood with foundaries, mills, wholesalers and grocers because of access to the nearby train lines. 

Over the years these merchants and industries went into decline and moved out of the neighborhood.

A recent revival in the district saw an influx of specialty stores, retailers, and restaurants moving into the spaces, transforming the Strip District into one of the most popular shopping and dining neighborhoods in Pittsburg. The area has the look of Bourbron Street in New Orleans. The Strip is located just outside of downtown Pittsburgh on the banks of the Allegheny River between 11th Street and 33rd Street and at the end of Liberty a few miles from The Church Brewery.

The Church

The Church Brew Works is set in a restored Roman Catholic Church in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It opened as a brewery in 1996 after being deconsecrated in 1993. The exterior and interior still look like a church with the booth seats being pews from the former church. We had Pierogi but they do have a full menu and feature all their brews.

 Duf's most favorite day of attending church.

 It was once an altar.

37% Grade

We found the Pittsburg Beechview neighborhood with all the crazy inclined streets. Canton Avenue is the steepest road in the USA at a 37% grade for all 730 feet. This equates to a 37 foot elevation gain for every 100 feet, or almost straight up, and people live along this road.  The entire neighborhood is a cornucopia of steep grades. We drove up and down the roads to get the full effect! We witnessed numerous kids walking ‘up’ the streets to get home after school. It is not a long walk for the kids but it is extreme exercise!

Pictures do not do justice to the incline!

Duquesne Incline

Duquesne Incline.

This is a century-old cable car and at the top were the best views of downtown Pittsburgh. The Incline opened May 20, 1877, and was restored with its original, elegant, wooden cable cars in 1963. After riding the Incline I would say the interior is still in amazing condition but the exterior needs restoration. The cable cars are enclosed so they are quite warm! We rode free by showing our Medicare Cards. It only costs $5.00 to ride both ways so it will be quite some time for them to earn the money for restoration!

There are no restrooms at the bottom or top. There is a port-a-john at the bottom but I was not brave enough to enter!

This is the ceiling of the cable car.

 This is the rail the car travels up.

At the top we went to The Coal Hill Steak House and sat on the outdoor patio overlooking the city. They had a restroom on the third floor for customers ONLY!

It was my birthday so I had the Burnt Almond Cake. The name doesn’t sound so good, but it was amazing! It was multi-layered yellow cake with the layers divided using custard. The frosting was vanilla with sugar cooked almonds that tasted amazing. It was an amazing piece of cake and I ate it all! It was the first piece of cake I have eaten in a year!

Duquesne

 Duquesne University was on our list and we easily found it. We drove around and found it is on the side of a mountain and wondered how anyone attending this University could not be in perfect shape walking around on these mountains. The Football field is located on a hill overlooking the three rivers. There are places to just stand and enjoy the beautiful view.

Fox Den Campground

Today we drove from Fox Den outside New Staton into Pittsburg, 35 miles, to explore. We did not leave until 10 and the traffic was not bad and we returned around 6 with traffic being light again.

This is a cute campground and has total hookups for under $40. The con is the hill to enter the property and the blind curve at the exit. The site is large, but there aren't trees so there is nothing to scratch the coach.

 Duquesne University was on our list and we easily found it. We drove around and found it is on the side of a mountain and wondered how anyone attending this University could not be in perfect shape walking around on these mountains. The Football field is located on a hill overlooking the three rivers. There are places to just stand and enjoy the beautiful view.

WV

We were shocked to see fields of solar panels in Indiana and Ohio. There were areas where entire fields were rows of solar panels instead of rows of corn! In some areas the solar panels were right along the highway. Interesting to know if residents get free or extremely reduced electricity in those areas. 

We were on 70 and then it was closed because of an accident. It had already been closed for two hours when we got near and we were lucky enough to find out and get off. There was a Walmart there so we spent the night.

Wheeling, WV is an interesting looking town. We passed through the Wheeling tunnel, saw the riverboat, and a suspension bridge still in use. Wheeling looks like an old town from the highway but it also looks like a very active town.

Strange

Stopped by to see my parents and they were mixed up about a paper that they had received in their 'green bag'. The 'green bag' is delivered weekly and has all the happenings of the following week so they are able to join in the fun and plan their schedules. This one had them baffled and when I read it I had to admit I had never heard of dogs coming through to check for bugs. They have lived in this retirement place for six years and this was the first time this had happened.

On the big day all residents in their wing were asked to leave their apartments and head down to the puzzle area while the dogs went through the apartments. Everyone was happy to do as told EXCEPT the lady across the hall from my parents. She hung signs on her door that said: NO DOGS, KILL ALL DOGS, DOG LOVERS DIE!

Needless to say this freaked everyone out since she has only lived there two weeks and has not been very friendly. The dogs did not enter her apartment but my parents said many of the staff went in to have a talk with this lady. 

Always something!

No Net No problem

 It is amazing that we landed two large fish without a net! Got out on Lake MI before we realized the net was not in the boat. It was a very slow day fishing with the lake was like glass. Duf caught his big fish and Diane climbed in the back of the boat and just grabbed it out of the water and threw it onto the floor. Duf tried to grab the fish and it bit him and slashed his finger wide open so we had human and fish blood all over. Duf finally subdued the fish and we got Duf patched up. The second fish swam up and Duf just grabbed the line and pulled him in. Crazy but fun day and we proved a net isn't a necessity it is a luxury!

Saturday Morning Ride

Behind our neighborhood is an entrance to a wonderful biking and hiking trail system. Duf is not riding his bike yet, still recovering. Each Saturday morning, not sure why it is only on Saturday, I head out at 8 AM and ride to Roscoe. Today I needed to pick up pills at Walgreens so I rode my bike to get them. The path goes under the 4 lane highway and is really a great place to ride. My trip to Walgreens was 7.5 miles and I was there before the pharmacy opened so I had to shop around!

How times have changed!

When I was younger a ladies restroom in a public place was kept fairly clean by the users. If anyone needed a personal product there were machines in the restroom that allowed ladies to purchase these products.
Now the restrooms have items out on the counter or back of toilet. These items are out where anyone could touch them or not and anyone is allowed to take them. Restrooms are not kept as clean by the users and having items out seems less sanitary.
This was on the back of the toilet in Steamboat Springs at the community center.

Although it is nice that the community center provides these products it seems to me they could be kept in a  more sanitary and secluded area.

Seems today everything is out there, nothing left to the imagination!

Thanks for the picture Sandy!!