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.