Recently, I took a trip to Pennsylvania! Here are some highlights of the trip :) I've been to Pennsylvania twice, but only for one or two days. This time, I was able to spend 4 full days exploring Pittsburgh, Greensburg, and other small towns nearby!
I flew out on Wednesday and arrived near midnight. The airport was so empty! Pittsburgh's airport was built on the grounds of an old farm, so it's huge...you even have to take a tram to get from the terminals to the rest of the airport.
DAY 1 : THURSDAY
Lucas goes to LECOM at Seton Hill, which is located in the small town of Greensburg. It's about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, and it's pretty quaint. He had class on Thursday, so I slept in and did some reading until he was out of class. We made pasta for lunch, and then we went out for some sweets!
He needed to get some work done, so we went back to the apartment after a quick drive around. Later that evening we met up with his classmates for dinner at OLIVER'S POURHOUSE, a diner/pub type place. The black bean burger, mushroom burger, fried pierogis, and and "hot grape" (kind of a spicy-sweet house BBQ) wings were all delicious!
DAY 2 : FRIDAY
No class on Friday, so he decided to give me a tour of Greensburg! Of course, we had to start off with breakfast food. We both love breakfast, so we headed downtown to a place called the SUN DAWG CAFE. It's a family owned joint with great omelettes and super crispy hash browns! We left with our hair and jackets smelling like breakfast, since it's located in the basement of a larger building so there isn't much ventilation.
After breakfast, we went next door to THE WHITE RABBIT, a cute little cafe that is a popular study location for local students -- we ran into a bunch of classmates studying. Got our usual coffee order of one black coffee and one latte -- the latte art is really pretty!
A relaxing drive through the gloomy countryside led us to TWIN LAKES PARK, which we had gone to the first time I visited! Back then, it was October, so it was still very green and sunny. It looked totally different now -- the leaves were all gone, and the lake was partially frozen over!
On our way home, we made a stop at the Westmoreland Mall -- the only mall in all of Greensburg. It's your typical mall with typical mall shops, but the main thing we were there for was popcorn! The PITTSBURGH POPCORN COMPANY is a fancy Pittsburgh-native popcorn shop that sells unique flavors, and we wanted to pick some up for our movie night. We decided to get the sour cream and onion flavor, which was definitely a good pick.
For dinner that night, Lucas was pretty insistent that I try one of the true gems of Greensburg - pierogi pizza! A pierogi is a Polish dumpling stuffed with mashed potatoes, and on a pierogi pizza, the potato is baked into the crust. He placed an order at JIOIO'S RESTAURANT, which is the best local place for this pizza. It was definitely interesting -- instead of dough, the crust is made of flaky pie crust, then topped with a layer of potatoes, then lots of cheese, and then the toppings! It's a very heavy food, and we were definitely fat and happy afterwards :D
DAY 3 : SATURDAY
The weather on Sunday was the best we would get all weekend (a balmy 45 degrees!) so we decided to venture in to the city. I've only driven through Pittsburgh to get to the airport, so this was completely new to me!
Before we left, we had breakfast with Lucas' roommate Nick! The guys made bacon, eggs, and hash browns -- definitely enough food to get the day started. Then we grabbed our itinerary and headed out!
First, we stopped in Squirrel Hill, which is a small suburb of Pittsburgh. It's located right next to Carnegie Mellon, so it has a college-town feel with lots of students and lots of diversity. There is even Taiwanese food in Squirrel Hill, and we went to a place called EVERYDAY NOODLE for lunch. It was super busy inside, but we got seated and placed our order for sesame cold noodles and zha jiang noodles.
We wandered around Squirrel Hill after lunch, and ended up at THE COMMONPLACE COFFEE COMPANY. I had seen this coffee shop mentioned on one of the blogs I follow, and so we went inside to get caffeinated.
One of their menu specials was a lavender latte, so I decided to give that a try. It was so good! There was a very subtle flowery taste to it :) There were a lot of people studying and reading inside, so we got two chairs outside and enjoyed the nicest weather I had experienced so far.
We walked around some more and found a neat used media store called THE EXCHANGE! It was a buy/sell/trade place for used games, consoles, controllers, CDs, DVDs, and records. We went digging for fun, just to see if some of our favorite artists could be found on vinyl.
From there, we drove into Pittsburgh! Before going into the city, we also stopped at an Asian grocery store to pick up some sauces and other Asian staples that are nowhere to be found in a rural town like Greensburg. Then we were on our way!
Our first stop was MARKET SQUARE, which is a small square bordered with restaurants and shops. There was a small art installation in the square, and some tables to sit at. We picked a table and enjoyed some people-watching.
Next up on our itinerary was a pretty touristy thing: THE DUQUESNE INCLINE! The Incline is an interesting attraction that is linked to Pittsburgh's history as a steel industry city. It's sort of like a triangular cable car, but it only holds about 10-15 people.
Back in the day, steel workers would ride the car straight up the side of Mount Washington, one of the hills that borders the city. Today, it's more of a historical artifact of the city's past. It's a short but rickety ride! At the top, there's a cute visitor center with some historical information about the funicular system.
We walked a little bit farther to the MOUNT WASHINGTON LOOKOUT, and got a nicer view! Downtown Pittsburgh actually lies at the intersection of two rivers, and from the lookout point, we were really able to see that. The Mount Washington lookout is also home to this statue, which depicts the meeting of George Washington and a Native American chief.
We took the Incline back down, and then ventured across two of Pittsburgh's many bridges back into Downtown. We parked at a large structure and walked around, checking out the various restaurants and bars that we could eat at!
There were many places we could go for dinner (Hofbrauhaus, Piper's Pub, and many of the restaurants and pubs on South Side) but we chose to go to NICKY'S THAI KITCHEN. Thai food isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Pittsburgh, but this Thai place was great!
We loved the inside decor, which was completely decked out in all things related to Thailand. There were elephant statues, jeweled rugs, buddha statues, and gold accents everywhere! Even the food was served in vintage-looking gold goblets. We ordered a pad see ew, green curry, and green thai iced tea, which is like a regular thai iced tea but made with matcha green tea instead. Everything was so good, and the portions were huge!
As stuffed as we were after dinner, we still wanted to experience bar life in Pittsburgh so we walked down the street to THE SHARP EDGE, a bar and diner. Our waitress was quick to recommend us some great local beers to try! Lucas got a Pennsylvania IPA and I got a little blonde hefeweizen.
Our Pittsburgh day was definitely the busiest! After we finished our drinks, we drove back home and settled in for movie night (Captain America!! :D).
DAY 4 : SUNDAY
My last full day in Pennsylvania! Having seen a lot of the town already by car, we decided to stick to one of our favorite hobbies and see more of it by bike. We biked from his friend's place, along a railway, past an industrial park, and finally to Youngwood, a town south of Greensburg.
He had a test coming up, so after our bike trip, the rest of the day was spent in. We heated up some leftover Thai food (which was still delicious!) and watched another movie.
DAY 5 : MONDAY
My departure day! One last drive into the city. Another interesting thing about Pennsylvania is its system of turnpikes. I had never encountered a turnpike before, other than in lyrics to country songs, so it was an experience! They collect money like toll roads, but aren't quite the same. It costs $1.75 to drive from Greensburg to Pittsburgh.
Though it certainly isn't your typical vacation destination, I had a great time in Pennsylvania! Lucas is moving to New York over summer, so this is probably the last time I will ever be in the city. It's been a great experience. The east coast just has a different feel from the west coast -- it feels more folksy, rustic, and historical, and I'm glad I got to spend a few days here. Bye PA!
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