It is no secret that I love Buffalo. I am constantly talking about how great it is to live here. I'm always the 'go to' person when anyone is looking for something to do, and I'm always finding new and exciting things to see and events to attend. To top it off, I am a Buffalo Ambassador through Visit Buffalo Niagara.
My love of seeing and experiencing new things is not limited to Buffalo. One of my goals in life is to visit at least one new place every year. 2011 brought a lot of exciting opportunities with visits to New Orleans, Nicaragua, Lake Geneva, WI, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and Pittsburgh, PA. I am not content with visiting someplace unless I've done my research and have an idea of what some of the must sees are and I catch at least a few of them.
When my friends Chris and Jason (through comments on a FaceBook check in at Chick-Fil-A in Erie) suggested that I take a trip to Pittsburgh on Veteran's Day to have dinner with them at Chick-Fil-A, it didn't take very long before tickets were booked on the Megabus and I was committed to having an adventure on my day off. The idea was crazy for a number of reasons. First of all, due to the schedule of the Megabus, I'd only be in Pittsburgh for about six hours. Second, I would be arriving back in Buffalo at 3:30 a.m. That in and of itself wouldn't be too bad. Except that I had to be at Villa Maria College at 9:00 a.m. for the taping of a Christmas Eve Mass that was going to be broadcast on national television. None of that really mattered to me. I was excited to visit someplace I've never seen before and see two friends that I hadn't seen recently.
Prior to boarding the bus that morning, I had done some research on Pittsburgh. I wasn't sure what to expect from the city, but I had certain perceptions in mind. It was going to be small. I thought it might look run down and possibly even dirty. I hadn't really heard anything positive about Pittsburgh except that they had many championship sports teams and none of them were playing that night.
In my research on the Pittsburgh CVB's website I learned about the Duquesne Incline. I thought it was a perfect way to get a glimpse of the city knowing that I wouldn't have much time for the visit. I also had back up plans of visiting a laser show at the Carnegie Science Center or checking out the Warhol Museum which is apparently open on Friday evenings. On the bus, I continued to look through the website and started to see how many interesting things there were to do in Pittsburgh. Despite all of the potential to be awesome, I still had my reservations. Then the bus rounded a turn (after what seemed like days of being on the bus) and I caught my first glimpse of the skyline. It was beautiful. There were a variety of architectural styles and the skyline combined with the bright yellow bridges had an instant appeal. I tried to snap a picture but I was sitting on the wrong side of the bus to get anything other than the heads of the people across the aisle. The bus pulled into the David Lawrence Convention Center and once again I was impressed. The complex was huge and looked brand new. Plus it was right on the water - a huge plus for me as I enjoy being near the water.
Moments later - just as I had decided to walk towards the river and check it out, my friend Chris pulled up. We had directions through an iPhone and attempted to make our way to the Incline. I say attempted because we had a mini adventure trying to make it across the river to the Incline. We circumvented Heinz Field about five times, crossed the rivers at least that many times and I saw PNC Park. All the while longing to be at the Incline across the river. After a half hour of driving around, I finally convinved Chris to pull over and we called Jason. He graciosuly agreed to meet us at Heinz Field and be the lead car to take us to the incline. Eventually we made it to the incline and I approached the building with child like anticipation. I was about to experience a historic funicular and get an awesome view of the skyline right at dusk. As the inclune inched its way up, I sat there in awe of the view I was taking in. What appeared before me was not some dingy has been rust belt city. It was a city that glowed with excitement and activity. There were things to do right along the river. Trains were constantly rolling by and there were commercial and tourist boats dotting the river (even though it was November). I was excited to see and do more so I picked up a Visitor's Guide from the kiosk at the top of the incline.
As is typical in my group of friends, we stood around at the top of the incline and talked for about a half hour about what we wanted to do next. The entire purpose for my visit was to have dinner at Chick-Fil-A but it was determined that it was "too far" to head there that evening so we needed alternatives. Jason suggested Station Square. I enjoy trains, architecture and history so I thought the idea was fantastic. It was also close by which appealed to the fact that I was extremely hungry. We made our way over to Station Square and entered the complex. After another 30 minutes of discussion (and a push on my part for sushi) we decided on Kiku Japanese Restaurant. The food and service were good and we had plenty of laughs along the way.
As dinner was coming to a close, we tried to figure out what the next activity would be. Since we were at Station Square, we decided to just take in the sights and sounds of that area. I stopped at Hard Rock Cafe to get the souvenier pin I always get from Hard Rock and we walked to the riverfront area of Station Square. There was a fun fountain show set to music (think a mini version of the one at Bellagio in Las Vegas). Not to mention an exquisite view of the downtown skyline. We strolled along the river and took in the sights, including a close up view of the Gateway Clipper Fleet.
Unfortunately, all good adventures must come to an end knowing I had to be presentable for a national television recording by 9 a.m., we left the Steel City around 11:30 that night. Before we said goodbye, though, we had one last amazing glimpse at the beauty of Pittsburgh - the view of the skyline that opens up to you just as you exit the tunnel. It was exquisite. I even commented that perhaps they should post a warning sign in the tunnel for the unsuspecting tourists like myself who did not expect the tunnel to open to such a remarkable view.
I'm leaving a MAJOR part of this adventure out of this post. I'll share it in the next one because it directly relates to why I've had so many subsequent visits to Pittsburgh.
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