the steel city

hi everybody!

did you miss me? well rest assured that i missed you.

i have been away for about 5 days on a little mini-vacation.

in PITTSBURGH y'all!

my pops was there last week, taking care of my awesome grandma Tressa because she just had an operation. i thought that i would join them. the more the merrier, right?

so after spending cinco de mayo drinking wayyyy too many tequila gimlets at the abbey (we couldn't get into any mexican places because they were soooo packed), i got up at 4am for my flight.

ugh.


here i am switching planes at washington dulles airport. give it up for small, small propeller planes!

i always like it when you have to actually walk out onto the runway to get on and off of your plane. there's something nice and old fashioned about that. though maybe old fashioned and air travel might not me the best combination...

once in pittsburgh, i got a cab from the airport to carnegie ($35!!!). carnegie (pronounced "car-NAY-gi") is the small township just outside of downtown pittsburgh. it's where all of my italian relatives live.

i was starving once i got there so i went to this little diner to grab breakfast. after i ordered, i realized that i only had three dollars in my pocket and they didn't accept credit cards. i had to beg the grumpy waitress to let me write a check. she finally let me and i was on my way. i haven't paid for a meal with a check for probably 7 years or something like that. again with the old fashioned thing...

of course it was great to see my dad and grandma again. she seemed to be doing really well considering that she had an operation just days before. she was up and running around and being as sassy as ever.


another person that i am always really happy to see is my cousin phil. he is a badass painter and has always been one of my huge influences and heroes. it was also a bit sad though, because his wife just died a few months ago and it was strange to not have her around. lots of changes are suddenly happening in carnegie these days like that. it stinks getting old.


later that afternoon, we were off to have some fish sandwiches.

for some reason, pittsburgh has THE greatest fish sandwiches ever. you have never seen anything like it. they are enormous and delicious and amazing. i had three of them in four days. amen.

another person that is always fun to see is joe (another cousin).


joe took my dad and i out to play some pool at the local VFW. as we were approaching the front door, joe mentions that it's a key club. i didn't know exactly what he was talking about, but it turns out that it's actually a key club. this means that you have to have a key to get in the door. crazy.

the best part is, the next night we went to another key club. this one was called the "white polish eagles" club. it was hilarious.


here's a photo of one of the sexy gaming machines that was inside. magical odds indeed.

oh, the best part about these clubs were the rules. my dad and i, being guests of joe's, weren't allowed to pay for anything at all. we weren't even supposed to take any money out of our pockets. also, if you kicked the pool table, for any reason, you would immediately be suspended for life. ain't no playing around in the key clubs, my friends.


wait, i take that all back. the REAL best part about these clubs was the fact that it cost $.35 for a beer. 35 cents!!! i swear to god. i had tons of the local iron city beer. it goes well with key clubs.


saturday was my grandma's 78th birthday. sunday was mother's day. i am glad that we were around to take tressa out to celebrate. this is us out on sunday. aww....


later on, my dad and i decided to go out to the driving range to hit some golf balls. i hadn't done that forever and it was totally fun and really beautiful outside.

after hitting a few buckets, we decided to make a trip into pittsburgh to ride the incline (more on that later).

for those of you that haven't been there, entering pittsburgh is a magical thing.


as you approach the city, you are driving through some serious tree covered hills and you never get a peek of the skyline at all.

then suddenly you come upon the fort pitt tunnel, which is basically just a small hole in the base of this giant, super steep hill. once in the tunnel, you are just zooming along with these yellow lights flashing by you until you finally see the daylight at the other end. when i was little, my sister and i would always try to hold our breath for the duration of the tunnel.

suddenly, you reach the end and BOOM! you are in the city. there are buildings and bridges and cars and boats everywhere. it's sort of like coming out of hyperspace and it's totally awesome.


here's a crappy animation that sort of shows what it's like.


so over my dad's shoulder is that incline that i was talking about. it's called the Duquesne Incline (pronounced "doo-cain"). this thing is amazing and super super old. when you ride it, you feel like you are going to die for sure. once you get to the top though, you are rewarded with the most kick ass view of the city that there is.


after the incline, we went back down into the city and walked out onto that point by the water. it was a lovely day.


the next day we went out driving around with tressa and happened upon one of my favorite places of all time. i got a root beer freeze. on the cup it was talking about how dairy queen is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the blizzard. that weirded me out because i totally remember when those things first came out. i am old.


the day before i left, my dad and joe and i went out to golf. i was so awful i couldn't believe it. on the second hole, i richoceted a ball off of the roof of a nearby house. it was really embarassing. i miss golfing and am jealous of everyone that gets to do it.


afterwards, i hit up the batting cages in preparation for my upcoming softball league. batting cages are great. i can't wait to go the one at coney island again.

then suddenly it was tuesday morning and i was on my way to the airport. damn. back to reality.


but not before i got to ride on a few more miniature airplanes.

so in summation, go visit pittsburgh. it's the best. if you need a tour guide, i will gladly volunteer my services in exchange for the small fee of one or two fish sandwiches.

operators are standing by...