Pittsburgh Trip
We took a quick family trip this weekend to celebrate the life of Andrew’s grandparents. It was a great weekend filled with family time and reminiscing.
Andrew’s parents, sister, brother-in-law and the two of us all took off from life on Friday to catch a morning flight to Pittsburgh. I grabbed a pb&j&g (g = granola) at the airport to eat on the flight. I was so sure someone on the flight was going to have a peanut allergy and I was going to be told I couldn’t eat the sandwich. So I ate this pretty fast. It’s the worst being hungry on a plane, especially if it’s a plane that doesn’t give you free snacks.
We arrived in Pittsburgh around 2pm and then got settled in our hotel rooms.
Then we headed out to stretch our legs.
Soon after, we were all ready for happy hour. We headed to Diamond Market Bar for drinks. I went with a cabernet. I’m finding I prefer heavy red wines. I don’t speak wine, but I just google searched so I could better define my wine preference. I tend to like full-bodied red wines. This red wine was called Heavyweight and I LOVED IT.
Andrew’s grandma loved food more than anyone I’ve ever met, so we made it a priority to eat our way through Pittsburgh. We were planning on just ordering drinks from Diamond Market, but everyone was hungry and we kept eyeing the food being served to tables around us. Sooo we ordered.
I got the steak wedge, which was a grilled skirt steak + asparagus + wedge salad served with red wine vinaigrette that was SUPER vinegar-y, but I really liked it.
I’m always hesitant to order red meat that isn’t a burger, since I’m not a steak lover, but this skirt steak was delicious.
After dinner we headed back to our hotel. We stayed at the William Penn Hotel. The hotel was gorgeous and built in 1916 ANDDD now (99 years later) it has a Starbucks inside. I’ve been in a coffee fix lately so after dinner Andrew’s dad and me headed to get some coffee. I went with a decaf hazelnut latte. My favorite.
(side note: This was the prettiest starbucks in the world. Look at that crown molding!)
We all hung out in the lobby before the group decided to head to the Speakeasy downstairs.
In Speakeasy fashion, it was so dark and moody.
Drinks for them and coffee for me.
Then bed. Traveling always makes me hungry and tired, so since the hunger was satisfied, I was ready to get to bed.
But for whatever reason, I couldn’t sleep. My mind was thinking about so many things and wouldn’t shut off. Sometimes I try to be mindful and figure out what is making me feel anxious, but other times I just need to distract myself with pinterest until I fall asleep. It was a pinterest distraction night.
I was pretty productive because I decided what I want to be for Halloween. A MERMAID! I’m in love with this costume, I just want to find a way to add a bit more coverage.
The next morning started with a hotel breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs + cheddar + bacon + cinnamon raisin bread (that tasted just like a cinnamon roll…I just wish it had been ooey, gooey) + fage honey yogurt.
Then we were off for the day. We walked all around downtown Pittsburgh until we worked up an appetite for lunch.
Lunch was Primanti Brothers! I’d seen the restaurant before on Man v. Food and we all wanted to try it.
I got the turkey + cheese sandwich topped with coleslaw, tomatoes and french fries. It was a good experience, but I wouldn’t eat this again. The sandwich was completely too big to fit in my mouth (that’s what she said) and I took the sandwich apart so I could enjoy the fries with ketchup.
Still, it definitely was a fun experience.
After lunch we walked around downtown some more and then walked over to Heinz Field & PNC Park.
I love cities on the water!
Then we took a hydration break (or something like that). I went with an Iron City Light. Loved it!
We hung out for a while, then headed back to the hotel to rest for a couple hours before dinner. Rest for Andrew and me looked like laying on the bed in the hotel room watching Orange in the New Black. Perfect.
Then we headed to dinner. We tried to make reservations at Meat & Potatoes, but they were booked:/
But that’s okay, because we ended up at a steak house that had the most amazing lobster bisque.
Here’s the lobster bisque. It was so creamy that it could’ve been made into ice cream. Not that you would eat lobster bisque ice cream, but it was SO creamy dreamy.
Then I ordered the mushroom ravioli with lobster sauce. I was clearly feeling the lobster that night.
Then I got an apple-peach crisp. But you guys, it was such a bummer. It tasted like potpourri (<– yes, that’s how you spell that…I looked it up!). There was way to much allspice or nutmeg or cloves. I’m not sure what it was, but it was so spicy that I couldn’t even eat it. I did eat the ice cream though. And I had a cozy cup of decaf coffee.
Then off to bed. I slept much better that night.
The next day I made Andrew get up early so we could walk over to Bluebird Kitchen for breakfast.
I had scanned Yelp pictures and seen they had a bacon cinnamon roll, which I WANTED. When we got to Bluebird I was SO EXCITED only to realize…they were closed. So disappointed.
We decided to head back to the hotel for breakfast.
Steel cut oats topped with granola (this was my second bowl) + bacon on the side + a latte.
Then we headed off to the airport.
Pre-flight lunch was an arugula salad + a burger patty + pumpkin beer I split with Andrew. It doesn’t look too pretty, but it was really good.
Then a decaf hazelnut latte + a KIND bar for the plane trip home.
Now we’re back home for the week. (…and currently slightly obsessed with Orange is the New Black. Have you watched? We just started season 2.) Crazy.
You hit up some awesome places on your trip! The William Penn is one of the prettiest hotels, Primanti Bros is slightly overrated (in my opinion) but, like you said, something that needs to be done once, and I love Diamond Market. Glad you enjoyed your trip!
Hope you enjoyed my hometown- sounds like going to some of the restaurants didn’t work out as planned so you’ll definitely need to make a trip back!
How pretty! I have always wanted to see that city!
Being from Pittsburgh, I think its so fun to see the city through a visitor’s eyes – definitely have to check out Bluebird next time! The William Penn is a beautiful place to stay :)
Love a good weekend away blog wrap up ;)
Seriously I feel like I am learning more and more about American culture through your blog!
Gorgeous photos! Looks like it was a great family trip :)
When I studied abroad in Paris in college, they used to always give us french fries in our kebab pitas when we ordered them off the street. I always took them out and ate them individually too! French fries are too good to be stuffed into a sandwich :)
Wow, what a weekend! I love how it revolved around food after his grandmother – so perfect. And totally the best way to explore a city!