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Pittsburgh is an Awesome City

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

Drinking and Star Wars all with a DD? or my wife rules part deux? Awesome.

IMG_1414Rachel and I went to Pittsburgh for Star Wars in Concert a few weeks ago.  Before we went I learned a little about the city because, honestly, I knew nothing.  Pittsburgh is in the middle of the mountains? Why did I not know this?  It’s only 4.5hrs away.  Really? Why have I not been there before? It takes longer to get to Camp sometimes (driving up route 81 across the Tug Hill Plateau in the middle of the winter is no fun), and we go there almost every weekend.  It’s easy to get to also, just take Interstate 90 to Interstate 79 south right into the city.

We stayed at the Wyndham Pittsburgh University Place which we highly recommend, partly because of the quality of the accommodations at their price, but mostly because they include a DD.  They have a shuttle which takes you anywhere within a 5 mile radius every hour on the hour.  Our car didn’t move once we got there until we were headed home which was nice.

IMG_1397First thing we did when we got there?  We headed to the only place (I know of) where you can get your drink on inside a Church, the Church Brew Works.  A little silly for Rachel, but they served an excellent dinner too!  Surprisingly enough, on top of the great atmosphere, their beer and their food were amazing!

A few suggestions from our list of favorite spots for when you go to Pittsburgh.  Be sure not to miss the Monongahela Incline, it provides simply stunning views of the city and it’s cheap.  Or you can just drive to the top of Mount Washington, but what fun is that?

pittsburgh-pano

IMG_1534Pittsburgh might be the only place in the world where you can see a real live Transformer, or at least a sculpture of a fake transformer named Arch.  Don’t miss that while it’s there.

IMG_1553The ice rink at PPG Place looks like another Rockefeller Center amidst a beautiful crystal (glass) Palace (office complex).  You can rent skates and skate amongst the palace towers around a ginormous Christmas Tree.  Unfortunately we didn’t discover it until a few minutes before the concert or else we would have partaken.

Our favorite part of the trip was (obviously) the reason we were there. Star Wars in Concert was amazing! What an interesting new way to experience the Star Wars story.  Narrated by none other than C-3PO himself (Anthony Daniels) and performed by a live orchestra.  Hearing the Imperial march live along giant HD images of Vader raised the hair on the back of my neck.  Yes, before anyone asks, there were lots of people in costumes around (I sat next to Obi-Wan) but no, we were not among them.  Overall we’d highly recommend the whole Star Wars in Concert experience.

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An incredibly enjoyable weekend.  Pittsburgh is an awesome city and we WILL be back.

Wdljyndham Pittsburgh University Place

Seattle to Spokane

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IMG_7413Since we still had tickets to the Aquarium from the City Pass that we wanted to use, Saturday we woke up and went straight there.  There is a section of the aquarium where you can touch the underwater sea creatures.  Rachel’s favorite was the Sea Anemone.  They feel sticky but only because they’re trying to sting you and your skin is too thick.

Washington ParkIn Pikes Place we picked up a few more OMG Peaches for lunch, grabbed the car and headed towards the San Juans.  We ate a picnic lunch and took a quick scenic drive through Washington Park.  Then we were off through the Northern Cascade National Park on our way to Spokane.

While on the way through the cascades we happened upon one of the most beautiful sights we’ve seen so far.  We hit Lake Diablo at the exact time the sun was falling behind the mountains and below the clouds.  This caused rays of sunshine to fall on the lake in a scene like nothing We’d ever seen before.

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We drove from there on to Spokane where we spent the night on our way to Glacier.

Mount Rainier and Seattle Harbor

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Mount RainierFriday we headed out for Mount Rainier.  After seeing the mountain hovering over the city last night at sunset we just had to.  It took longer to drive there than we expected, a little over 2 hrs to Paradise but it was well worth it.  The scenery and the view of the mountain were fantastic.

We would have gone for a good little hike but Rachel wore sandals on this of all days…  So we settled for a short trek out to Nisqually Vista, an overlook of the largest glacier on Mount Rainier.  However; while walking along we crossed several snow fields and talked to a few people that were coming back.  Apparently the trail was covered with even more snow ahead, and since we weren’t prepared for trail hiking we headed back.  The views were did have, through the alpine flower fields was still gorgeous.

Seattle Skyline

After getting back to Seattle we headed over to the shoreline to take the Harbor tour that came with the City Pass.  It was very interesting!  The most interesting thing we learned was how Seattle got it’s name and how it first started.  As it turns out, Seattle was first settled on a peninsula on the other side of the bay.  When settled (in the middle of the summer) it was very pleasant, but when the winter came it was anything but.  After suffering for a period of time the native Chief Sealth and his people came to the aide of the settlers and helped them move across the bay where the weather was a bit subdued.  They wanted to honor him by naming the city Sealth but in their culture their name cannot be spoken after they are past and having a city named after him would not allow this.  To compromise they named the city Seattle, essentially an Americanized version of the chief’s name.

After the tour we were a bit tired so we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening.  We watched Saving Private Ryan and said goodnight.

Rehearsal and Dinner at Portland City Grill

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The rehearsal went off without a hitch at the beautiful Aerie at Eagle Landing.  Because Smitty wasn’t flying in until Saturday morning, I acted as a stand-in groomsmen, which was a first but fun.

Sunset over PortlandAfter the rehearsal always comes the good part… the dinner.  For this particular event we ate at the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the US Bancorp building.  The view was incredible, and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset way up over the west hills.  Pictures can’t do it justice, and since I only brought my 50mm portrait lens (without a polarized filter through glass at night) my pictures of the city and the skyline were all but useless.  Since it was also Michael’s birthday George and Stacie had a cake for him which was absolutely delicious!

You’ll just have to trust me, the view from the Portland City Grill is well worth the cost of a meal, it truly is spectacular.

Algonquin and Wright Peak

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algonquin-summit

We’re on a roll.  With the long weekend last week we headed up to camp and hit another of the 46 High Peaks.  This time around our goal was Algonquin Peak, but like many of the High Peaks, hiking Algonquin gets you close to several others.  We made our attempt at those as well.

Starting out up Algonquin we were once again in the rain, but we knew it was going to break before noon and that we’d have great weather at the summit(s) and after.  Sure enough about halfway up the weather turned and we got our first glimpse of blue sky.  Unfortunately this was just before we made it into the clouds.  That’s right, we were above the cloud cover.  Although the hike was exhilarating and we experienced some fine views on the way up, we ate lunch at the top in the clouds and without a view.

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After a short stay on the top we started our descent so we could begin our climb up Wright Peak.  About halfway down to the Y in the trail the cloud coverage broke and the sky opened up.  It was beautiful.  One of the best views from any mountain we’ve climbed.  Since we didn’t know how long the view would last, we just sat and enjoyed it for a while.  Then as it seemed like it would last we continued the hike.

After summiting Wright Peak, the view and the weather only got better.  We had 360 degree beautiful clear sky the rest of the day.  Wright peak is a hard rock summit with views in all directions.  You can see many of the other 46 from the top and we were able to pick out our next goal, Mount Colden.

We did miss Iriquois Peak, a 3rd peak just a short hike (through a valley) past Algonquin, but we were already tired and concerned we might not be able to complete Wright so we left it off this time around.

The hike down was equally pleasant.  What an amazing day/hike!


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You Can't be Late Until You Show Up

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Sadly, we’re home. What do we miss most? The view. I couldn’t help but notice on my drive in yesterday how there’s absolutely nothing to look at. In Hawaii, there’s always scenery to look at, even when you’re driving through the endless sugarcane fields you can watch them harvest it.

Speaking of sugarcane we learned that they burn it first before they harvest it. Weird Huh?

Well, we’ll be creating a ‘best of’ Photo Album and when we do we’ll post it here so stay tuned. We haven’t done much since getting home, still trying to recover the 6 hours we lost. We got home and the Dining room is mostly done though, all that is left is painting, the flooring and a counter top. Its looking great.

And its back to the grind :(.