Venturing (Mid-ish) West

I know I once promised Clark that we would NEVER travel to a cold destination for spring break ever again…… and of course I broke my promise this year.  The thing is, I had every intention on going somewhere warm for Clark’s week off from school (and for our 8^th wedding anniversary) in early March.  The original plan was to fly to Phoenix for a long weekend.  However, rental car prices were through the roof, likely due to baseball spring training or something like that, so we decided not to book tickets to Phoenix at that time after all.  Months ago we made up an “East coast bucket list” so I decided that we should check one or more of those destinations off of our list.  So, I organized a trip West to Pittsburgh and Cleveland! Exciting!! Right up there with Aruba or Punta Cana, am I right?!  I waited to book accommodations, and I wish I had waited until the day of to book because the afternoon we were supposed to leave Clark decided that he was too stressed out with school work and wanted to stay home and study all through spring break.  And he also gave me such a hard time about planning a trip to cities that would be as cold or colder than Philadelphia.  Guh.

His stress was permeating the air in the house, so I tried to find a friend to take Clark’s place.  We would just leave the next morning and I would just lose out on a non-refundable night’s stay at an Airbnb in Pittsburgh. Friend A initially committed, but then a few hours later de-committed after guilt consumed her about other obligations she would be missing over a long weekend away.  No biggie. So then I tried friend B.  Friend B was going to be on the other side of the country for work. I already knew all my other friends would be unavailable due to having child obligations, or the usual 9-5 work obligations during the week. So I told Clark that we could just take the loss of non-refundable hotel accommodations, and that would be that. 

But then Clark decided we should go after all, to not just throw away money on the accommodations that were non-refundable. Seriously, I think that is the only reason why he sucked it up and came along.  By the time he decided he could go, it was already too late to begin a 4.5 hour drive to Pittsburgh, so we just left the next morning. 

The drive from our house to Pittsburgh was actually really nice.  We got to to hold our breath through many tunnels and the rolling mountains were so pretty! Which reminds me….I need to check to see how much we actually paid in tolls to get to Pittsburgh….  When were were about 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh I told Clark that I was so excited for him to see the city from the freeway.  I reminisced about visiting Duquesne University on a recruiting visit in high school, and when the coach picked me up from the airport and drove me into the city, I just remember the city appearing out of nowhere after driving through a tunnel (the Fort Pitt Tunnel).  Well, we didn’t get to relive that sort of experience at all.  The freeway you need to be on to drive through the Fort Pitt tunnel runs North/South and we were arriving from the East.  So Clark had a good laugh at the “amazing” view of the city as we arrived from the periphery. 

Pittsburgh is a really pretty city, especially when taking in the view from on top of Mount Washington, but the infrastructure makes it so confusing.  Way more confusing than Philly.  Anyone we know from Pittsburgh, or who has an allegiance to Pittsburgh for whatever reason, speaks of the city as the superior Pennsylvania city, and of Philly as the dirty, rag-a-muffin red-headed stepchild.  It drives us nuts.  Both cities seem to have very similar qualities, though Pittsburgh is much smaller. Both cities are very old and many areas are quite run down. Both have areas that are being gentrified, and both have really shitty streets full of potholes.  Of course the areas near the universities are extremely nice, and of course there are plenty of establishments to find tasty food. We channeled our eternal Man v. Food love and visited several restaurants featured on the show while in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Our accommodations were not the best while on this trip. In Pittsburgh it was an Airbnb epic fail.  The room we stayed in was clearly not a spare room but rather this guy's current bedroom with books and clothes all over the place, and even glasses on one of the night stands (I guess at least the sheets smelled clean).  The door to the room closed but did not have a doorknob, and there was clearly someone home but no one greeted us or let us know that they were there. The bathroom was shared between us and I am assuming the guy who was renting out his bedroom to us, as there was trash in the garbage bin and I don't think the bathroom had been cleaned for weeks. It was not our best Airbnb experience, to put it lightly. And what made me so mad was the description on the website was not accurate and the reviews were all really positive. It made no sense.  It felt more or less like a couch surfing experience, except it cost us $45 per night. Not. Cool. In Cleveland we ended up staying about 15 minutes from downtown, and I just wish we would have been a bit closer. But it was one of those Hotwire “hot rate” hotel deals that doesn’t tell you which hotel you would be staying at. It turned out to be ok, but not one of the better “hot rate” hotels we’ve stayed at in the past.

Anyway, back to Pittsburgh.  After we dropped our belongings off at the Airbnb, we explored the city the rest of the afternoon.  Mount Washington, Point State Park, Primati Bro’s (Man v. Food featured restaurant), and out to the suburbs to delay heading back to the Airbnb too early, because it really wasn’t a place you would want to just hang out and relax.  

Views from on top of Mount Washington

A really, really cool, possibly abandoned house on Mount Washington with an interesting color scheme.

Point State Park

The city of bridges.  Seriously, so many bridges.

 Primanti Bros. in the strip district. Serving up really good sandwiches, though Clark and I both agreed that they needed a little sauce. A little mayo, maybe.

Nighttime in the strip district.

The next morning I went on a short run and then we explored the University of Pittsburgh’s campus.  At different times in our marriage, both Clark and I were accepted at Pitt.  So it seemed only fitting to explore the school that we decided not to attend.  I think Clark instantly fell in love and regretted not attending Pitt.  He loved the campus, especially the Cathedral of Learning.  

 

The nursing school of almost any university seems to be treated as the red-headed step child, hidden far from the heart of campus and tucked into a little corner somewhere.  Yes, this seemed to be the case at Pitt. 

We hit the road by noon bound for Cleveland.  The drive between the two cities is just about 2 hours.  First stop in Cleveland: the A Christmas Story House/Museum!  

Checking out the leg lamp in the gift shop waiting for our tour.

The tour was very interesting, and we learned that the movie was filmed not only in this location, but also in Canada (because it gets more snow up there). This house can be rented out on request, and apparently one year a mom and daughter rented it out on Christmas Eve for $8,000. 

Listening to Schwartz's mom on the other end of the line as she goes ballistic on him for teaching Ralphie the F word.

The modified Red Ryder BB gun. This is one of 6 that were used during filming.

That night we ate at Melt Bar and Grilled (yes, another Man v. Food restaurant), a grilled cheese restaurant where Clark got a meatloaf grilled cheese and I got a lasagna grilled cheese. I should have taken a picture but I was too hungry to think about photos at the time.  The sandwiches were so good and the sides were equally appealing. And they played punk rock music in the background. It was awesome and made me fall madly in love with Cleveland. 
Getting a photo of the sign was an afterthought, just as we were pulling away.

The next day we tried to find a nice place to take a stroll along Lake Erie.  Cleveland is located right on one of the Great Lakes, you know, and I was under the impression that finding a path that runs along the water wouldn’t be a problem. Well, we couldn’t really find a good place to stroll, but we did find a parking lot located right next to a closed pier (maybe it was closed for winter?). So the best we could do was take a picture with the closed pier.

We then had lunch at the Westside Market and patronized Steve’s Gyros (Man v. Food, again) for some amazing, amazing gyros. Packed with meat and just really tasty.  This market was so cool.  If I lived in Cleveland it would be my go to place for produce and meat, for sure!

A Steve's Gyros Gyro

After lunch we headed downtown to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum!  I am so glad we did this! Since we went on a weekday it wasn’t busy at all and it was just so neat to learn about the origin of rock and roll and see relics from so many of our beloved musicians.  

After the museum we walked to the waterfront.  Not a lot of context here, but here's another view of Lake Erie for you!

Part of the Cleveland skyline from the waterfront, behind the museum.

With not too much daylight left, we made it out to Kirtland to see the Kirtland Temple (visitor’s center had just closed) and then visit one of the Church’s historic visitors sites.  We wandered around on our own for the majority of the time, because we didn’t want to get sabotaged into a 2 hour Q and A session and/or tour.  That already happened to us back at Liberty Jail in Missouri, and I have vowed that it will never happen again! But the missionaries are always so nice that you kind of get persuaded into spending more time than you want doing a tour or watching a video because they are so hard to say no to.

Even though timing was not ideal for Clark, I think he still had a great time.  I know I did.  I couldn’t believe how much I ended up liking Cleveland. Before we left the following day for our 6.5 hour drive back home, we drove around downtown Cleveland. It’s amazing what good infrastructure does for a city.  Cleveland is set up to accommodate lots of people and you can get around quickly and easily.  It’s situated on water.  It’s got a good food scene and professional sports teams.  It’s affordable.  I feel like my heart still resides on the West side of the country, but if we ended up moving to Cleveland, I could get used to the idea of living in the Midwest.