Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Weekend in Pittsburg!

It was a trip to Pittsburg for Mike and I!  It's become an annual event to go to a USA city, watch a football game and enjoy a fun weekend away from home!  Last year we had John and Damien & John and Kathy and us.  We went to Dallas, TX, and had a total blast!!!  We toured the city and watched the Dallas Cowboys game!  We knew then that this is something we wanted to continue!

When we planned our trip this year, it was just John and Kathy and us that went.  The Smucker family is going through cancer treatments for Damien.  We missed them a lot!!!  Hopefully, they will be able to join us next year!!!  :) 

This time the men planned a fun trip to Pittsburg.  A trip that wasn't so far.  A trip that we could drive to and no need to buy plane tickets, rent a car, and travel as many miles.  A three day outing and not five.  Although Texas is going to be hard to beat, it was a very fun outing!!! 

We ate so much food and bread!!!  We started out by John and Kathy picking Mike and I up at home and went straight to Panera Bread.  A coffee and bagel was ordered for all of us.  John's introduced us to their favorite bagel from Panera, Cinnamon Crunch, and now we are hooked!  They are so good!  I like bagels and I know this is going to create a hunger for bagels in a whole new way. 

We traveled the four plus hour drive to Pittsburg.  By now, the children were awake at home and Lena picked them up for the weekend!  THANK YOU, LENA!!! 

We started out with touring the city by going on the Incline.  It's a train car like track that takes you straight up the mountain side.  From there we could get a great view of the city!


 Viewing the "Point" and the football stadium.


For lunch, Kathy told us that Pittsburg is known for their certain foods!  Who wants to get regular food that we can eat at home if we have other Pittsburg famous options?!!!  She told us about the "Pittsburg Sandwich" and we went to the market circle in town searching!  Show enough, we found the restaurant Primanti Brothers.  These sandwiches were so good Mike had them a couple times through out the weekend.  Thick slices of bread with a cheeseburger, then hot French fries, then topped with a handful of coleslaw and tomatoes.  They made hundreds of these!  The restaurant was packed out and the employees were working 100 miles an hour.  What a business!  What a sandwich!!!  A real highlight for us!!!  We also enjoyed their fried dill pickle spears!  So good!
 

Then we took a "Just Ducky Tour" through Pittsburg.  This was a ride on a bus/boat.  It drove us around the city telling us history and details of the city.  Then it went to the river and drove into the water!!!  The wheels stop working and a boat propeller went into action.  They used these years ago.  We drove down the river and then came back to the roads.  Interesting.
 See us?  Ready for the tour.
 This was the river and looking at the football stadium.

When we were on the incline lookout, we looked at some restaurants along the way.  There was this one very nice restaurant!  We knew we would want to eat our dinner there that night.  We asked for reservations but the only available time was at 5 or 9 PM.  Restaurants with this upscale class get reservations far out ahead.  We gave our number in case of a cancelation but we didn't think we wanted to wait till 9 to eat.  We did though.  We waited and went at 9 PM and it was worth it!!!  Delicious food!!!  Outstanding view of the city at night time!!!  Great dessert!!!
 Chicken (for me) ... leg of lamb (for Mike).
 The city at night.
 
We were tired and ready to relax at the motel!  The next morning, we went to church with Jesse.  Jesse, John & Kathy's son, is in college here in Pittsburg.  He ate dinner with us last night and then we went with him to church Sunday morning.  We loved the singing and message!!!  We were taught about the creation and teachings from Genesis.  We grabbed some lunch and then headed for the Steelers football game!  The day was sunny and not too cold!
 
Here we are ready to find our seats!
 We got there in good time and enjoyed the sunshine on our faces till game time. 

 Here come the players!
 
 The game was exciting.  Even for someone like me that does not understand all the details and plays!  I do know when they get a touch down though!!!  :)  The place went wild!  After the winning game against the Colts, some players met in the center to pray.  So neat!!!

More city buildings!

We ate frozen yogurt, pretzels and cheese late at night.  I guess this is OK but sure wouldn't want this style for every day!  ;)  With lots of walking, we were again ready for rest!

Monday, we went for another bagel from Panera!  :)  Then we visited Senator John Heitz History Center.  This was a museum of Pittsburg history.  We walked around viewing many stories and learned some new things!  Mike loved this!  Here's a picture of him behind a goalie set up at the museum.
 
We spent a few hours in the museum and then went for lunch, again, before heading home.  Mike voted to have his third Pittsburg Sandwich, but we chose to go with another Pittsburg fav!  Subs at Jimmy John's!  Fresh cut meat with fresh cut veggies.
 
 
The drive home went fast as we chatted and laughed, sipping Starbucks.  The kids were home from school before we were but they didn't mind staying here till we got home!  Thank you so much Lena for caring for the kids all weekend!!! 
 
Time with hubby is like recharging our marriage.  We love to get away on date nights, sometimes on full weekend getaways like this one, or even if it's just sharing a cup of coffee after supper.  Spending time together is a real life tool that keeps moms and dads communicating.  It keeps us laughing.  Full attention on each other!  Thanks so much for the fun weekend Hun!!!