After baths and showers, we headed to the North Shore to visit the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. The museum is inside old post office and planetarium buildings, connected by a new modern glass structure. The entire building runs off of hydroelectric, solar and wind energy.
The museum was quite large, spanning four floors. We started in Mister Rogers' neighborhood. Mister Rogers is a Pittsburgh native. There were props and sets from the TV show.
We continued into the a room with ghosts, shadow makers and a gravity room with tilted floors. Rigby climbed into a two-story "limb bender," a maze that fit inside a wall. It was awesome and Erik wished he could have climbed in.
The next room was a garage, complete with a Mini-Cooper car. This room was inside the old planetarium dome.
We visited the second floor with train sets and Lucy-aged items. The third floor was a waterworks area where we could build boats and sail them across pools of waters. Rigby and Lucy had full rain gear on so they would not get soaked. When they were done, there was a wall of dryers to dry off the kids.
The basement housed Clifford, the Big Red Dog. After some Clifford action, we stopped into the old planetarium lobby, which had been transformed into a cafe and rest area.
It was a great children's museum - completely different from Chattanooga's.
Lunch was taken at Lula's near the University of Pittsburgh campus. This Asian cuisine establishment was voted "Best of" for several years and it did not disappoint. Rigby stabbed cucumbers with chop sticks and Lucy ate curry noodles!
We chose the zoo to visit next, but discovered that it closed at FOUR when we arrived at 4:03. We were all pissed, so we took some quiet time at nearby Highland Park. There was a large fountain, super playground and lots of green space for all to enjoy. Rigby ran like a wild horse and Lucy picked flowers.
A stop back at the hotel to freshen up was needed, and we watched a little TV.
We got back out on the road near sundown to drive up to Mt. Washington to see the city and rivers immediately below. The view was breathtaking, and we walked up and down some hilly roads to the Duquesne Incline, in operation since 1877. For $7 for the family, we rode down the incline and back up watching the city skyline and spotting deer on the hillside.
Night fell and we enjoyed the night sky on a mountain overlook. We reluctantly got back in the car, not wanting to leave the beautiful views, but we were ready to get something to eat. As soon as we got in the car, Rigby grabbed a "sippy cup" of Sprite and proceeded to spill the drink all over him - a faulty lid was to blame.
After driving around looking for something to eat, we settled on a local favorite establishment, Primanti Brothers in the Strip District near our hotel.
At 9:30 p.m. the proclaimed area that does not sleep was snoring. Nothing appeared open but Primanti's and it is open 24 hours. ROCK ON. Erik went in to get to go orders since the kids were asleep. After ordering steak and cheese, corned beef and cheese and bacon and cheese sandwiches, Erik enjoyed an ice-cold Iron City Beer.
We took the food and sleepy kids back to the hotel and got on the food. To note, these sandwiches were topped with slaw and fries and must have weighed a pound each. Rigby's bacon and cheese must have had 12 pieces of bacon on it. He did wake up and is eating the bacon right now, actually.
So time for bed and on to Day 4.
1 comment:
Sounds awesome...love these updates! XOXO
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