Washington DC continued

After the capital tour, it started raining. I also learned that my iPhone’s battery doesn’t last a whole day, especially as I was using it a lot as a GPS. I headed into Chinatown to get some dinner, since I was getting really good at riding the Metro. The Chinatown there was pretty underwhelming for such a large city. I was there probably 5 years ago and I remembered it being a lot bigger. Just as an example of how far DC’s Chinatown had fallen… I asked someone in a restaurant if there were any Chinese bakeries in the area, and he said “no.” No Chinatown is complete with a Chinese bakery!

I found a place that made home made noodles, and ordered a beef noodle soup that my parents remember fondly from their childhood. It was very good, fresh noodles, great soup… Made my day!

Then I headed to the Brewers-Nationals game. Game was at 7:05. So I figured I start going there around 6. The metro ride only took like 15 minutes, and I arrived at 6:15. Just in time to see that the field was covered and we were under a rain delay. (Why can’t all stadiums have retractable roofs like Miller Park?) Since I had already eaten dinner, I wasn’t sure what to do with the extra time… I got myself a $7 beer and set off to find a plug for my iPhone. I plugged in, but got bored really quick just sitting there watching my phone charge. I called my parents (I can always count on mom for a long conversation!) . Good thing the phone charges faster than it uses power while making a call.

After an hour and a half, they pulled the tarp and the game started! I had great seats down the right field line, maybe 10 rows from the front. A few foul balls came whizzing by, and I wish I had brought my glove. The Brewers ended up winning, and I was no longer winless on my personal road trip!

Got my paycheck for this month

Came out to $9.21 :)

Falling Water and on to DC!

Just outside of Pittsburgh, I stopped at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water House. I’ve been a Frank Lloyd Wright fan since I was little, and he’s got Wisconsin ties too. I had an internship at SC Johnson, and he designed some of the SCJ office buildings as well. I want to live in a house like Falling Water someday… have the house be intimately intertwined with a river or body of water. But after visiting the house, I would say take it one level less artsy and one level more practical… It's a bit "hard" since it's built into rocks (I'd like a little more carpeting). The house does have leaking issues since it’s built into a waterfall! And I’m not sure I want a spring running straight through my house…

So then onto Washington DC! Of course my first order of business was to find the local food. I got a couple of recommendations for Ben’s Chili Bowl from Kristy, and I saw that a certain Barack Obama also made a high profile visit to the place. I wonder if he stood in line? So I figured it’s good enough for me! I ordered a chili dog… they make real chili (not like Cincinnati Chili) and the chili was actually pretty good. I later got a “half smoke” that apparently is a Bill Cosby favorite. As with most place I went to, the food was fine, but it was the experience that made it worth it!

As an aside… in one of the Smithsonian museums, I saw this display that caught my eye:

After too short of a time at the American History Museum, I headed to the capitol for a tour. The capitol building is amazing. Each state donates two statues to the capitol for display… I didn’t find Ohio’s nor Wisconsin’s. I was curious as to who we would choose to honor as a statue in the capitol... and here's the answer for Ohio. Apparently this is a very current topic! The entire list can be found here.

Pittsburgh - cont

There is more to this trip than food... so I'll talk about some not-food stuff on this post!

In Pittsburgh I also visited Duquense University and the Univ of Pittsburgh... I love visiting campuses because there's just a different vibe there. And, I could fit right in as both schools were in their "back to school" mode as I went exploring around the campus.

The Univ. of Pittsburgh campus was impressive, the most impressive building I wandered into was the "Cathedral of Learning" (thanks Kenny for correcting me). The building was really tall, and inside it was almost like you were having class or studying in a Cathedral. It was a cool experience...



After the campus, I went to Point State Park, where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers come together and form the Ohio River that the Cincinnatians all know. Apparently in the past they had built a fort there, and I could see why...
The fork in the rivers formed a point, and around the rivers there were big hills (or small mountains) that shielded it. Washington knew what he was doing! You can kinda see it in the picture.








Finally, I hit the Duquense Incline (there's that impossible to spell French word again). It's a trolley type thing except it goes up one the aforementioned hills (or small mountains). The interesting part was how the locals saved it from being torn down and now it runs as a non-profit. On the right is the view from the top.

And that's it from Pittsburgh... on to Washington, DC!

The foods of Pittsburgh

As requested by Martha, here are some of the local foods I tried when I was in Pittsburgh. Incidentally, my mom, who has a Facebook page, saw my postings and said I seemed to post a lot about food. I didn't know my mom checked Facebook! I wonder if she reads this blog?

So first I went on the lookout for pierogies, a Polish dumpling (I think every culture has its version of dumplings). I figure if they're good enough for oversized mascot versions to race at a Pirates game, they're good enough to eat. I found Pierogies Plus on roadfood.com, so I went for a try. It was a bit out of the way, and it definitely was the epitome of "hole in the wall." I ordered a combo of stuffed cabbage, pierogies, and something else that had noodles and sauerkraut.


It took forever, but it was FANTASTIC. The pierogies were awesome, with the skin tasting like the dough was made just a few muntes ago (which it probably was). The stuffed cabbage was awesome too, stuffed with pork and swimming in tomato sauce (you can see some on the lid of the box). The noodles and sauerkraut I would've traded in for something else.

OK... as mentioned by Karen, Shannon, and Kenny, I had to try a Primanti Brothers sandwich. I went to the original Primanti Brothers before the Pirates/Brewers game and this is what it looked like:

The sandwich consists of a cheesesteak, cole slaw, and a pile of french fries packed between Italian bread. Karen had mentioned not liking the cole slaw, and I'm not a slaw fan, but I tried it anyway and the slaw actually is good. It doesn't have the mayo on it, so it's not overly rich. Actually provides some texture and a little bit of nutritional value.

As you can see on the right, there was a cameraman there filming. He said he was filming for Voice of America... Funny I thought Voice of America was a place where Target, Michaels, Chipotle, etc. was (for those non-Ohioans, there's a Voice of America park in northern Cincy... I should look up why it's called that). You can also see Primanti Brothers featured on Man vs. Food here.

And that's just Pittsburgh. :)

My trip to Point State Park

So today, I went from the University of Pittsburgh campus to Point State Park. It was a short 3 mile drive away according to Google maps:


View Larger Map

But one thing I learned in Pittsburgh... if you make a wrong turn you end up on a bridge or tunnel, and it dumps you on the other side of the river. Well this 3 mile trip ended up looking like this:



View Larger Map

As you can see, I actually was at the place... but then passed it to look for parking, and I ended up... you guessed it... onto yet another bridge. When I saw the "to Ft. Duquense bridge" I thought oh no! (actually it was something else) and saw that there was no turning back.

At least the park was pretty neat. 18 miles later.

Day 1: Calling an audible

When I left the house today, I was planning on stopping at Ohio University in Athens to check out the campus. But as usual, I procrastinated on packing and didn't get out of the house until 11:30. The beauty of taking this trip the way I am is how agile I can be with the plans... So I called an audible (football term) and decided to hit up Columbus instead, which was more on the way. I needed to get to Pittsburgh in time for a 7:05 PM baseball game!

I knew I wanted to hit Jeni's Ice Cream in Columbus based off of all the stuff I've heard about it. When I looked up Jeni's, it said something about it also being at North Market... which sounded interesting. So I went! It was pretty neat, similar to Findlay Market in Cincinnati. I got a Vietnamese dish that was actually really good!

I did end up walking to the Jeni's that was close to the market (vs. just getting it at the market) just to walk off some calories. I ordered their 3 scoop thing: Honey Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, and Lemon Blueberry. The ice cream was more dense than the stuff we usually get, and it's really full of flavor.


I arrived in Pittsburgh around 5 PM, so got to head up to the hotel for a quick nap before heading to the ballpark. The city of Pittsburgh is really neat, I went through a tunnel and the skyline is right in your face as you exit. The ballpark is beautiful... but the Brewers put up a sticker and lost 5-2. It would've been really nice to be in the middle of a pennant race during this trip, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen...














Tomorrow my mission is to find some pierogies... my native Pittsburgher Kenny has so far been very little help in that regard, only choosing to rub in the fact that the Brewers lost to teh Pirates.