Blitzburgh

The City of Bridges

Given our appetites, Grampa would always joke that my brother and I must only get to eat when we saw him. We devoured any food he and Gramma would put in front of us, especially his famous cooked watermelon. Today, Gramma and Aunt Elyse still don't let me stop eating. I could not have had enough clementines, jordan almonds, and fig newtons to make them happy on this trip.

Here's a nice Jewish city for ya. I had 3 corned beef specials in Pittsburgh, this one paired with matzoh ball soup

First day of spring called for a Rita's. The earliest indication I'm nearing the east coast.

Gramma took me around the city, showing me the technology parks and Google's branch, trying to entice me to move to the city after I am done my world trek. She's a good salesman, but I rejected CMU for undergrad and grad school: the city probably hates me by now for that. I saw a CMU-supported self-driving Uber in operation while riding around with Gramma. I failed to find another driverless vehicle for a picture the rest of my time in Pittsburgh. Until coming across that one, I had no idea they were in operation yet outside of test driving in Nevada and California. Apparently they started last autumn in a handful of cities around the world.

Google's offices, formerly a Nabisco bakery, the neighborhood's namesake.

I was later in Elyse's hands. We visited the Carnegie Science Center, an historic cemetery, and a "Mongolian" diner (good but just makes me want the real stuff). She generously got my shopping rolling for my backpacking with a very nice rain jacket. The Science Center has been a favorite of mine since childhood, loaded with exhibits, laser shows, and a true IMAX experience. And speaking of childhood favorites, I had to go to Eat'n Park for a Smiley Cookie - nostalgic as it was, the meal was dwarfed the next day by fine dining at the Monterey Bay Fish Grotto. You see I couldn't stop eating around these relatives.

The Amish still live in black and white.

All smiles today, Matt!

The Duquesne Incline:
for when you need to ascend 400ft at 19th century speeds

"peas somp eetin me"

"..."

Those two took tremendous care of me this entire stop in Pittsburgh. And as much as their technological incompetence might drive me insane, I know they love me.

Progressive Gin champs

I saw Best Picture Moonlight with Gramma. I thought it was an excellent movie for the first two chapters, falling off in the third. It isn't Best Picture quality. I haven't yet seen them myself, but friends and family have raved about Fences and Hidden Figures, so why Moonlight got the nod is beyond me.

Dr. Brown's

And that review leads me to another, which is the first of three new features I want to introduce to my blog. Root beer reviews! Most people would review regular beer if they traveled America, but I don't really like that stuff. Over the past year or so, I've been trying to find local root beers more frequently. I can't recall my feelings over most of them, so I'm just starting fresh with keeping record of my thoughts here.

This first one is not especially local to Pittsburgh, but I've noticed it a bunch lately so I had to satisfy the urge: Dr. Brown's. Wikipedia says it's popular in Jewish delis, so that could explain why I keep seeing it. I read the can to find it's produced by Pepsi in New York City. Ok, uh, ew. My mistake starting my root beer reviews with this. 

For reference, I'll rate the common root beers:

Barq's: 6/10, easily the best of the basics, one of the sharpest I've had.

Mug: 4/10, I consider it the baseline root beer for its ubiquity, only worth getting over other sodas if you must have a root beer.

A&W: 2/10, the worst root beer I've ever had, no bite at all, too much vanilla flavor, but can be rescued by ice cream. Only kept from 0 stars by the chance I come across something worse.

And it was with Dr. Brown's that I came across something worse. 0 stars. Sharp but terrible flavor. Nearly a cream ale. Can't imagine even ice cream redeeming it. This is the new worst ever.

Fallingwater

Immediately after leaving Pittsburgh, I went south to the Fallingwater house. You have to really bury yourself in the Pennsylvania woods to find this iconic piece of American architecture. Pittsburgh's millionaire Kaufmann family commissioned famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design their cabin-in-the-woods and got this explosive retreat. The three components (main/guest/servant quarters) completed in the mid-1930's. Less than thirty years later, the family donated it to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and opened it as a museum.

The same exact shot is all over the internet, but this one is mine!

Seeing as it is one of America's most famous constructions, I'm glad I paid it a visit. But aside from the prominent cantilevered design, the architecture didn't excite much, personally. Photography inside the building was unfortunately prohibited.

Buchanan State Forest

On my way out of Pittsburgh, I was reminded of something about me: I still grow miserable during long drives. Maybe I should have waited for the proliferation of driverless cars before I started my tour. Oh well. I will need to break up my drives frequently. To split up my six hours toward Jersey, I stopped at the Buchanan State Forest of Pennsylvania. I found a trail named after me, the Rose Trail, and hiked it. Rolling hills covered in dead deciduous trees. The whole park was desolate. I saw three people, one dog, and some squirrels. A little spooky to be so alone in the forest. Hightailed it out of there before sunset.

Pretty if you imagine leaves.

Aside from hikes and small cities, music keeps me rolling on these long drives. Throughout a large chunk of my life, I didn't care much for music aside from annoying my brother with my singing. But at some point I came to appreciate it, and really fell hard into a specific brand of it. I can listen to a single song for hours straight if I really like it. This leads me to my second new blog feature: what's Matt got on repeat?

Providence by The Temper Trap - haven't listed to these guys in forever, most will know them for Sweet Disposition

Gameshow, the third album from Two Door Cinema Club, a fun Irish indie band.

The final new feature I want to introduce is the poll! See the side panel. May not be visible if you're viewing this page in mobile. Go ahead and vote on which country you most would like to see me visit. Other polls will come around on occasion.

Next up: where I was raised

Foreseeable: DC, Richmond
I decided to head south first, just so summer can be closer when I go north.

Beans made a friend. I'll call him Wilson.