Troy and I took off around 6:00pm Wednesday night, and 4 1/2 hours, 3 truck stops, and 2 fast-food meals later–we found ourselves in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This of course was our intention and for a very exciting reason!
As of right now, in 18 months we will be packing up all of our crap belongings and moving to Pittsburgh for a few years.
Our main purpose of this road trip was to visit and take a tour of a trade school Troy and I have been researching for a few months.
The school resides in the small town of Avalon, PA–5 miles from Pittsburgh.
They wouldn’t let me take pictures inside the school, but it was really neat! People from all over the country and all over the world come here to learn the amazing craft of gunsmithing.
Everyone who has ever met Troy knows his undying love and affection for things that go “boom“, specifically guns.
This is going to be the *perfect* fit for him!
I was looking forward to going to see the school, and just a little more excited to visit a new city (that soon may be “home”) and eat at new restaurants. (Duh!)
I don’t know anyone who lives in Pittsburgh, but I do know of someone who does. ;) Of course I am talking about Ms. Jessica from How Sweet It Is. I e-mailed Jessica before I left and of course, she e-mailed me back the very next day with a list of restaurants she recommends.
We only stayed 2 nights (one of which we arrived in PA at 11pm) so we were only able to try 2 of the restaurants she suggested, and boy am I glad we did! Thanks, again Jessica!!
We spent about an hour getting lost in the city, and after Troy went through the entire book of curses, we made it out alive. We are not city people. I usually enjoy going to new places and seeing new things, but to be honest there was something about Pittsburgh that I didn’t really care for, and Troy feels the same way. There were definitely pluses, but for no reason in particular we just aren’t crazy about it. I don’t mind moving here for a few years while Troy goes to school, but staying longer than required is most likely not going to happen! (Sorry Pittsburghians!..Yeah, I made that up.)
However, the food we found was amazing, and that is always a plus! The first place we found was a bagel place that was next to our hotel, Bruegger’s Bagels.(We don’t have one of these anywhere near us, and I wish we did!!) These bagels were divine! Both mornings I had a toasted rosemary and olive oil bagel with cream cheese! YUM!
After our eventful morning cruising the city, leaving the city, and re-entering about six times– I pulled out my phone to look at the e-mail and pick a restaurant to try. I picked Thai Place, because Troy and I both love Thai food.
We went to the location in Shadyside, which was the cutest part of town! Right down the street from the University of Pittsburgh, this small part of town is full of trendy shops, restaurants, and bakeries. They have a Williams-Sonoma –which is like taking a kid to a candy store for me, especially, since I have a professional chefs card (thank you pastry degree) which means I receive 20% off all items in the store! I behaved, however (even though, I really didn’t want to!) and only bought a spatula.
Anway, about our lunch..
I ordered Thai fried rice with pork (not pictured), which came with an amazingly crispy and delicious spring roll, as well as wonton soup.
It was heavenly. Nothing about the meal in particular stood out, it was all just really tasty food. I loved that they customize all of their menu items from 1-10 on the heat scale, and you can order them however you would like. It was 85 degrees on Thursday, so I decided to go with a middle-of-the-road 5, whereas on a normal day, I would have been my normal adventurous self and ordered it at an 8 or 9. Troy had the cashew chicken (pictured above) at a heat level of 7, and he loved it!
When we walked outside of the restaurant, directly across the street something caught my eye. Well, how could this delightfully bright store front not catch your eye?
There is nothing I could have wanted more after a spicy Thai lunch on an 85 degree day than frozen yogurt! This place is so cool! It is just like yogenfruz, except you do it all yourself, and at the end of the line you pay by weight!
I chose non-fat vanilla yogurt and added a ton of fresh fruit! (No, really, it was almost a whole ton! ;) ) I put mango,pineapple,strawberries, blackberries,and bananas on top, and that my friends–was delicious!
Troy wasn’t really feeling the whole frozen yogurt thing, even though he did steal a few bites! However, I do know he would have chosen all of the sugary-sweet toppings like gummy bears and chocolate chip cookie dough. I swear sometimes he is an 8 year old boy.
After lunch and yogurt, we headed back to the hotel room to review some of the information from the school, chat a bit about what is to come in the next few years. (Getting married, getting my Bachelors degree, and then of course-moving to PA.)
We then decided on a place for dinner: Burgatory.
This place is insane–in the best way possible! They have crazy milkshakes, made using homemade ice cream, and only the freshest ingredients!
Troy had a milkshake made with Sour Apple Pucker, pancakes, and bacon–yes, you read that correctly.
I went with a slightly more “normal” flavor combo–S’mores!
Holy Mallow! It was delicious–to say the least.
The cool factor on this place just keeps going up–they have a few burgers on their menu, but on the page next to that is the “Build a Burger” menu. Here you can choose from what seems like an infinite number of possibilities. They even have you fill out your own custom order sheet if you choose to go this route.
Would you expect any less from me?
I chose a Lump Crab Cake Burger on Herb Foccacia, roasted garlic mayo, organic field greens and red onion. Troy chose a Beef Burger with BBQ sauce on a baguette with tomato,onion,cheddar cheese and jalepenos. Unless you chose otherwise, each burger is served with house-made potato chips made with both white and sweet potatoes. Both burgers were to-die-for, and I only wish we didn’t have to travel 4 hours to have another Burgatory experience!
“Hey, quick–just put down your burger.. just for a second. Take my picture! Yes, take my picture, so I can put it on my website!!” ;)
Have you ever been so happily-satisfied that you could just lay your head down on the table and go to sleep? That’s how we felt, except we went to the car and took a 20 minute nap before going to the movie theatre to see The Five Year Engagement.
It was cute, we laughed, I cried, it didn’t have a crappy ending. I’d say it was worth going to see.
That was pretty much our trip to Pittsburgh. We went back to the hotel, slept, woke up at 8:00am (much thanks to Troy, NOT my idea) got our bagels, and headed home.
All in all, we had a very nice little getaway, and I am glad we were able to tour the school Troy will be attending, as well as talk to some of the faculty. Pittsburgh will most likely be our “home” in a few years, and I foresee a trip or two back there in the next year to scope out apartments, jobs, and all that fun stuff! ;)
The Girl With the Cupcake Tattoo
thegirlwiththecupcaketattoo.wordpress.com 
Sounds like you two have a great plan! And there is a ton to do in Pittsburgh…my niece lives near there so when it get closer, perhaps she can give you even MORE things to do! Keep up the great blogs…you have a real knack for this!
Thanks lady! That would be great! It was a LOT bigger than we thought it was going to be, but we enjoyed our time there. :)
Love it!! So excited for you and Troy! Also, those are some awesome pictures!! I can’t wait to see more!!
Thanks love! The city and restaurant pictures/car pictures are from my camera and all the food pictures are from my iPhone. I didn’t think it was appropriate to whip out my huge camera to photograph my lunch/dinner. ;)