You're Going Where? Pittsburgh! (Washington, Carnegie: spring break, rent, mattress)

[corpgypsy]

Pittsburgh was the featured city in a Washington Post monthly series, yesterday. The writer's goal is to highlight the best vacation destinations people have probably never considered. A detailed, "tour guide type", view with numerous photos, interesting narrative, tips for exploration, and recommendations for local destinations for entertainment, history, art, sports, restaurants etc. Worth the read and save, IMHO.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.7d2d6677157a

[chao]

Originally Posted by corpgypsy

vacation destinations people have probably never considered.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.7d2d6677157a

i kinda agree why it's never considered.....
love live in Pittsburgh, but would never invite friend/family for vacation....

[fleetiebelle]

My friends and family love visiting me here. When I first moved to Pittsburgh I did get a lot of "why?"s, but now that I've been here for a while I get, "can we go back to that place we went last time?" We have fun.

[SteelCityRising]

I visited Pittsburgh for Spring Break (yes, you read that correctly) in 2007 with a friend. We both had an awesome time. We stayed at The Priory on the North Side and walked many places (albeit I drove us to Shadyside, too). People were surprised back then when we told them we were on vacation in Pittsburgh.

Today? Not so much. I routinely see people whom I presume are tourists Downtown. Occasionally I get asked for directions or tips on restaurants/attractions, and whenever I do I gush. I mean we have the Warhol; the Aviary; the Mattress Factory; professional sports; the Carnegies; the Heinz History Center; the Strip District; Mt. Washington (and the inclines); great walkable neighborhoods in the South Side; Mexican War Streets; Shadyside; and Squirrel Hill (to name a few). There's also Point State Park, Frick Park, Schenley Park, Riverview Park, etc. I could easily spend a 4-day/3-night vacation here as an outsider/tourist and not get bored.

I love Pittsburgh overall.

I'm known on here as a chronic whiner because my rent increases keep matching or outpacing my wage increases, but Pittsburgh couldn't stay cheap forever.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

....I routinely see people whom I presume are tourists Downtown. Occasionally I get asked for directions or tips on restaurants/attractions, and whenever I do I gush. I mean we have the Warhol; the Aviary; the Mattress Factory; professional sports; the Carnegies; the Heinz History Center; the Strip District; Mt. Washington (and the inclines)....

I love Pittsburgh overall.

I'm known on here as a chronic whiner because my rent increases keep matching or outpacing my wage increases, but Pittsburgh couldn't stay cheap forever.

i tend to go overboard, until the tourists can't wait to get away from this crazy guy who had all the answers....in my observations, though, most people are not interested in "way of life" tourism, but rather would like to see the attractions. in other words, i don't think they care about the Jewish temples or particularly stunning churches (we seem to have quite a trove, don't we?), but instead the art, the fun, the food....not that there isn't overlap.

SCR - I do hope you stick it out and find your way here. if anything, you are in a public job, meaning you have security and decent benefits (friends in the City government tell me the benefits arent THAT great, though). You are focused on the here and now, but who knows who or what opportunities come knocking. It is unexpected, but tends to happen to those who desire and are open to the possibilities. You'll make it beyond this plateau. I bet maybe 10 other people here were mired in stagnation (personal finances, i mean) during their younger years.

'cept Copanut...he gigolo-ed his way to the top, i bet.

[North Beach Person]

People who live somewhere never really appreciate the attraction it may have for those who only visit.

Ex:
I live by the Chesapeake and have a public beach. I can't tell you the last time I was on that beach for pleasure (meaning I wasn't involved in some event that was taking place there), likely 15 years, I'm sure I took my now 23 year old to it when he was little.

Yet thousands of people come here every summer (38,000 last year) and, being nonresidents, pay to get on the beach. There is a group of 3 or 4 dozen people who come here every morning to walk the boardwalk, most live 5 or 10 miles away.

The Bay is just "there" for me yet hundreds of people will sit on the boardwalk benches and just look at it.

When I lived there I never really thought much about Cook Forest except to be irritated at all the people from Ohio, and Pittsburgh, that came to it and the area (especially during deer season). Now that's where we go on vacation.

[corpgypsy]

My husband, children and I relocated 15 times throughout our corporate life and always played tourist in whatever new location we found ourselves. Additionally we needed to don our tour guide hats for our many visiting friends and extended family members. So, when I read this yesterday, I thought it might be helpful to others when needing an itinerary or ideas for out of towners, as well as it is fun to see an area, one calls home, in print and through another's eyes.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

My friends and family love visiting me here. When I first moved to Pittsburgh I did get a lot of "why?"s, but now that I've been here for a while I get, "can we go back to that place we went last time?" We have fun.

I get an average of at least three separate out of town guests a year. The majority are friends and family from the Bay Area. All have been pleasantly surprised by Pittsburgh and seemed to genuinely enjoy their time here.

[chao]

Pittsburgh attractions are few and limited, you go to PNC park, heinz field, warhol museum, (whole central north side), point park, downtown and CMU, then incline at night. go to Fallingwater the next day and Pittsburgh Tour is complete....

i always take friend/family to church brewery though

Carnegie museum, Aviary, zoo/aquarium, mattress factory, science center and heinz history center are more of local entertainment to me. i would only take friend/family over if they need somewhere to kill some time....similar facility exist in almost every similar size city.

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by chao

Pittsburgh attractions are few and limited, you go to PNC park, heinz field, warhol museum, (whole central north side), point park, downtown and CMU, then incline at night. go to Fallingwater the next day and Pittsburgh Tour is complete....

i always take friend/family to church brewery though

Carnegie museum, Aviary, zoo/aquarium, mattress factory, science center and heinz history center are more of local entertainment to me. i would only take friend/family over if they need somewhere to kill some time....similar facility exist in almost every similar size city.

It's odd to me that you'd take a visitor to Heinz Field and CMU, but don't think most of the local museums are worthwhile. That's exactly the opposite for my visitors.

We also do the Frick, Phipps, the Strip on a weekend morning, shopping in Lawrenceville and Shadyside, nationality rooms in Cathedral of Learning then walking over to Heinz Chapel, and of course finding new places to eat.