Pittsburgh- Sunday, March 24, 2024

 

     Once we got up today, we got breakfast a GetGo, which seems like a pretty common place in this part of Pennsylvania.  The weather was still chilly, but the sun was out and we were looking forward to doing a couple of things before leaving Pittsburgh today.

     We drove back into Pittsburgh and tried to use the phone's GPS to take us to the foot of the Duquesne Incline.  It is the funicular that takes you up or down 400 feet of track on the cliffs of Mount Washington, over place where the three rivers come together.  Somehow we missed where it was at the bottom, so we circled around back up Mount Washington to the top and got on it above.  There is no question that the view is quite amazing.  You can see the skyscrapers of downtown Pittsburgh, of course, and you are right across the rivers from the stadium where the Steelers play and the Science Museum with submarine parked in front of it.  We could see the statue of Mr. Rogers facing the river across from us, which seemed especially appropriate because the Incline cars look like the Trolley on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  Abby was nervous at first but found her courage to enjoy the ride before we were at the bottom.  We circled around and came right back up again.  It probably would have been a more dramatic ride if we had started at the bottom.  Then you would have been more impressed with the view when you got to the top. Still, the view was fantastic and Scott took some time at the observation deck to take even more pictures.

     After the trip on the Incline, Scott walked a short distance to see a statue of George Washington and the Seneca leader, Guyasuta.  Washington had seen this view in person, and it's quite a site.  The statue is called "Point of View."  Julie, Emma and Abby drove by in the car to pick Scott up when he was done getting pictures and video.

     After the Incline, we wanted to go to the Fort Pitt Museum.  We set the GPS on the phone, but we were a little frustrated when it took us on the Fort Pitt Bridge, and didn't tell us how to get to the museum.  We tried about four times in all, and each time we were frustrated and couldn't see how to get to the museum, even though we could see it as we drove by.  We finally realized that there really isn't any parking at the museum.  We had to park a few blocks away in an underground garage and walk to the park.

     Point State Park, where Fort Pitt was originally located, is right at "The Point" where the Allegheny River meets the Monongahela to form the Ohio.  "Get to the Point of Pittsburgh's History" says a sign by the Fort Pitt Museum.  This is the spot that became the focus of the start of the French and Indian War.  Both the French and the English wanted to control this point of land.  The French built their fort here first, Fort Duquesne, and the location of it is shown with a paved walkway around the spot where the small fort's walls were.   George Washington was too late to establish an English presence here for the Virginia colonists that wanted to build their own fort here.  What he ended up doing, in 1754, was stumbling into the start of the French & Indian War instead.  Over the course of this war, the English ended up taking control of this land in 1758, and renamed the location Pittsburgh (after the British statesman, William Pitt), and began a much larger fort called Fort Pitt.  After that war was over, the Natives under Pontiac rose up against the British presence and laid siege to Fort Pitt while attacking other outposts on around the Great Lakes.  By the time of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army used Fort Pitt as a base of operations against the Natives in the war on what was then the Western frontier.  

     Once we were able to get to the museum, we found that it was worth the effort to find.  There were lots of displays about each phase of the history of the region and the conflicts here.  Scott enjoyed taking his time to examine the artifacts, watch the videos, and see the many displays.  (He even found a mistake on one.  A map of the battles in the French & Indian War correctly says that Fort Niagara was taken by the British in 1759, but it also says that the nearby battle of La Belle Famille was in 1757.  It should be in 1759 too.  Yes, Scott was "that guy" and pointed out the error to the interpreter at the front desk.)  The only part of Fort Pitt that still exists is a small blockhouse outside of the museum.  It was not open for tours today, but Scott did take time to get a picture by it, and he strode through the goose poop to the outlines of Fort Duquesne for a picture there too.

     It was getting time for lunch, and Julie wanted to try a very Pittsburgh place.  We left the car where it was parked and walked a few blocks through the skyscrapers to the area called Market Square.  Here we found the famous Primanti Bros. sandwich shop.  There are many locations of this chain in the Pittsburgh area, and everyone says you have to try one of their sandwiches when you come here.  We all got a version of their Tall Boys sandwiches, though Abby just got french fries and played with the toy soldiers we bought at Fort Pitt.  Julie asked, "What's the sandwich that everyone comes for?" and the waitress told her that would be the pastrami so she got that one.  They come stacked so high, it's hard to figure out how to lift it to your mouth.  It includes coleslaw, tomatoes, cheese and french fries on really thick bread.  Yes the french fries are part of the sandwich.  It's apparently a very Pittsburgh thing to put the fries in that way.  Julie enjoyed her sandwich but she and Emma agreed that the coleslaw wasn't needed.  The sandwich was so big that she could only eat half of it.  Rather than throw it away she ended up giving it to a homeless man and his dog as we were walking back to our car.  Scott went to the nearby Starbucks to buy a strawberry refresher for Julie and scooted out of the shop quickly as they were discovering he was only charged for a grande and not the trenta that he ordered.  

     We got back to the car and started on the trip home.  Along the way, we took a break at the Grove City Outlets.  We didn't stay long, but they have a playground there, and since it had warmed up quite a bit since the morning, Abby had a chance to get out and play.  All weekend, her repeated question seemed to be "Are we going to the fun place?"   She liked the museum yesterday and the Incline today, but she needed some time to run here.  One of the things for her to climb on was a kid-sized version of one of Pennsylvania's covered bridges, which was cute.  After she had a chance to play we continued home and were back by dinner.  We had to get ready for school tomorrow, after all.