We stopped in Pittsburgh on our way to Kirtland, Ohio. We had planned to do a church history trip for Spring break but all the church sites were still closed because of COVID so we decided to wait until Summer and see if things were open then. As we waited to see about openings we found out that Mark's brother David was going on a church history trip with his family in July so we asked if we could join them and spent 5 days with them last week. We were happy to get to visit with them before we move. Mark managed to see all 7 of his siblings since late April. It took a few different states and trips but it happened. I had it easy just meeting everyone in my family in Yuba City.
We left Charlottesville mid morning on Monday and our first stop was in Pittsburgh which is about 5 hours away from Charlottesville. None of us had been to Pittsburgh and we enjoyed spending a little over 2 hours there. On the drive up Mark gave a mini lesson on Andrew Carnegie (and Robber Barons in general) as he was so influential in Pittsburgh. Jared loves it when we Mark gives horsey lessons on our drives. Lydia occasionally seems interested but its definitely more of a Jared thing. In Pittsburgh we rode the Duquesne Incline, ate polish pierogis and Kilbasa and found an awesome ice cream shop called Klavon's.
The incline was used to take people home from mines mostly from what I understand but also used as public transportation. The have old wooden cable cars and the view of downtown Pittsburgh from the top is awesome. From a distance Pittsburgh looks really nice with the rivers, tons of bridges and nice skyline but once we were walking around downtown we could feel the "grittiness" of the city. Nobody really enjoyed the pierogis, the sausage was better received.
The ice cream shop was not only delicious but a really cool site as well. It used to be an old apothecary and originally opened in 1932 as a neighborhood apothecary and ice cream shop. In 1936 there was a big flood in Pittsburgh and the shop had water almost to the ceiling. There is a line of the wall today that was drawn in 1936 to show how high the water got. The family was up a floor and had to be rescued by a rowboat. The shop was closed in 1979 and sat dormant for two decades. It reopened in 1999 as a drug store soda fountain and then new owners bought it after stopping there on a vacation in 2011. When you walk in its like stepping back in time. There were so many fun details, the ceiling, the chandeliers, the shelves at the back are full of medicine and medical instruments all the way from the 1930's, the countertop and stainless steel equipment, I love shops like this. Mark and Jared split a brownie sundae and Lydia and I split a mint and chocolate one. It was the best stop. We were happy to have l little break from the drive and see a small section of Pittsburgh.
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