pittsburgh

I made a trip to Pittsburgh for one real reason: to see PNC Park. The Pirates may be terrible, but the park is widely-renowned as a gem, and the pictures of the stadium with the skyline and the Roberto Clemente Bridge in the background had always impressed me. And the fact that I could catch a game where they were playing the Braves (my favorite MLB team, although I don’t follow them too closely now that they’re not on TBS anymore) was an added bonus.

One of the nice things about doing AYCJ is meeting people from all over the country. I admit it is a little bit sketchy to split a hotel room with people you’ve only just met, but it’s a good way to save money. And even if you don’t want to do that, it’s still nice to meet people for a ball game or drinks or a meal. I met two AYCJers at JFK while waiting to connect to Pittsburgh: Vanessa, a bartender/travel agent from Staten Island; and Erika, a cop from Chicago. After we landed in Pittsburgh, we met up with one of the cop’s coworkers, Chris, who was flying on United since his mother works for that airline. We went to our hotel (near the airport), then took a cab to the stadium. Sure enough, the views did not disappoint:

Before going into the stadium, we stopped at a nearby bar for a round of drinks, graciously bought for us by Rocco, a friend of Erika’s. Since the Pirates are not exactly the hottest ticket in town, someone had given Rocco two tickets as he was walking down the street. We then got three more tickets from a scalper, who was selling them at half of the standard price. Five people got into a baseball game for a total of $24. Just another reason to love Pittsburgh.

We head up to our seats in the upper deck behind home plate and were treated to the postcard-quality view I’d hoped for:

After a couple innings we picked up some yummy hotdogs (only $2.50 each!) and went in search of better seats in the sparsely-attended stadium. We ended up with this view of the action:

The Pirates broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the bottom of the seventh. With rain starting to fall, we decided to make for the exits. Rocco was going to drive us to Primanti Brothers for a post-game meal. But his car was a few blocks away, and it had started to pour down raining, so we sprinted to a police SUV belonging to another of Erika’s cop friends, and four of us jumped in the back seat, our legroom cramped by the M4 rifle between the front seats. We got to Rocco’s car and then went to the original location of Primanti Brothers, which apparently is quite high on the list of places in Pittsburgh that you have to eat at. There are a few different sandwiches, all of which have cole slaw and french fries on them. Here’s mine, a cheesesteak sandwich (hold the coleslaw, please):

The french fries had a great homemade flavor, reminding me of the kind my Maw Maw used to make. But those kind of fries can get a little dry, so I slathered on some ketchup. Once I did that, it was a very good sandwich. But in my heart, I knew it didn’t hold a candle to a New Orleans po-boy. Two of the other people ordered a Cajun chicken sandwich and a cheesesteak sandwich and shared them; I said that as a citizen of Louisiana, I was forbidden from ordering anything with the word “Cajun” in it outside state lines. But they both raved about it and said it was better than the cheesesteak. So I guess next time I’m in Pittsburgh, I’ll give it a shot. When we were done, Rocco was so generous as to pay for our meal. How awesome is it to get food and drinks paid for by a friend of someone you just met?

After that, we were joined at the restaurant by yet another of Erika’s cop friends. He took us to the casino, which is just down the street from PNC Park and Heinz Field. I wasn’t going to run off and play poker when I was there with a group, so I played a few hands of video poker while the rest of the group ordered drinks at the bar–I made a whopping 75 cents–and then watched Erika and Vanessa do quite well for themselves at the craps table. After cashing out, Chuck drove us to one of the nightlife districts, which was pretty much closed, but then we went to Carson Street. Supposedly Fat Head’s is a great place to go to, but they had just closed, so we went next door to Casey’s. Chuck bought us the first round of drinks. I had a glass of Yuengling, a Pennsylvania beer available along the East Coast. It was really good. I dug around the Internet and found out that it’s not available in Louisiana; the closest place to get it is Alabama.

After the 2 a.m. closing time (Bars have to close? What?) Chuck took us to Mount Washington, which offers stunning views of the skyline:

He then brought us back to our hotel, saving us $40 in cab fare. I have to come to the conclusion that Pittsburghers may be the nicest people ever. And the city is beautiful. People think it’s steel mills and industry, and I guess I saw some of that from the plane, but I saw a modern skyline, two gorgeous stadia, and hills covered in trees showing the first hints of their fall colors. Pittsburgh really blew me away. I semi-seriously want to buy a summer home up there. And real estate is so cheap it’s not an entirely implausible scenario. I can’t wait to go back.