The Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh is a downtown Pittsburgh hotel that offers budget-friendly rooms and great views.
We booked a room in this one for an early 2019 stay and share our full thoughts in this review!
Year: 2019
Las Velas Review – A Surprising Find in Market Square
If you're like us, when you think of Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh odds are good you think of mostly mediocre restaurants that are overpriced.
But there is one gem that is hiding on the second floor of a commercial space that you may otherwise overlook- Las Velas.
Not only does this one have a great view of Market Square, it also has some rather decent food as well!
Learning About the City With Free Pittsburgh Walking Tours
Whenever we travel (especially abroad), we always love finding free city tours as a means to get our bearings in a new location and to also learn more about the city/country's history.
While Pittsburgh does have periodic, free city tours run by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, they are often limited in frequency and location. We, as a city, simply needed more.
It wasn't until late 2018 that Pittsburgh finally got its own free walking tour, put on by the appropriately named Free Pittsburgh Walking Tours. Naturally, I jumped on this one in early 2019 to give it a try and really enjoyed the tour overall!
Visiting the Donora Historical Society and Donora Smog Museum
One of the things we love about the boroughs in southwest Pennsylvania is that many of them have a historical society and museum dedicated to sharing the history of the area.
Some of these, like the Saxonburg Museum, are huge. Others, like the Harmony Museums, are spread out over multiple historical buildings that are all worth exploring.
In Donora, the museum managed by the Donora Historical Society is fairly small. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in sharing the borough's history and the Donora Smog environmental disaster.
Fourth Street BBQ Review – Delicious Meats South of Pittsburgh
For our trip to Charleroi, we had two spots in mind- Fourth Street BBQ and Four Points Brewing (located just next door).
However, when we arrived our hopes of eating barbecue were momentarily dashed as we quickly found out they were only open for dinner on Saturdays. It turns out, we mistakenly thought they would be open for lunch as the barbecue joint had lunch hours on Thursday and Friday, and didn't think twice to double check on Saturday.
Oops.
Dejected, we walked next door to Four Points Brewing for a beer and were delighted to find out that we could still order barbecue from a limited brewery menu. Our goal of eating barbecue was back on!
Mars New Year Blast Off Dinner – A Celebration of Mars, In Mars
Any time I think of Mars, PA, it is almost always in tandem with at least one Martian reference of some sort.
As such, I wasn't too surprised to find out that Mars hosts a semi-annual Mars New Year celebration to honor the planet's roughly 687-Earth day revolution around the sun.
While the actual three-day festivity is taking place a few months after the official new year (which occurs on the Mars spring equinox in the northern hemisphere), the borough hosts an annual dinner as close as possible to the exact Martian New Year (most recently on March 23, 2019).
With a line-up of speakers and Martian references aplenty, we were pretty excited to attend this one as guests of our friends at Butler County Tourism.
Drury Plaza Pittsburgh Review – A Refreshing Stay Downtown
When it comes to downtown Pittsburgh hotels, we have quite a few with each having their own unique features.
We didn't know much about the Drury Plaza Hotel, located just a few blocks from the convention center, but when we were invited out for a review we were excited all the same.
As we quickly found out, this one has comfortable rooms and some pretty awesome on-site perks!
Iron Born Review – Stellar Detroit Style Pizza in Pittsburgh
Our love affair with Iron Born began pretty much on day one when their concept launched at Smallman Galley (now closed).
At first, we were suspect of the concept of Detroit-style pizza, because it sounded like an unusual attempt to improve upon Chicago deep dish. But after our very first bite, we were very, very happy to say that we were wrong.
Now Iron Born not only has a die-hard following at their brick and mortar stores in Millvale and the Strip District!
Which Beer Festivals in Pittsburgh Are Right For You?
Much like our goal to visit every Pittsburgh brewery, we're also on a mission to go to all of the annual beer festivals in Pittsburgh.
And, like our growing brewery scene, the list of festival options is so long such that we'll be checking out new ones many times a year for quite some time.
In this one, we did not want to do a review of every beer festival out there (you can find all of those on our site already), but instead want to look at them from a different angle. You see, beer festivals come in many different styles, offerings, and ambiances, and what you're looking for may influence your festival choice completely!
So whether you're looking to try a themed festival, or want an absurd amount of local beer, or perhaps even want to enjoy something completely different, the following may be for you.
Westmoreland Museum of American Art – A Free Museum in Greensburg
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is located just a few blocks away from the business district of downtown Greensburg, PA.
This free museum houses a rather impressive collection that you really should check out on your next visit to the city!