Pittsburgh and the northeastern United States started 2018 off with a bang, experiencing near record low temperatures followed by a rare bomb cyclone.
With temperatures between zero and ten degrees (before wind chill!) for many days in a row, Pittsburgh's iconic three rivers started to freeze over.
We took several trips out into the tundra known as Pittsburgh when this happened to capture some shots of the frozen wonderland. These 19 photos are some of our favorites.
Pittsburgh's alcohol scene is growing at an incredible pace, and over the last few years we've been fortunate to have many breweries, whiskey distilleries, rum distilleries, and even a vodka distillery open and call the region home.
One alcohol style we have not been fortunate enough to have is an infusion producer. This all changed when Bella Bambini Cello opened its doors in Coraopolis in late 2017.
Pittsburgh Barbecue Company is one of the region's more popular barbecue joints, and with two locations to visit, affordable prices, and delicious flavors we can see why that is!
When it comes to Christmas displays in Pittsburgh, we're used to over the top and extravagant. It is just what we do during the holidays in southwestern Pennsylvania.
We visited Overly's Country Christmas in Greensburg with a great deal of excitement because of this, and ended up being a bit underwhelmed!
The Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning are one of Pittsburgh's true gems. These rooms function as classrooms for the University of Pittsburgh, but they are much more than that- they are also designed in the style of classrooms from various countries around the world.
Although we always love taking out of town visitors to these rooms, perhaps the best time of year to do so is the Christmas season.
From late November to early January every year, these classrooms come alive with Christmas trees and other holiday decorations that are representative of decorations from their respective countries. And if that wasn't enough, the common area of the cathedral is also decked out with even more Christmas trees and decorations as well!
If there is any Christmas popup bar that we try to visit at least once every December, it would be Miracle Bar.
To call this holiday pop-up bar popular would be an understatement, as seemingly everyone wants a piece of the action- Miracle Bar is routinely the most popular and can have lines to match.
Thankfully, in subsequent years the bar has moved into larger and larger spaces to accommodate guests, and has truly grown to be the premier holiday bar in the city!
Note: Photos in this article may be from past Miracle pop-up iterations and may not be fully reflective of this year's popup design.
Buttermilk Falls is a beautiful waterfall located just outside of the main stretch of Beaver Falls, PA.
But while you may not drive out to this town to visit the waterfalls on their own, they make for a great stop if you happen to be in the region and are looking to explore!
As far as sports are concerned, Pittsburgh is home to most of the conventional ones you would want to watch or even play yourself.
But in late 2017 a new sport came to Millvale- axe throwing. And at Lumberjaxes, you are sure to get your fill through a lane rental or tournament!
The Todd Nature Reserve in Sarver, PA, is a 175 acre forest and wildlife sanctuary managed by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.
The land once belonged to W.E. Clyde Todd, a passionate bird watcher and Curator of Birds at the Carnegie Museum in the early 1900s who used to bird watch on the property. In an effort to keep the land a wildlife sanctuary for generations to come, Mr. Todd donated the land to the Audubon Society in the 1940s and they have managed it to date.
With many hiking trials, a beautiful pond full of frogs, bird watching, and spring wild flowers, there is truly a lot to see at the nature reserve bearing Mr. Todd's name!
Threadbare's North Side location is seemingly only open for special events. Try their ciders at their Ross Park Mall store!
Threadbare Cider House in the North Side is the brainchild of the folks at Wigle Whiskey, arguably Pittsburgh's most famous local distiller.
When wanting to branch out into a new venture, the owners stumbled upon the history of Johnny Appleseed (or John Chapman by his real name)- a rather eccentric fellow who, in the late-1700s/early-1800s, wandered around the region, preached conservation and planted nurseries to be tended to by locals (giving rise to the modern legend), and spreading the gospel far and wide.
Some stories of his travels had him based near Pittsburgh for a while (possibly even during the famous Whiskey Rebellion that Wigle proudly promotes), and when the owners realized this the idea for Threadbare came to life. Fast forward a few years, and they are now ramping up production of fine ciders made with locally sourced apples and are serving them at their North Side production facility along with stellar artisan pizzas.
Shortly before opening, our friends at Wigle gave us a call and invited us down to try out their menu- and sample the menu we did. Between three separate visits we had just about everything they offer!