Sharing The Best of Pittsburgh and Southwest Pennsylvania
Shadyside is one of those neighborhoods that we absolutely love. It is primarily residential but with a thriving business district (three, actually) that is heavily tilted to restaurants, bars, and coffee shops.
Great to live, great to visit, and home to many of our favorite spots in the city. As such, we thought we should share them in this neighborhood guide!
Curling is one of those sports we've always wanted to try, but never really had the chance. We've tried toned-down variants of the sport in the past at places like Sliders Curling (a seasonal rink outside of Lumberjaxes in Millvale), but when it came to playing via proper rules, well, we never had the opportunity.
Shortly after trying the variant out at Sliders, we heard that the Pittsburgh Curling Club was opening up a new, dedicated curling facility in McKees Rocks and would offer classes for non-members who want to get into the sport.
The facility opened up in early 2020 and we obviously all know what happened just a few weeks later. As such, it wasn't until early 2021 that we got to make it into the facility to try out the sport with their Level 1 Intro to Curling Class.
Although we are not the most athletic of people, we have to say, curling is a blast.
Bloomfield in central Pittsburgh grew to be known as Pittsburgh's Little Italy in the 20th century; however, the neighborhood's recent revival has seen many non-Italian restaurants, bars, and more move in. This has resulted in a diversification of the vibrant business district along Liberty Avenue full of many spots we absolutely love- Italian or otherwise.
So, in this neighborhood guide, we wanted to share a few of our favorite restaurants, bars, and coffee shops in Bloomfield you should check out!
As with all of our neighborhood guides, this feature is not a collection of all of the businesses you can find in Bloomfield but rather a cross-section of spots we love and other crowd favorites. As we visit more businesses, we'll update this guide accordingly!
The neighborhoods of Garfield and Friendship are located in central Pittsburgh and bridge the gap between neighborhoods like Lawrenceville and East Liberty.
While these neighborhoods may have a smaller list of attractions and amenities compared to others in the city, they have been growing rapidly in recent years with artist spaces, restaurants, and more moving in. So we wanted to share some of our favorites in this neighborhood guide!
When it comes to day trips from Pittsburgh, we are fortunate to have a number of great options to consider. If you head east out of the city you come to one of our favorite parts of the state, the Laurel Highlands.
From New Kensington to the north and Ohiopyle to the South, the region known as the Laurel Highlands covers three counties in southwest Pennsylvania and truly has a lot to see.
In this guide, we break down just about everything you need to know when exploring this gorgeous part of Pennsylvania!
We were hosted by Seven Springs when visiting for this story; however, all opinions are our own.
Much like everything else in 2020 (and onward into early 2021), the current environment has resulted in a number of changes for experiences throughout the region. The ski season at Seven Springs in the Laurel Highlands is no different.
While skiing is inherently an activity that can be enjoyed at a distance, the ski resorts in the Laurel Highlands have made many changes for the 2020-2021 season to ensure guests are safe when off the slopes. Naturally, we wanted to see what it was like towards the start of the season and share some things you can expect if visiting Seven Springs this year!
The Clinton Christmas Light-Up drive-thru experience has been entertaining visitors and raising money for charity since 1993. This one-mile light display about 30 minutes west of Pittsburgh features an array of lights, holiday decorations, bible verses, Christmas trees, and so much more on its route.
But the best part is perhaps its price. During our visit in 2020, they only charged $10 per car. A great price supporting good causes? Sign us up.
To celebrate the holiday season, there are a number of drive-through light display experiences in the Pittsburgh region.
The zoo is one such place and offered an animal-centric light show during our visit in 2020. While this one is likely best enjoyed by young children who love zoo animals, visitors of all ages are likely to find a favorite animal represented in lights.
With so many rivers, streams, and creeks in and around Pittsburgh, you'd imagine there have to be a few waterfalls- and you'd be right.
The region is home to a significant number of waterfalls worth exploring, but we do have to note a caveat that many are lacking in size compared to falls you'll find in nearby states (the tallest near Pittsburgh is just about 30 feet whereas waterfalls in upstate New York a few hours away can break 200 feet!).
In fact, most of what we'd consider waterfalls here may only be five or six feet in height in total which are notable highlights when exploring a local park, but perhaps not the sole reason you'd visit a specific park on its own. To make matters worse, many of these are also heavily dependent on the rains such that they may just be a trickle during dry spells.
While the latter still affects even our biggest waterfalls, in this guide we wanted to only feature some of the biggest and most inspiring waterfalls near Pittsburgh. But to hit these, you'll have to go on a bit of a drive!
When thinking of hiking in the East End, odds are good your thoughts will quickly turn to Frick Park– the largest publicly accessible park in Pittsburgh. But there are a few other green spaces off of these main trails that you may not know about, and one of which is Nine Mile Run!
Although Nine Mile Run was technically annexed by Frick Park just a few years ago, this one is often viewed as its own space thanks to its unique position jutting out from the park south towards the Monongahela River (where it later connects up to the slightly longer Duck Hollow Trail that follows the river). Couple an even more recent effort to clean the waters at the run and you have a natural area that is a bit under-the-radar despite being a part of a more-well known city park.
So rather than include this one in our Frick Park article, we thought it'd be best to feature this one on its own!