West

Pittsburgh Pinball Dojo Offers All-You-Can-Play Fun

As budding pinball fans, we decided to start checking out places to play pinball in Pittsburgh. Over time, one spot came recommended to us again and again- the Pittsburgh Pinball Dojo in Bellevue.

This modest pinball hall features two rooms loaded with roughly 50 machines, all set to free play mode after your initial ticket fee, and, best of all, is BYOB and BYOB friendly!

So on one rainy Friday night we made our way over to the dojo to check out a free play night and we have to say, we can understand why this one is so popular.

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Cooking International Food at Sweetwater Center for the Arts

Sweetwater Center for the Arts is a rather impressive facility in Sewickley providing community classes ranging from creative writing to ceramics, oil painting to metalsmithing, classes for children to seniors, and everything in between. Throw on incredibly passionate instructors and you have an all-around destination not to be missed.

On our first visit, we were guests of Sweetwater for a media night to take in one of their new cooking classes which run a spectrum of themes (particularly with a strong international element that we are quite the fans of). Although our particular class had a curated menu for this special event which likely won't show up for a public experience (we made food from a mix of countries), the experience makes us want to book many more classes for future Pittsburgh date nights.

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Dazzling Nights at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden is a Premium Holiday Treat

In 2022, the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden near Oakdale announced they were hosting a new holiday light experience, aptly named Dazzling Nights, which transformed 65 acres of the property into a gorgeous walkthrough experience.

We, naturally, were quite excited about this one as walk-through Christmas lights in Pittsburgh are few and far between, and hit this one shortly after it opened in November.

While this one comes at a significant premium over just about every other holiday experience in the city, we have to admit, we had quite a good time here all the same!

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Bradys Run Park – A Lot to See and Do But Plan in Advance

Brady's Run Park is a roughly 2,000-acre park just outside of Beaver Falls that offers a wealth of things to see and experience ranging from active experiences like walking and hiking to other fun options on the lake and nearby.

But while this one is decently sized, those who visit will likely want to do some advanced planning prior to arriving as spotty cell signal and few interconnecting trails make navigating this park slightly tricky.

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Touring Birch Creek Farmery Gives an Appreciation for Ethical Farming

As supporters of all things local, it should not be a surprise that we buy our meats and vegetables from area farms as best we can. This includes CSA subscriptions in the summer months, weekly visits to farmer's markets throughout the city, and buying bulk meat orders to fill our deep freezer from time to time as well.

While we are not writing this post to get into the ethical debate on meat-eating outright, we do believe that it is important to know where your meat comes from and that the animals are treated as humanely as possible along the way. By shopping at local farms, we are often able to see all of this first hand!

Naturally, when we started shopping for local meats, Birch Creek Farmery in Burgettstown, PA, quickly came on our radar. It didn't take long after looking at their website to realize that the family who runs the farm have values similar to ours in this regard, and we've become devoted customers ever since (including even visiting the farm for a wine dinner in the past as well).

Cut to a few years later, and the team (now friends) at Birch Creek Farmery invited us out for a proper farm tour to see how they raise their animals. As these tours are open to the public as well, we thought it'd be fun to share a bit more about what the experience is like!

Note: Birch Creek Farmery said that tours can be customized a bit for your interests. Want to spend more time petting and feeding animals? They can do that. Want to learn more of the technical details that go into farming? They can do that too. We opted for a general tour which involved a long walk around the property to see as many animals as possible. Be sure to dress accordingly in long pants and shoes you don't mind getting muddy!

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Pizza House Review – Square Cuts to Eat on the Spot

We frequently share images of Pittsburgh pizza shops on our social media, often to a chorus of cheers, boos, and recommendations of where else to eat in the city.

On a recent share of Beto's Pizza (a local spot famous for square slices and cold toppings), we received a flood of suggestions to check out Pizza House in Ambridge (also called Police Station Pizza)- another shop that focuses on square, by-the-slice pies.

But rather than adding toppings after the pizza bakes for a cold / warm hybrid, this one ensures your meal is hot the whole way through with only a small sprinkling of toppings after the fact (including cold cheese, if you like) making for the best of both worlds.

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Learning to Curl at the Pittsburgh Curling Club

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.

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A One-Mile Drive through the Clinton Christmas Light-Up

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.

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Dinner on the Hilltop at Birch Creek Farmery Near Burgettstown

We like to support our local businesses as best we can, and this extends not just to our area restaurants, breweries, and attractions but for our home shopping as well. 

Recently we expanded our freezer space and were able to make a bulk purchase of half of a pig from Birch Creek Farmery– located about an hour west of Pittsburgh just outside of Burgettstown. Not only were we big fans of the meat, but it was also wonderful to place a direct order from farmers who are raising their animals right. 

Naturally, when we heard that Birch Creek Farmery was starting a dinner series at the farm itself, we were in and bought tickets right away.

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