Vacation: Day Two

We woke up bright and early and headed over to the Iceoplex at Southpointe where some of the Penguins players were supposed to be practicing. We had to go through all sorts of back roads and although it did end up taking a lot longer, it was cool to drive through the countryside and see all the little towns.

The Iceoplex reminded me of a smaller version of RDV. We walked right in and sat down to watch the guys skate around. There were only a few people in the stands, most of them being teenage girls. My Fleury wasn't there (neither were Crosby or Malkin) but it was still cool to see Tyler Kennedy, Matt Cooke, Brent Johnson, Matt Niskanen, etc. When the guys were done, we walked to the car and as we were about to drive off to our next little adventure, we noticed the group of teenage girls huddled around the back of the building. Dustin and I agreed we should wait too. Maybe we could get a picture or something with one of the guys.

Brent Johnson was first to leave and Dustin and I were last in the short line. I asked Brent if it would be alright if I took a picture with him. He was the nicest and said "of course". Then Dustin asked him to make a video that said "Band of Buds - I fuckin' love it". Dustin of course had to preface this request with "I play with this online hockey team and we're called the 'Band of Buds'....". Brent said sure and took Dustin's phone. We couldn't believe it. We waited for more guys to come out and finally Matt Niskanen (see my ghostly photo below) pulled up. He was just as nice and let me take a photo with him. We were going to wait for more Pens players but we had a lot to see and do in Pittsburgh so we ended up leaving. At this point, we already had a few photos and the coolest video courtsey of Brent Johnson. Dustin and I were really disappointed that we were unable to go to a hockey game, especially since we haven't been to a game at the new Consol Energy Center yet, but being able to see some of the guys was a nice consolation. And even better meeting a couple of them! It was definitely a successful trip to Canonsburgh. 

We drove north towards Pittsburgh. It was a beautiful day. We were starving so we thought it was the perfect time to stop at Primanti Bros. I had never been but I've always heard how good it was. During our last trip, we walked right by the downtown location but for whatever reason, we never ended up eating there. Dustin got some kind of ham and cheese and I got a turkey. We both aren't a fan of cole slaw (which is kind of their famous ingredient) so we ate ours without it. My favorite part of the sandwich were the fries. Fries ON the sandwich. Who thinks of these fabulous ideas? Without the cole slaw though, it was rather dry. It was really good but could of used some kind of sauce.

After lunch, we drove right into the city. We planned on going to the Duquesne Incline first but the iPhone map was hard to read and somewhere along the way we made a wrong turn. So instead of trying to turn around and figure it out we just decided to head over to the Consol Energy Center. 

Gateway to the West and steel center of the world. Named for William Pittby Gen. Forbes after the fall of French Fort Duquesne in 1758. Laid out as a town by John Campbell in 1764. Incorporated as a city, 1816.

We were hoping to take a tour of the Consol Energy Center but they weren't available that day due to something else going on. We were only allowed on the main level - thumbs down. We did get to see the Mario Lemieux Foundation picture wall (pretty awesome - sort of kicking myself for not sending our picture in), the Pens store, and I even got to go into the women's restroom. I know, crazy! The Pens store was awesome. I'm sure it's nothing special to those who live in the area or maybe they just take it for granted that they have entire store(s) devoted to their team. Stores like that do not exist down here in Florida (not even for Florida teams) so I'm always amazed by it. They had everything from a Pens foam finger to a Pens tissue box. I couldn't get over the cute baby/little kid jerseys. They were so adorable. There are only two things in this world that ever make me seriously consider (for a split second) having a child, and seeing tiny Pens/Steelers jerseys is one of them. 

We decided to try our luck finding the Duquesne Incline again. This time around we made it to the top of the mountain aka the entrance. (Earlier, the map directed us to the bottom of the mountain where there was zero parking.) The street was so cute - filled with old houses, restaurants, little businesses and shops. There are old photos and lots of history of Pittsburgh all over the walls inside. There is a small hallway which leads to the overlook which was absolutely breathtaking. The view lived up to and exceeded every expectation I ever had for it. It's one of the best views I've been lucky enough to see in person. We stood up there for quite awhile just enjoying the scenery. Dustin would point out things and I would look for them in the viewfinder and vice versa. We took so many photos (the sun was such a pain in our ass) but none of them really do it any justice. 

We went back into the building and walked onto the incline itself and rode it down the mountain. Dustin thought for sure I would be scared. Hell, I thought I would be too (that shit is steep!), but I wasn't. The benches we sat on creaked and were very worn. I love the character and charm that the whole car had. It certainly had seen a lot of things since 1877. On the way down, there were about 6-8 people riding with us. One lady mentioned that this was her daily commute. She rides it down the mountain and then catches a bus at the bottom. Probably the neatest commute ever. There's not really much going on at the bottom except a lady waiting to be paid ($2.50 one way). We took a look around for a minute and went back up. This time we had the place all to ourselves. We were free to pick any seat we wanted. So we did just that and sat back and enjoyed the ride. I couldn't help but take a few more pictures once we reached the top again. Dustin was really patient and let me just go picture/video crazy. 

We made our way back over to Robinson to walk around the mall. We parked in front of Dick's JUST like last time we were there. It's the biggest Dick's I've ever been in (haha!). Actually, it was the first. I remember when the Dick's went up in Daytona just as we were moving back to Orlando. It was nothing special. Now, there's another one opening right down the road from us. But again, nothing like this one. Not only is the one in Robinson massive, but they have so SO much Steelers/Pens/Pirates clothing. I actually tried on a couple jerseys but neither fit right so we moved on to the food court. I was craving sugar so we sat down and ate a cinnamon sugar pretzel. It was at this very moment I had my very first Amish sighting. There were a group of girls just sitting and eating in full Amish style. I immediately thought of the show, 'Breaking Amish' on TLC.

We went over to Macy's to say hello to Miranda since she was working that day. We didn't know which department she was in so we just strolled around until we heard her in the distance. Then we did what any adult would do - we spied on her. We really wanted to try and sneak up on her to scare her, but instead we hid between some clothing racks pretending to browse their latest selections. Then one of her co-workers walked by, and Dustin explained who he was. He asked her to distract Miranda so we could come up behind her. It didn't work because Miranda moves around so much when she talks. Ha! Oh well, A+ for effort. We chatted a bit and Dustin kept giving her a hard time for how nice she was being to customers. What are big brothers for, huh?

We walked through the rest of the mall and once again I was astonished by all the Steelers/Pens stuff. Victoria Secret has a whole Steelers section. I was so close to buying some 'cheeky' Steelers panties but they were $12.50 for ONE pair so I decided against it. They were so cute though. Ugh, maybe I should have just sucked it up. Too late now.

We went into a Pittsburgh sports store and once again - little baby jerseys. I couldn't get enough. Dustin got a cool shirt that says "City of Champyinz" and I finally found an Antonio Brown jersey that fit. I also picked up a little something for Nicole. We had fun trying on hats and the Polamalu/Kiesel faces. I was tempted to buy salt-n-pepper shakers. Basically, I was tempted to buy 95% of everything in the whole store.

We drove back to Weirton and walked around K-Mart (who knew those still existed?) and Walmart. We spent the night with Grandma Dee and Pap watching TV. I was both surprised and excited to find out that Grandma Dee is also a fan of 'The Vampire Diaries' so we all watched it together. Although, I'm fairly certain that neither Dustin or Pap cared for it. She's seriously the coolest.