Pittsburgh: Day One

Our flight up to Pittsburgh went super smooth. Security was a breeze, we had plenty of time for a light breakfast before take off, half the plane was empty, and our flight itself arrived 10 min earlier than scheduled. We were in Robinson Township (west of downtown) by 11:30 am. We stopped by the mall  as per usual. This mall is our fave even though we have a million malls of our own in Florida. I mean, the minute you walk into Dick's we were greeted with all the black and yellow we could handle. Pirates. Penguins. Steelers. It's kind of amazing. And it's not just Dick's. Macy's had a ton of stuff and Victoria Secret's has a whole line of cute Pirates pajamas and underwear. Let's just say we spent a lot of money on clothes while we were up there. 

Before heading to Grandma Dee and Pap's house, we stopped at Max & Erma's for lunch. If I had to describe it to someone who has never been I'd say it's a better Red Robin/Chili's/TGIFridays. While those places have a bunch of random shit hanging on the walls M&E's has mostly Pittsburgh related art. I got a burger which was a delicious delight. Dustin got a chicken sandwich that was bigger than his head. We missed free cookie Wednesday (yeah, that's totally a thing) so we had to pay for the cookies. But it's totally worth it. They come out hot, fresh, and on a silver fucking platter. Does it get better than that? 

 

We drove for about 20 minutes and ended up in good ol' Weirton, WV aka Dustin's birthplace. We stopped by K-Mart (yes, they still exist up there) to look for more sportswear. We didn't find anything good. No surprise there, right? We made it to Dustin's grandparent's house around 3 and hung out with them and Cash for a few hours before going to watch the game at Blair & Nicole's house in Ohio. Driving through three states in one day is the norm up there but I always think it's so cool since Florida is kind of secluded. It's the little things!

This was our first time at Blair and Nicole's new house and we were so excited to see it and them. My first thought was it has some serious curb appeal. The inside is just as nice, especially their basement. Blair's got quite the Pens setup down there. There is no doubt in my mind that if our home had a basement it would look exactly like that. But we live in the land of no basements so that's never going to happen. (Sorry Dustin.) We all ate dinner (wings and deli sandwiches which were the bomb) and then headed downstairs to watch the first Pens playoff game. We were all supposed to be at the actual game; not the one in NY but a home game. Too bad the Pens blew it. But watching it at our fellow bud's house was a perfect Plan B. While Dustin and Blair were glued to the TV, Nicole, Brady, and I played a bunch of games. We played soccer on his "ice rink". Ha! Then we moved on to cars and eventually ended the evening with Brady showing me his Wrestling Encyclopedia book. I was pretty impressed with how many wrestlers he knew. Other than the Pens losing, the night was so much fun!