#Gates50States

A close-by city for a family weekend getaway for us not named Columbus… Pittsburgh was the easy choice.

Prior to Lydia & Henry’s arrival, we’d stopped by the Pittsburg Zoo on our way home from North Carolina a number of years ago to break up the trip, and we decided to revisit with our whole crew.

There were a couple of high-lights to this trip, most notably our “hotel.” Finding a place that sleeps 3 kids when 2 of them are 4 years old is a challenge.  Your usual Holiday Inn with one room, two twins and a pull-out couch just doesn’t work for our family: kids giggling late into the night, kicking each other in their sleep, all of them waking up when the first wakes up… Like I said, a challenge.

We found Shadyside Inn & Suites.  They have a primary location that’s a renovated school building-turned hotel, and they also own historic homes in the area that are set up like glorified suites.  We had the whole second floor of this place to ourself, with a couple of bedrooms and a kitchen, and it was a short walk from a really cool shopping and restaurant district on Walnut Street.

In the evening we grabbed some pizza and burgers and ice cream on Walnut street.  Jenn got up early the next morning and went for a cup of coffee.  I made breakfast for the kids & packed some lunches for the afternoon.  Then we all went to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

You’re really missing something if you visit Pittsburgh and don’t take in the Duquesne Incline.  Lots of big cities have neat, unique skylines, and Pittsburgh makes it easy to observe and really appreciate it.

We’re going to do Pennsylvania in parts as the years unfold, and this was a fun way to start.