October 2011
On a previous occasion when I was playing Pittsburgh tour guide, my visiting friend enthusiastically told me he wanted “to go on the thing that goes up.” He was describing the Duquesne Incline, one of the remaining cable cars originally used to transport the many laborers who had a very severe set of hills separating their homes from their industrial jobs. When my friend discovered the incline, he was a bit dismayed to find the cable car system was little more than “a thing that goes up [and down].”
Fast forward to Heather and Jess’s visit, and Heather seemed to have an equally skewed understanding of this tourist trap. “I’ll wear my tennis shoes when we do the incline.” I assured her she could wear her ballet flats and be fine. The out-of-towners were blatantly confused by this local attraction. A lot of Pittsburghers overlook the quaint charm and one time wonder of riding the rickety cable car, so if you have a friend in town, it’s a good excuse to do something a little bit cheesy with your afternoon. After all, the view is quite stunning from the top, and you’ll need something to do in between all the food excursions (even if you do invent courses for the sake of picnicking).
After briefly taking in some of the sites on the South Side point of departure, we boarded one of the little cable cars who could, and the girls looked upon the city with wide eyes.
Views from the top…
There were some pretty fall colors at the top, but there were also some steep slopes. We called it quits right around the autumnal colors of this house. There was more to do on the other side of the river.
For all Andy’s love of fame, flashes and cameras (bc I’m on the “Andy” level with him), the museum is pretty strict about where you can capture your own images. They do, however, let you play with these cows.
They also let you play with their photobooth (for a price). It’s one of my favorite parts about the museum.
My other favorite part of the museum is the Silver Cloud piece. To see what happened when my friends joined me in my favorite room, click the image of the silver cloud and me.
As the museum closed, and we made our way towards yellow bridges, Jess asked, “is there a place where we could eat something?” I tried to think of some worthwhile places for a light bite to eat. We were all quite satisfied with my response. Stay tuned!
