As I mentioned before, a very good friend of mine from my teaching days in VA was getting married in Pittsburgh, so we decided to make a little vacay out of it! On Friday, August 10th we drove to GA to drop Shelby off with Grammy & Grampy. Then on Saturday, we flew out of the Atlanta airport and arrived in Pittsburgh around dinnertime. We got our rental car & checked into our hotel. We had quite the adventure that first evening...everyone told us we should go check out "The Strip" to walk around and eat dinner. Well, leave it to us to not be able to even find the strip. We were so excited when we finally stumbled upon a restaurant as we were all starving by this point! We realized that it was an Italian restaurant that the hotel had recommended to us, so we quickly went in to grab a table. We learned a very valuable lesson that night--never sit down at a restaurant until you have at least glanced at their menu first! It was the most unique menu we've ever seen at an Italian restaurant! Derek's first words were: "Is this even English?!" When you started reading the description of a dish, it sounded all well & good and then they'd throw something crazy in there at the end like octopus or duck ragu..who even knows what that is?! Let's just say that I ordered a ceasar salad with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. Apparently, we are just Olive Garden People. ;)
Anyhow, Sunday was Erin & Matt's Big Day! We also had an adventure even getting to the ceremony..roads in Pittsburgh are pretty crazy! But thankfully, Derek & Steve managed to get us to the church on time. :) It was a beautiful ceremony!
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| I love this candid shot Derek got of the newlyweds :) Erin looked beautiful! |
The reception was later that evening in the ballroom of the hotel we were staying in. It was a very cool hotel (and beautiful location for a reception!)--the building was previously a monastery that they converted into a hotel.
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| Erin's DIY "guest book"..it was so cute! Everyone signed their name & a little message on one of the leaves. |
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| This is Sarah (She taught Kindergarten in the classroom right next to mine for 3 years. We spent every day together and usually called or emailed one another at least once a night..and usually more! I still miss talking to her everyday!) and her hubby Steve. Their hotel room was right next to ours, and we had SO much fun with them at the wedding and sight-seeing in Pittsburgh! |
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| Derek always has way too much fun at weddings. ;) He likes to think he is the life of the party! |
Sarah & Steve were able to stay through Monday, so we did a lot of sight-seeing with them.
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| The Duquesne Incline. These cable cars took us up for an AMAZING view of the city! |
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| We have done the Duck Tour in Philadelphia & Seattle, so we knew we had to do it again in Pittsburgh! It's such a fun way to see a new city! |
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| This is us at Primanti Brothers. This is the sandwich places that everyone from Pittsburgh raves about! |
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| All of their sandwiches are made with a heaping pile of fries and coleslaw in the middle. The sandwiches were huge! |
Sarah & Steve headed home on Monday evening, and we were sad to see them go. We had so much fun with them! I love friendships that can pick up right where you left off. We hadn't seen them in a little over two years, but we didn't miss a beat.
After Sarah & Steve left we discovered there was a Cheesecake Factory in Pittsburgh, so we headed straight there for dinner! The weather SO incredibly perfect that we were able to enjoy a nice, quiet, uninterrupted dinner & dessert on their patio. It was pure BLISS!
Derek & I had two full days left in Pittsburgh on our own, and we enjoyed them to the fullest! On Tuesday we slept in late then visited the Heinz History Museum. (We needed an indoor activity since it was a rainy day). We had thought about going to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game that evening, but it was still a little rainy...so we just went to dinner at Red Lobster and then headed back to the hotel for a lazy evening. We were bummed that we didn't get to a few of the things we wanted to do due to the weather (the baseball game...and a 2 hour tour of the city via a Segway! Ha!), but we really enjoyed the laid-back day after a busy day of sight-seeing on Monday.
On Wednesday, we checked out of our hotel then headed out for an early movie (Derek's pick--The Campaign) and lunch on the patio of Panera. Again, the weather was DELIGHTFUL! After lunch, we grabbed a chocolate milkshake at DQ then made our way back to the airport to head back to ATL! We spent two days in GA before heading back to Biloxi--I'll do a separate post on our time in GA later.
We seriously had the best time! Thank you so much to Erin & Matt for letting us join you on your special day! Thank you to Sarah & Steve for such a fun time! And a huge thank you to Grammy & Grampy for making it all possible! :)
So excited to make your post! And, I know you'll be surprised to know that I cried while reading it! I miss you so much and I was absolutely delighted to be able to spend some quality time with you guys! You are so right about our friendship...it's one of a kind and I love that although we've been far apart for 2 years, you wouldn't know it by how it felt when we were together (like we were never apart)! Love and miss you!
ReplyDeleteHi Friend! I was so excited to see this post. We just got home from Hawaii today so it was nice to read your recap! I'm glad you had a good time and I'm even happier that you made the trip! Can't wait to see you in your neck of the woods in a few months :)
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