Day 1: Pittsburgh (It's not the Pitts!)

If you've ever heard that Pittsburgh is the Pitts, there's absolutely no truth to it. This gem of a city is pretty and scenic, clean and tidy, even hip and cool, and thriving with life. Located at the convergence of three rivers, it's filled with elegant bridges, 46 total, many of them painted a bright golden color. There are also world-class museums, charming neighborhoods, grand mansions, funky art galleries and coffee shops, and dramatic skyscrapers. The downtown is compact but the skyscrapers seem as high as those in New York and when you look up the effect is dramatic. We were also struck by the whimsy of the architecture. Castle turrets topped one skyscraper—no wonder the new Batman was filmed here.

It's also a city of green hills, leafy trees, and meticulously landscaped public spaces. We spotted carefully arranged beds of flowers along the freeway, and planter baskets overflowing with color hang from lampposts. And, most importantly to locals, it's a city of sports teams. Two major stadiums, where the Pirates and Steelers play, front the river and offer striking skyline views.

Pittsburgh experienced a downturn in the 1980s when the last of the steel mills within the city limits shut down, but this city of 300,000 has come back strong.


Budget
We're doing this trip on $200 a day and here's a look at how much we spent on day one.
Breakfast: free at hotel
Parking: $2
Lunch: $20.94 (three sandwiches at Primanti Bros.)
Snack: $7.53 (one sundae and candy at Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor)
Parking: $1
Museum admission: $30 (Andy Warhol)
Dinner: $45.50 (Rose Tea Cafe)

Total: $106.97

Highlights
Here's a look at everything we did today. Unfortunately, our day started late because we slept in after our delayed flight brought us into Pittsburgh at midnight the night before. But we still managed to see (and eat) a lot. 


1) Headwaters Ohio River

We're following the full length of the Ohio River over the next 10 days, and so our first stop was the headwaters. From where we're standing in this photo, you can see where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio.


2) Primanti Bros.

Sandwiches stuffed with meat, cheese, cole slaw and...french fries? Yes, hand-cut fries, and it was absolutely delicious. Because we're on a budget, we ordered three for the four of us and that was plenty. The sandwiches are monster-size and you can barely get your mouth around them. This is a local chain but we visited the first location on 18th in the Strip District.



3) Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor

After lunch we walked a mile down Penn Ave to this old-fashioned soda fountain that dates back to 1923.  Everything is original including the 20-foot-long marble counter where you can sit on a stool and sip a phosphate.

We split a turtle sundae with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, caramel, hot fudge, nuts, amaretto whipped-cream and two cherries. Our family was literally fighting over every bite.

 Notice the dollop of whipped cream on my daughter's chin.

For kids, Klavon's is better than Christmas. The selection of candy is overwhelming and everything costs about 5 to 25 cents. For adults, the candy counter is a walk back in time. You'll find everything candy buttons and Lemonheads to Neccos and Jujyfruits.

We let the kids pick out one candy each. They spent at least 20 minutes deciding.

This is what happens when you allow your child to eat Fun Dip.

The kids also wanted ice cream cones but we decided that they'd had enough sugar for one day.


4) Andy Warhol Museum
I've always been intrigued by the life of the late artist Andy Warhol and I love his brightly colored artwork. And so when I found out that admission was half-off at the Andy Warhol Museum on Friday nights, I decided that we must go. Warhol grew up in Pittsburgh and six stories of galleries are filled with exhibits about Warhol's life and some 500 of his works. This might not seem like a kid attraction but my children loved the gigantic soup can, the wall painted with cows and the famous silver cloud room where you get to throw giant balloons filled with helium into the air. 

5) Andy Warhol Bridge
After dinner we took a walk across the Andy Warhol Bridge. Most of the downtown bridges are yellow to match the city's official colors of black and gold.

 The bridges are made from steel that was locally produced.

 Pittsburgh is often called "The City of Bridges."

 My daughter got mad and decided to sit down because....

 my son and I were acting crazy.

 


6) Rose Tea Cafe 

 This tiny restaurant in the Squirrel Hill district dishes up Taiwanese cuisine—and the food must be authentic because everyone eating there was speaking Mandarin. The stir-fries are fresh, spicy and packed with flavor. I devoured my chicken curry and my kids slurped up a bowl of chicken noodle soup. We especially loved the frothy milk tea drinks filled with gooey tapioca balls and served in Mason jars with brightly colored straws. The kids ordered yogurt smoothies, which were tart and sweet and slushy like a Slurpee.

What's up next? Tomorrow we're driving to Ashland, KY. We'll be following the route that hugs the Ohio River. Feel free to suggest places where we should stop along the way in the comments.

Hello Pittsburgh!

After a string of flight delays, we finally landed in Pittsburgh, where we plan to begin our 10-day road trip following the Ohio River. We checked into the Best Western Parkway Center, just outside of town. It's got just what a family traveling on a budget needs: swimming pool (free entertainment!), complimentary breakfast, and affordable rates.

We're looking forward to spending our first day and Saturday morning in Pittsburgh (although the weather looks nothing like that in the photo above. It's raining). Here's a look at some places we hope to visit:

Primanti Bros: It's a local chain of sandwich restaurants, where you can get french fries in your sandwiches. My friend Jennifer Reese, author of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, suggested it.

Mount Washington: The best place to take in views of the city. It's free!

Architectural walking tour: The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation offers a series of free downloadable walking tours that will take you by the historic buildings on Grant Street and Fourth Avenue, in Market Square and the Cultural District, as well as the city’s bridges and river shores.

Oakland District: University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and a bunch of museums including the Carnegie Natural History Museum (we plan to hit this before we leave on Saturday because Bank of America customers get in free on the first consecutive Saturday and Sunday of each month in 2012)

Andy Warhol Museum: Half-off admission on Friday nights.

Summer family road trip begins with a string of delays

We were all ready to go. Bags packed. Boarding passes printed out. The cab was on its way to drive us to the San Francisco Airport. And then American Airlines called and an automated voice told us that our plane was delayed two hours. At least we were still at home and didn't have to wait at the airport.

By the time we made it to the airport, we found that storms in the south and East had delayed many planes. We bumped into some friends who were trying to get to New York and they'd been at the airport all morning. But we finally got on the plane and made it to Dallas. 

But the best part of this story comes on the second leg of our trip, when we were flying from Dallas to New York. Our plane was about to take off when suddenly it turned around and returned to the gate. Turns out a drunken woman refused to wear her seat belt. The unruly passenger was escorted off the plane, and an hour later we took off.

 Another passenger on the plane knew the woman who got kicked off. They weren't traveling together or close friends. They just lived in the community.

The flight attendant asked, "What's she like?"

The woman screamed out, "That woman is a ****!"

That's when my daughter asked, "Mommy, what does that word mean?"

As a result of all the fuss, we got extra special treatment on American Airlines. Free snacks for the kids and a mini bottle of wine for mom.

Summer road trip: following the Ohio River

Every summer our family of four hits the road for a week-long trip. Last summer, we drove across Montana. Another summer we cruised up I-5 from San Francisco to Seattle. We've also followed Route 66 and traced the length of the Mississippi River, which actually took us three weeks.

This summer we're following the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh to Paducah (that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?). We'll be covering 800 miles in 10 days and passing through five states along the way, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, West Virgina, and Kentucky.

The Ohio River isn't an especially sexy option. It doesn't star in any blockbuster films or bestselling options. It's not something you see advertised as a major tourist attraction in glossy magazines. There are no glamorous cities or big-name national parks along this route. I couldn't find a single guidebook covering the drive.

But as I dig deeper and deeper, I've come across more and more information about the river and area around it. I read about the stretch that passes through rural northeastern Kentucky in a 1986 NY Times article.


Mary Augusta Rodgers writes:

Augusta, Maysville and Washington are three small pioneer towns in northeast Kentucky - a gentle and pastoral land with a savage history, where old buildings are left to tell some of the story. And the Ohio River keeps rolling on.

Soon after leaving Cincinnati and crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky, you suddenly enter the rural South. Accents are soft and life seems to move at a slower pace.

Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

I also read about Paducah, KY., our final destination on the river, in the Times.

Evan McGlinn writes:

Paducah isn’t Podunk these days. Thanks to its Artist Relocation Program, artists and gallery owners, and people who like artists and galleries, are coming to this town of 27,000 at the intersection of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. 

The more I dig and read the more I'm drawn to the rural countryside of Kentucky and the Industrial cities: Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. And I've always wanted to see Louisville.

Have you driven along the Ohio River? Do you have any suggestions for places to stop along the way?

Happy Birthday Golden Gate Bridge!

The Ohio River: Interesting facts

The more I learn about the Ohio River, the more excited I become about our road trip along it.

Here are a bunch of random facts that I came across about the river on Wikipedia:

The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Allegheny River (left) and Monongahela River (right) join to form the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—the largest metropolitan area on the river.

Wheeling, West Virginia, a major city on the river, was the first city to have a bridge across the river.

Louisville, Kentucky is situated at both the widest and deepest level of the Ohio River.

A barge hauling coal in the Louisville and Portland Canal, the only man-made portion of the Ohio River.

Cincinnati, Ohio is a well-known city along the Ohio River, historically known for its riverboats. The Tall Stacks festival celebrates the Cincinnati riverboats and the Ohio River every three or four years.

Evansville, Indiana, the third-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest city on the river.

In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted."

Photo: wikipedia

Are you hitting the road for Memorial Day?

The road trip is back! AAA just released its Memorial Day travel forecast and predicts that more people will be hitting the road this year compared to last.

"AAA estimates that 34.8 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this Memorial Day weekend, an increase of 500,000 travelers over 2011," autoblog.com reports.

Are you planning to hit the road this weekend? If you're still looking for ideas check out Budget Travel where you'll find directions and tips for some of the most scenic drives in America.  

Maker Faire Bay Area in photos

We spent the weekend at the Maker Faire, just outside of San Francisco. It's like a science fair, only much cooler and bigger. My son spent the afternoon with his dad taking apart computers and then gluing the little pieces together to create sculptures. My daughter and I headed for the sewing area where tables were piled high with used clothing, ribbon, buttons, lace, and patches. There were also sewing machines and glue guns galore. We decorated an old pair of pants with Strawberry Shortcakes that we cut out of a pair of pajamas. Here's a look at all we saw and did that day:

Thomas Jefferson on the Ohio River

I just came across this on the Kentucky Tourism website. Our family will be taking a road trip this summer that follows the Ohio River and Thomas Jefferson's quote has made me feel like we picked a beautiful route.

In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781-82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted."

Virgin Airlines is introducing cell phones on planes: Is this good or bad news??

I used to consider an airplane a sanctuary. It was one of those few places where I could get away from it all. Well, mainly get away from my computer and the pressure to work. I have to do most of my work online so without an Internet connection it wasn't worth turning my computer on.

Instead, I'd laze around in my airplane seat reading books and magazines and watching movies. And then airlines started introducing online services...and I started working on plane flights. The glory days of relaxing on the plane were over...

And now things are getting even worse. Virgin Atlantic announced that it will soon be introducing cell phone service on some flights between New York and London. It'll cost you a pricey $1.20 but still there will now be added pressure on plane flights to answer that call from your boss. And I'm sure more airlines will soon follow and cell phone service on planes will become the norm...and we'll all have to listen to fellow passengers' annoying phone calls.

Source: CNET

The best place to shop in Ghana: Global Mamas

At Global Mamas in Accra, Ghana, you walk into a burst of colors. This small shop showcasing the work of local artisans is filled with dresses, aprons, tablecloths and quilts made from batik fabrics in bright colors that you thought were only made for the sweetest candies. A red-and-white polka dot dress, hot pink zebra print napkins, and a blue and purple cloth bag covered in roses caught my eye. The store is loaded with all sorts of other souvenirs from beaded necklaces to books featuring photographs of local kids. Everything is well-made and well-priced and all proceeds from purchases go back to the women who made the items.

Where to eat in Accra, Ghana

Club+233: Don't expect this restaurant to have even half of the local dishes featured on the menu but you don't go here for the food. It's the sounds of live Afrojazz that make this a hot spot.

Buku: If you want to sample traditional Ghanaian food, go here—and be ready for serious spice. Try spinach stew, mashed yam, goat meat, and tilapia with pepper sauce.

Frankie's: American food cooked in Ghana by Lebanese. Huh? Yes, and the burgers and milkshakes are pretty good, especially if you're suffering from a mild case of the touristas.

Monsoon: Sip a cocktail and savor fresh sushi on the veranda of this hip spot that's popular with the expat crowd. Inside, oil paintings hang on walls painted bright purple, green, and orange—and the dinner menu includes everything from fresh oysters to South African game.

The people of Ghana

Ghana isn't a touristy place. In this Western African country that's about the size of Oregon you won't find any zip lines zipping through the monkey-filled trees or safari companies to take you out to see the elephants at night. Boutique hotels and resorts with sprawling swimming pools are rare.

And the capital city of Accra is a frenzied tangled mess of dirt roads and corrugated tin homes with the random tall building reaching up for the sky. You won't find a central part of town with a plaza circled with souvenir shops and shaded by trees. In fact, there's little greenery in this sea of browness.

Accra sits right on the ocean but you won't find a walking path winding along the white sandy beaches. No cafes and bars with balconies hanging over the crashing waves. In fact, the beaches are vacant and often blocked off with tall hurricane fences.

No, this isn't a touristy place.

It's the people with smiles that spread from ear to ear that bring this place alive.  Dressed in brilliantly patterned local fabrics, carrying big baskets of bananas on their heads, walking along with friends and family arm-in-arm, the people are some of the most beautiful in the world. They always greet out-of-towners with a friendly hello or a hug. It's downright rude to approach someone and ask a question without saying "Hello friend" first.

How to pack for Africa

This week I’m traveling to Ghana—and I've spent the past week figuring out what to put into my bag. I put an open suitcase next to my closet and as I thought of things to bring I tossed them. I also often found myself pulling stuff out. Yet another T-shirt? Don’t need that. Sunproof long-sleeved shirt. Definitely yes!

Here’s a look at some of the essentials I’m bringing along:

1.     Quick-drying underwear: You'll be a lot more comfortable.

2.     Waterproof shoes: You might walk through puddles of stuff that you prefer to not get into your socks.

3.     Light-weight waterproof jacket: When it rains, it pours yet it can still be baking hot. Pack a jacket that's light.

4.     Breathable cotton and linen clothing: In Africa you’ll sweat more than you’ve ever sweat before. You’ll be more comfortable in light, airy clothing.

5.     Authentic clothing: A friend of mine visited Ghana and purchased some authentic clothing. She loaned it to me so I’ll have something to wear when I visit villages. The Ghanaians appreciate it when you wear their local dress.

6.     Medications: You’ll want some a prescription for Cipro in case you get diarrhea. I prefer Malarone for Malarlia. Yes, it’s more expensive. I also like to bring something to help me sleep on the plane. You’re enjoy your trip more if you arrive well-rested.

7.     Vaccination records: Ghana requires proof for the yellow fever vaccine.

8.     Passport: Don’t forget to look into necessary Visas well in advance.

9.     Guidebook: The Bradt guides are always thorough and cover every detail. 

10.  Photo of my kids: Africans love children and they’ll want to see photos of yours. This will help create a connection between you and people you meet.

11. Chewing gum: In case you’re hit with a bad case of heartburn.

12. Energy bars:  You’ll appreciate having some high-calorie, high-nutrient food on hand, especially if you get sick.

13. Sunscreen and a hat: The sun feels more powerful in Africa. Lather on lots of sunscreen.

14. Flashlight or headlamp: Even in the nicest hotels, the power can go out just like that.