Girls' Mini Weekend Trip- Pennsylvania

Girls' Mini Weekend Trip- Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Bedford and In Between
November 9-10, 2012

Our dad told us about Gravity Hill years ago and we’d been meaning to go ever since but it’s kind of out in the middle of Pennsylvania and we never quite managed to make it there.   But, pieced together with a band we LOVE and a few other attractions along the way and we had the makings of an excellent mini weekend excursion.

Di, Meg and I met at Meg’s house and we packed up her luxurious Lincoln ‘Pearl’ for the ride out to Pittsburgh.  We decided to follow Route 30 from Ohio, through West Virginia and into Pennsylvania.  We stopped in Lisbon, Ohio at the Steel Trolley Diner (STD) for a dinner of gourmet hot dogs with toppings like bleu cheese, horseradish and jalapeños or peanut butter, bacon and banana jam.   It was a great meal and by the time we left we were pretty giggly from the way the restaurant capitalized on their initials and various other conversations.  At one point Di described the short few minutes we spent driving through West Virginia as ‘In and out- just the tip!’  The rest of our drive into Pennsylvania was full of music and chatter.

We were pretty impressed with our room at the Holiday Inn Express Pittsburgh- Southside Hotel.  The décor had been recently updated and the hotel staff was friendly and fun.  We called for a car from Classy Cab and they sent the chillest taxi driver in existence- an awesome guy named Vinnie.  This dude was so low key.  He chatted with us about basketball, growing up in Pittsburgh and the music we were going out to see.  When he dropped us off he gave us his number and said to call him if we needed a ride home.  Later that night I called him up, said ‘hey Vinnie-it’s Heather- can you come get us?’ and he was like ‘Yeah, I’ll be there in 10!’ Vinnie is so awesome! 

The Stagecoach Robbery at the Thunderbird Café in the Lawrenceville area of Pittsburgh was crazy!  From the moment the band started playing the crowd was in a groove and dancing.  We boogied with so many people that night.  The energy was unbeatable- there was just the coolest vibe.  The way the Thunderbird is set up on three levels with the stage on the center tier and bars on the upper and lower floors make it quite a nice place to have a well-made drink and see a show.

The next morning we headed east along the Lincoln Highway/Route 30 toward Gravity Hill.  But our first stop was the Flight 93 National Memorial, the site where the hijacked plane crashed into a field on September 11, 2001.  The memorial park is sprawling with information about the flight, its passengers and the events of 9/11 at one end and the stone wall bearing the names of the passenger and crew at the other end of a long walkway that passes by the crash site.  There were plenty of visitors but it was a quiet and reverent place.

The drive along Route 30 was quite scenic, passing through small towns and farmland along the way- we happened to see a herd of bison running along the hillside. It was noteworthy.  But it was nothing compared to Gravity Hill!  Gravity Hill is a place where, either by optical illusion or some sort of physics phenomenon, cars roll uphill.  We followed the directions provided by the Bedford County Visitor’s Bureau- Meg drove down a little country road, up to a spray-painted marker that indicated ‘GH’, put the car in neutral, took her foot off the break and  WE STARTED ROLLING UPHILL!   No joke!  It was pretty wild and we were crazy impressed- we all let out a huge cheer as we slowly moved backwards up the hill.  A little further down the road is another gravity warp zone- we were just as enthused the 2^nd time.  I mean, how often do you get to defy gravity in a lifetime?  The only downside- there was no cell coverage and we weren’t able to call our dad and tell him that we’d just performed a marvelous feat!

So, gravity-beating is hard work and we were so hungry.  We passed a little place called the Fireside Tavern and stopped in for scrumptious sandwiches and dessert.  The place was empty in the mid-afternoon and the bar is in a separate area from the dining room so we had a dining experience with the place to ourselves. 

We really had only one last stop on our agenda- the cute little town of Bedford, Pennsylvania.  Although we’d been drawn in by the Holiday Open House, we were pleasantly surprised when we drove past a giant coffee pot.  Giant things that are supposed to be small things are just fun!  From there we continued to historic downtown Bedford to browse the shops a little.  The first place we stopped was Briar Valley Winery to do a little winetasting before heading into an antique store to make some last minute purchases before they closed for the night.

We followed Interstate 76 to Route 30 and toward home but this trip would not be complete without stopping at the World’s Largest Tea Pot on the way- obviously!  Two giant warm beverage vessels in one day- how lucky were we?!  It was another whirlwind trip where we jam-packed a whole lot of activity in a period of about 24 hours and we had a blast!

*The Stagecoach Robbery pic generously shared by Mr. Brendan Flynn- thanks man!