on Pittsburgh

With an extra day off last weekend, and in the spirit of making America an ever more familiar place, I decided to Jeep my way over to the closest city I've never visited within a 300 mile radius - Pittsburgh - A river city to add to the list of others I admire - Washington, Paris, New York, Chicago.It's always fun to just jump on the road and go. I didn't really make any plans, and barely followed a map. I kept going north and west until signs started to say Pittsburgh.Arriving in a city by land creates a different experience than by air or sea. It's as if you get to know the surrounding landscape more intimately, and feel like a more natural part of the environment when you arrive.I  parked downtown and got out and started walking. The first thing was coffee, then I walked past "Dreamers," a pop-up ice cream shop with a logo featuring a fluffy cloud. One of the girls was waving hysterically from behind the counter to get me to come in, so I did.The story as told by the girl was that "Dreamers" is a unique kind of place - each person who works there picks their favorite flavor - and anyone who buys it from them ends up contributing 25% of the sale towards whatever that server's "dream" is. The girl who served me had a dream of going to Europe with her best friend, so I had her favorite flavor - Peanut Butter!I checked out the park that is on the tip of the city, where the three rivers meet. Across one of them was two stadiums, and behind the park is the modest skyline. It was kind of muggy weather but a few people were out walking. A female bodybuilder type was doing a photo shoot and two stoner kids were laughing at her and asked to take her picture.I found a room on Priceline (which is an awesome way to book last minute hotels) at the Courtyard Marriot. The room turned out to be nice with huge tall ceilings, red and gold wallpaper, black and white prints of abstract architectural photography.Across the street I found a place called Sharp Edge Bistro which had many craft Belgian brews on tap. I drank one called "Palm" which was smooth and then switched over to "Brew Free or Die" IPA. I started talking to a Pitt student and we ended up heading to the Primanti Bros restaurant at Market Square.It was a fun night and we ended up meeting more Pitt students and drinking on the patio at Primanti Bros until they closed. I was introduced to Iron City Beer which confused me because I thought Pittsburgh was the Steel city, and I caught a glimpse of student life with a quick apartment tour.I woke up the next morning, chugged some coffee and checked out. Walking around the city  I noticed a significant number of Obama supporters and Union members out rallying for the upcoming election. I grabbed a HUGE meatball sub from DiBellas, ate half, and then hit the road."The road is life."