The Long and Short of It.
Not quite sure where to start really. It's obviously been quite a while since I last posted. And there have been a few of you to send me nice messaging asking why I've not been posting. So thoughtful of you. I'm just busy. Really busy. And cheap. A lot of the truck stops HAVE wi-fi but you have to pay for it. I'm not paying for something I don't need, so I opt not to get access.
The places that have had free wi-fi have been places that upon my arrival, I find that falling face first into bed is a better option than blogging. I've been working hard and just haven't felt like taking precious sleeping time out to tell you stories that will probably just bore you to death.
While I've been working my butt off nothing really too exciting has happened. I have picked up loads, driven hundreds of miles and delivered loads. I haven't seen any weenie wagers. I haven't seen or been involved in any accidents or incidents. I haven't even taken any pictures, primarily because I left my camera at home after my last round of home time.
I guess I could tell you about my time off trip to Pittsburgh with my hubby. But some of you get all bent out of shape when I don't post exclusively about trucking. haha Of course, if you really want to hear about it. I will tell you a few of the highlights from our trip.
We left town on Friday and drove to Pittsburgh on a beautiful sunny day. Our plan was sketchy but we had a few places we were really interested in seeing. The primary goal of the trip was to visit Phipps Conservatory, a botanical garden that my hubby had visited years ago and just knew I'd love. So when we arrived in Pittsburgh, after a few downtown detours we made our way over to Phipps. It was just amazing. We wandered around inside and outside, taking pictures and smelling the flowers for somewhere around an hour and a half.
The Conservatory was located on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, which had some beautiful and impressive buildings which we decided we might as well peruse while we were there. The best of the best from that portion of the trip was going into the Cathedral of Learning. The building itself was an imposing force on the campus. The architecture was breathtaking and the sense of absolute history when you walked in the doors was overwhelming. We managed to find our way up to the 36th floor on a rickety sounding elevator and took in some pretty impressive views of greater Pittsburgh.
Seeing rain on the horizon we decided it was a good idea to get back down to the car and head to our next destination. It was getting late and we were kind of holding off on riding the Duquesne Incline for even more breathtaking views of the city, because we wanted to see it lit up at night. So we took our time making our way from the campus to the incline. The incline was pretty freaking cool. I recommend it highly. There are two inclines in Pittsburgh (that I know of) the one over at Station Square and the one we rode, which is technically just a short ways away from the other.
After gazing at the city at night, educating ourselves on the self guided mechanical tour at the top of the incline (a mere $0.50 per person) we decided to drive down the street to the Station Square to see what that was all about. I figure in the daytime it would have been more exciting, but as it was, we did manage to find ourselves in a little pub called The Gandy Dancer Saloon for a brew before heading out in search of a hotel for the night.
We ended up over by the airport on the west side of the city at a hotel for the night. We also had trouble finding beer to take back to the room, because you can't just buy a sixer in a gas station like we can in West Virginia, in Pennsylvania. Stupid if you ask me. So in order to get a little adult beverage action we made our way to the local Applebee's for a little bit. I had myself a giant Mudslide and hubby had a few tap drawn brews. Then it was finally bedtime.
Saturday we woke up to a rainy chilly day. But we still wanted to do some sight seeing. And after a short debate we decided to go ahead and head over to the Pittsburgh Zoo, umbrella's in hand. It wasn't very crowded thanks to the rain, which was really just a light sprinkle off and on. So we had plenty of room to move around. Since it was off season, we got in for a discounted rate too.
The zoo had some really cool animals, most of the standards of course. There were a disconcerting amount of empty exhibits from either animals having passed on or from being held elsewhere during the winter months. But we still really enjoyed the park.
We wandered around and took pictures and enjoyed watching the animals play for nearly 3 hours. I was happy to see that most of the animals were active. I've been to zoo's before where the animals are always sleeping or just laying around doing nothing. That wasn't the case at the Pittsburgh Zoo that day, anyway. Most of the animals were playing or bemusing the park goers with their animal antics. The little monkey in this video is a prime example of what most of the animals were up to.
After visiting the zoo we headed over to St. Anthony's Chapel, a church that houses over 5000 Holy Relics. That was a really cool place to see, even as a non-practicing Catholic. It was just amazing to see and if you're into that sort of thing, then I recommend it highly.
We then found ourselves at the Penn Brewery for lunch. I consumed an enormous schnitzel sandwich and a side of spatzel and a damn tasty hefeweizen beer. Hubby had a gargantuan burger and fries. After that I, if I recall correctly, we decided to start heading southward out of the city.
We found ourselves heading towards Uniontown, PA because the hubby said that he had heard about that area and wanted to see it. There wasn't any specific reason apparently, but we went that way anyway. Turned out to be a great idea.
En route I was searching on my iPhone for stuff to do or see in that area. Two of Frank Lloyd Wrights' houses are down that way, but we weren't going to make it before they closed for the day. There was also a place called The Nemacolin Castle, which by our lucky strike, was holding ghost tours that night. We took the tour just at sunset and while we enjoyed the history and stories by the tour guide, we didn't get to see any ghosts.
After the tour we headed into Uniontown and found a hotel for the night. The following morning we headed towards home, getting side tracked only once to explore the grounds that housed The Sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great, which included a Holy Shrine and some absolutely beautiful landscapes.
The trip was pretty much awesome over all and we found lots of things we would like to do on our next spur of the moment trip to Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.
Since then I've just been trucking. I found myself at a company terminal last week where I got to meet up with and have dinner with Trucking Tiger. Right now I'm in Maine, killing time before heading out to deliver a load to a Wal-Mart Distribution Center and then picking up a load going to another town in Maine and then after delivering that going to yet another town in Maine to pick up a load going down to Massachusetts.
I'm due home time again this coming Friday. So hopefully they'll get to working me down out of the north east come Tuesday. But we'll see.
The places that have had free wi-fi have been places that upon my arrival, I find that falling face first into bed is a better option than blogging. I've been working hard and just haven't felt like taking precious sleeping time out to tell you stories that will probably just bore you to death.
While I've been working my butt off nothing really too exciting has happened. I have picked up loads, driven hundreds of miles and delivered loads. I haven't seen any weenie wagers. I haven't seen or been involved in any accidents or incidents. I haven't even taken any pictures, primarily because I left my camera at home after my last round of home time.
I guess I could tell you about my time off trip to Pittsburgh with my hubby. But some of you get all bent out of shape when I don't post exclusively about trucking. haha Of course, if you really want to hear about it. I will tell you a few of the highlights from our trip.
We left town on Friday and drove to Pittsburgh on a beautiful sunny day. Our plan was sketchy but we had a few places we were really interested in seeing. The primary goal of the trip was to visit Phipps Conservatory, a botanical garden that my hubby had visited years ago and just knew I'd love. So when we arrived in Pittsburgh, after a few downtown detours we made our way over to Phipps. It was just amazing. We wandered around inside and outside, taking pictures and smelling the flowers for somewhere around an hour and a half.
The Conservatory was located on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, which had some beautiful and impressive buildings which we decided we might as well peruse while we were there. The best of the best from that portion of the trip was going into the Cathedral of Learning. The building itself was an imposing force on the campus. The architecture was breathtaking and the sense of absolute history when you walked in the doors was overwhelming. We managed to find our way up to the 36th floor on a rickety sounding elevator and took in some pretty impressive views of greater Pittsburgh.
Seeing rain on the horizon we decided it was a good idea to get back down to the car and head to our next destination. It was getting late and we were kind of holding off on riding the Duquesne Incline for even more breathtaking views of the city, because we wanted to see it lit up at night. So we took our time making our way from the campus to the incline. The incline was pretty freaking cool. I recommend it highly. There are two inclines in Pittsburgh (that I know of) the one over at Station Square and the one we rode, which is technically just a short ways away from the other.
After gazing at the city at night, educating ourselves on the self guided mechanical tour at the top of the incline (a mere $0.50 per person) we decided to drive down the street to the Station Square to see what that was all about. I figure in the daytime it would have been more exciting, but as it was, we did manage to find ourselves in a little pub called The Gandy Dancer Saloon for a brew before heading out in search of a hotel for the night.
We ended up over by the airport on the west side of the city at a hotel for the night. We also had trouble finding beer to take back to the room, because you can't just buy a sixer in a gas station like we can in West Virginia, in Pennsylvania. Stupid if you ask me. So in order to get a little adult beverage action we made our way to the local Applebee's for a little bit. I had myself a giant Mudslide and hubby had a few tap drawn brews. Then it was finally bedtime.
Saturday we woke up to a rainy chilly day. But we still wanted to do some sight seeing. And after a short debate we decided to go ahead and head over to the Pittsburgh Zoo, umbrella's in hand. It wasn't very crowded thanks to the rain, which was really just a light sprinkle off and on. So we had plenty of room to move around. Since it was off season, we got in for a discounted rate too.
The zoo had some really cool animals, most of the standards of course. There were a disconcerting amount of empty exhibits from either animals having passed on or from being held elsewhere during the winter months. But we still really enjoyed the park.
We wandered around and took pictures and enjoyed watching the animals play for nearly 3 hours. I was happy to see that most of the animals were active. I've been to zoo's before where the animals are always sleeping or just laying around doing nothing. That wasn't the case at the Pittsburgh Zoo that day, anyway. Most of the animals were playing or bemusing the park goers with their animal antics. The little monkey in this video is a prime example of what most of the animals were up to.
After visiting the zoo we headed over to St. Anthony's Chapel, a church that houses over 5000 Holy Relics. That was a really cool place to see, even as a non-practicing Catholic. It was just amazing to see and if you're into that sort of thing, then I recommend it highly.
We then found ourselves at the Penn Brewery for lunch. I consumed an enormous schnitzel sandwich and a side of spatzel and a damn tasty hefeweizen beer. Hubby had a gargantuan burger and fries. After that I, if I recall correctly, we decided to start heading southward out of the city.
We found ourselves heading towards Uniontown, PA because the hubby said that he had heard about that area and wanted to see it. There wasn't any specific reason apparently, but we went that way anyway. Turned out to be a great idea.
En route I was searching on my iPhone for stuff to do or see in that area. Two of Frank Lloyd Wrights' houses are down that way, but we weren't going to make it before they closed for the day. There was also a place called The Nemacolin Castle, which by our lucky strike, was holding ghost tours that night. We took the tour just at sunset and while we enjoyed the history and stories by the tour guide, we didn't get to see any ghosts.
After the tour we headed into Uniontown and found a hotel for the night. The following morning we headed towards home, getting side tracked only once to explore the grounds that housed The Sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great, which included a Holy Shrine and some absolutely beautiful landscapes.
The trip was pretty much awesome over all and we found lots of things we would like to do on our next spur of the moment trip to Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.
Since then I've just been trucking. I found myself at a company terminal last week where I got to meet up with and have dinner with Trucking Tiger. Right now I'm in Maine, killing time before heading out to deliver a load to a Wal-Mart Distribution Center and then picking up a load going to another town in Maine and then after delivering that going to yet another town in Maine to pick up a load going down to Massachusetts.
I'm due home time again this coming Friday. So hopefully they'll get to working me down out of the north east come Tuesday. But we'll see.
Comments
That goes for Trucking Tiger too. About to turn to his blog, hope in my heart ...