Just over a couple of weeks ago, I embarked on a road trip to Pittsburgh. My friend Bob is originally from Pittsburgh and he was to be my trusty guide covering 1200 miles in the space of four days. Travelling north on the first day from Atlanta, we drove 440 miles to our first destination, Lewisburg, West Virginia. We booked into our hotel for the night and were surprised next morning at breakfast to be surrounded by a plethora of Red Cross workers. We soon realized they were relief workers cleaning up after the severe flooding that engulfed West Virginian the previous week.
We drove the short distance to the Greenbrier Hotel to take a tour of “The Bunker” which lived underneath the West Wing of this gargantuan hotel comprising 700 guest rooms. The former US Government Relocation facility was a top secret of the Cold War designed to accommodate both the US Senate and House of Representatives in the event of a national emergency.
Planned by the Eisenhower Administration, in cooperation with the leadership of the United States Congress, the facility was built under the Greenbrier between 1958 and 1961. Once completed, it was maintained in a state of constant readiness by a small cadre of government employees.
The secrecy of its location was maintained for more than 30 years until May 1992 when The Washington Post published a story effectively exposing it. The day after the story was published, the facility was declassified and phased out by July 1995. It was finally opened to the public as an historic museum as an artifact of the Cold War. Included in the facility are 44 separate locations with 153 rooms comprising a total of 112, 544 sq. feet on two levels.
We continued our journey to Pittsburgh to pick up the cable car on the 138 year old incline which afforded us a panoramic view over the city. Once dominated by steel mills along the “Three Rivers,” downtown has been transformed into a modern city appropriate for the 21st Century.
Hunger pangs were beginning to take their toll, and we headed for The Church Brew Works which is a restaurant and brewery rolled into one. Nestled in the historic neighborhood of Lawrenceville, The award winning CBW opened in 1996 as the first and only Brew Pub in the country to be located in a historic church.
The original Douglas Fir floors, stained glass windows and hand-painted cypress ceiling were all painstakingly renovated to showcase their original beauty, providing a unique and memorable dining and drinking experience.
The second day had provided magical moments for one who was new to the City of Pittsburgh, and we were happy and content to retire to our hotel for a good night’s rest in readiness for what next day’s adventures had in store.
We were up bright and early the next morning, and having consumed a nondescript breakfast at the Comfort Suites Hotel, we drove to Canton, Ohio to visit the NFL Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame experience is like a Disney Park for adults. The exhibit rooms were awash with jerseys and artifacts from NFL legends, Super Bowl rings, and my favorite, busts of every NFL Hall of Famer. As a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, I was dismayed to discover that only one Falcon, Claude Humphreys, has been inducted in their fifty year history, whereas Bob’s team, the Pittsburgh Steelers have 19 players inducted in the Hall of Fame. I guess 5 Super Bowl wins deserve some recognition.
We returned to Pittsburgh for an early dinner at Station Square before attending a Pittsburgh Pirate game. We found a cute restaurant, Bar Louie, with a patio area along the river. We had luckily stumbled on happy hour, and wine and appetizers were half price and draft beer was $1.25!!!! In contrast a similar beer would later cost $11 at the ball park.
Bob dragged me from Louie’s kicking and screaming, and we boarded a paddle steamer to transport us across the river to the fairly new baseball stadium (PNC Park.) Unfortunately the night didn’t end on the brightest of notes with the Pirates losing 4-8 to the Milwaukee Brewers in a very slow contest.
On our last day, we had breakfast at a Park’N’Eat restaurant, where Bob had worked many years ago as a short order cook. The nostalgia continued for Bob as we drove around the neighborhood where he was born and raised. He also caddied at a local golf course as a young teenager, but sadly the club went into bankruptcy a few years ago, and the course was almost unrecognizable since mother nature had reclaimed it.
Continuing the golf theme, we stopped for a few minutes at Oakmont Country Club where the US Open had been held in June and won in decisive fashion by Dustin Johnson. Oakmont has hosted the US Open nine times, more than any other course. Some of the notable winners include Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, and Johnny Miller shot a course record 63 in the final round in 1973 to capture the Open crown.
We eventually headed for our final destination on the itinerary. Fallingwater , one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most widely acclaimed works was designed in 1935 for the family of Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar. J. Kaufmann Sr.
The key to the setting of the house is the waterfall over which it is built. Wright designed the house to rise above the waterfall, rather than face it. Fallingwater was constructed of sandstone quarried on the property, and serves to separate reinforced concrete “trays” dramatically cantilevered over the stream. It is the only major Wright work to come into the public domain with its setting, original furnishings and artwork intact.
Sadly our journey was nearing its conclusion, and we returned to Pittsburgh where we had reservations at The Hampton Inn, close to the Airport in readiness for my flight home to Atlanta. The next morning I caught the hotel shuttle to the Delta terminal taking home a host of wonderful memories. Meanwhile Bob continued his journey to his final destination in Boston. It had been an unforgettable trip and I’m sincerely grateful to Bob for organizing the itinerary, plotting out the route, making the hotel reservations, and sharing his wealth of local knowledge with me.
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