Fun, Friends, and Football

We all need a weekend away once in awhile. So, our good friends, Don and Stacey, and my sister and her husband, Heidi and Al, decided that we would plan a trip to Wildwood NJ. We all enjoy the beach, and Don was looking forward to showing the rest of us around Wildwood, since we've never been there.

Then, Hurrican Irene arrived.....at the same time we were supposed to arrive! We had been watching the storm very carefully, and late Thursday night, we made the decision to bail out on NJ, and head west. We figured Pittsburgh would be far enough out of the storms reach, yet close enough to home. So with no other plans, we headed out the turnpike!

We had no hotel room, no ideas of what to visit, just a gps and a Ford Excursion full of luggage and 6 friends! As we got into downtown Pittsburgh, we spotted a hotel on the water front and decided to go in and check it out. As it turns out, it was very expensive and we thought we'd keep driving. We saw a Marriott hotel on the north side of Pittsburg, right across from PNC park (home of the Pittsburgh Pirates). There were only a few rooms available, as apparently there was a Steelers game at Heinz Field Saturday evening. We took the last few remaining rooms and headed up to the 9th floor. The views of the city were amazing and the room was very roomy and comfy!

Since we were told there was a Steelers game, we thought "How cool would it be if we could get tickets?" Even though it was a preseason game, most of us were Steelers fans and were super excited to go. So my brother-in-law, Al, got on the internet and secured us 6 tickets to the game! This would definitely be the highlight to our weekend!

While we waited anxiously to go to the game, we did some shopping (looking for some Steelers garb, since none of us thought to bring ours from home). We hit a few cool malls and some sports shops and got our clothing and a few souveniers for the kids. We ate at 2 delicious restaurants while there, one down the street called Atrias, and the hotel restaurant called Soho. Atrias had wonderful burgers, wraps, italian dishes and french fries.

The second place we tried was Soho. That was so good that we ate there twice, some of us, 3 times! Their burgers were delicious too, and they had the famous Pittsburgh salad, stuffed shells, chicken quesadillas and much more! We enjoyed martinis, beer, and even some shots! By the way, the caramel cheesecake and peanut butter pie were to die for!!!

Then it was on to the Steelers game! This was our first time to Heinz Field and we were just in awe! We had the best time, and a win for the Steelers completed our night! Even though our seats were really high, we were mid field and the seats were great! Thanks to a great zoom on my camera, I was able to get some really good pics!

So even though we were disappointed that we didn't make it to Wildwood, we had an AWESOME time in Pittsburgh instead! Thank you, Hurricane Irene!

Until next time......