Cruising West on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after dinner. |
At
the time of writing (August) I'm sitting in my hotel room staring out at the
rain. It's presently raining sideways, meaning if we had run with our
original plan...drive to Toledo instead of Cleveland, we would have been in
it. There is little I like less than driving on strange highways, late at
night in torrential rains.
The
leg itself isn't too terribly long, so it ended up being a nice gentile start
to an otherwise grueling trip. In just
under six hours behind the wheel we crossed the states of Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and Ohio to land at the Aloft Beachwood hotel. We made the
call, though, to stop at the Station Square in Pittsburgh and have a quick run
up the mountain on the Incline Railway.
After
a short (3 mile round trip!) walk along the ridge, we were more than ready for
dinner.
The
tourist ticket we got gave us a strict three-hour limit at the top of the
mountain, which meant that while we could have walked to one of the many
restaurants at the top, it was safer to travel back down the mountain to find
food, and avoid the chances of getting stranded at the top. A small word of caution about Incline Railway
tickets: Take exact change. They do not
give change, and will not let you go anywhere until you’ve paid for your ticket
in cash.
Incline Railway looking down at Station Square |
We
dined at one of the two "local" joints that were in Station Square
after deciding against the first we stopped in due to the heavy presence of
tobacco smoke. While the first bite or two were incredible, by the time
we were halfway through with our food, we were less than impressed. The
initial hunger and exhaustion turned quickly when we realized most of what we
were eating was badly freezer burned. The restaurant (and I use the term
loosely) seems to only offer food in order to maintain their liquor license.
If
you want something local, you're best served outside of Station Square.
If you want Station Square you will be better off dining at one of the myriad
of large chains that are available.
Station Square is pretty, and provides great photos of passing trains,
the Pittsburgh skyline, and one of the rivers, it’s just lacking when it comes
to unique culinary experiences.
We
had initially planned today to cross five states. Unfortunately because
of a miscalculation (and misread of Google Maps, we only hit four. We had hoped to cover West Virginia in
addition to Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio. We did make sure to map a route back, which
would knock out West Virginia.
The
biggest surprise of the day came right across the Ohio state line...we
discovered that Orange Julius still exists. A stop in for the 1980's shopping
mall classic was required. I was
thrilled to discover they taste exactly the same!
Overall,
this leg covered 391 miles. Next Monday will cover the trip from
Beachwood, OH to Chicago...and three more states!