Going live again in 2 weeks!!!

What do you get when you add all of these things together?

My next Amtrak adventure!!!

Follow us crazy gals for 15 days of familiar (and some not so much) adventures beginning July 4th!!!!

Burgh burgers pies and fries

Well the final city has come and gone ... I left it behind once again ... Pittsburgh you will always be my first love ...

My first day there I got to go spend some time with my mentor in his kitchen ... I truly love the love between him and I and his wife ... I didn't do much of anything real but it was just an all around fun time finalized with an amazing cheeseless pizza 

and slices and wine ... Perfection 

The second day I went in search of the I don't care whatever burger 

​"Everyday we asked our original cashier Tara what she wanted to eat; she said “I don’t care, whatever.” So, this is what she got! Pepper jack cheese, bleu cheese crumbles, cheddar, jalapenos,caramelized onions, pepperonicini, hot sauce and bacon." That's the menu description ... It was magnificent even though cooked beyond the medium requested ... My heart can't wait to get back to healthy foods ... This I know 

A little nap at the hotel and then off to the northside ... Pirates are playing so life has to be happening across the bridge 

A few steps away I find the beer market ... Tis a bar with a menu that's a book with so many selections it can't even explain ... 

This bad boy tastes just like espresso ... It's black strap stout ... Since I can't get a good cup anywhere since leaving Seattle this will have to do ... No seriously I have tried and tried again ... I have discarded 4 coffees ... Until I return to Seattle I believe my coffee days are over ... I almost want to go live there for a few months and work as a barista and understand the art that is coffee there 

Oh and I get some fireworks too!!!

This bar doesn't have food options but you are welcome to order in from anywhere that will deliver ... Seafood pizza it is 

I have had so many pizzas this month that I am thoroughly over pizza ... Even had a dessert one 

Seriously ... Thank god this foodie adventure is over ... It's been amazing but I need to detox ... 

Sunday comes in like a lamb ... Goes out like a lion ... 

I head to lunch at the original oyster house ... Pittsburgh's oldest restaurant ... I also learn while there it's the first bar in the city to allow women ... It's the only restaurant I know that has buttermilk on it's menu ... And being Gurdon's granddaughter I always order one 

They also have so pretty spectacular clam chowder ... I dine and head to the incline ...

You can't get a better view of the city I love than from atop mt washington (top photo courtesy of the lookout and my iPhones panoramic view) ... I want to take the T back so I head to the back side of Mt. Washington and down the stairs ... One day soon I will complete my mission of walking all the public stairs of Pittsburgh ... One city, 712 sets of steps, 44,645 treads, 24,108 vertical feet ... I can and will do them all ... Redbeards for some drinks and then down the other side ... It might have been wise to stop there but I didn't ... It was by far my most interesting day yet ... Thankfully also the last ... From Bourbon Street to Pittsburgh the trip went in with and bang and left with a boom ... Some sleep ... Some primantis

and then I get my bus to Philadelphia ... I am ready for it to end and yet saddened at the same time ... It isn't everyday I can have this journey ... And I am thankful I had my chance ...

This may or may not be my final blog post ... I may write more about the things I have seen, the oddities, the dramas, the blessings ... Who knows ... But for now my heart is full and I am heading "home" and I now have so many more options than before as to where I might want to grow some roots ... 

I got really really high and ate pizza and steak

Yep ... That's exactly what I did ... Chicago was split into parts but was still awesome ... The train arrived 4 hours late and check into hotel Kirste (a friends place) but it's right on the edge of Lake Michigan

so the first night was a bust except for a Stuffed Chicago pizza and some west coast tequila that came along for the ride. 

It's such a heavy pizza one slice of a personal pie will do ya ...When coming back from St Louis I opt to pay for one of those experiences that one doesn't get every day ... The Sears tower (ok ok Willis now) is the tallest building in America. And I learn that it has this thing called the skydeck ... A totally glass enclosure (yes floor too) that you stand off the side of the building 103 stories in the air ... Typically I think hell no to paying the high prices for such things but the glass floor sells me ... 

This is from the ground looking up those few small things at the top that stick out is the skydeck.  

 On the second night back we ordered another pizza ... Because you have to ... But this one with giardeniera (spicy pickled veggies) that I question why they appear as an option on so many menus and items ... Always one to do my research I learn it's a chi- town thing ... This journey has been perfect for learning new things about the foods we eat ...  We eat and drink more tequila and it kinda kills me haha ...

I plan to seek out this bathroom of the John Hancock building the next day but nature decides that being overcast sounds like a good time so I wouldn't see a thing :( ... So instead I seek out steak ... It's a cold and rainy and all around icky day but the steak was beyond amazing ... I was told not to try the cheaper places because the downgrade in item would not do a try Chicago dry aged steak justice ... My one major food splurge comes in the form of an item that I don't typically even like ... OMG I can't even tell you how happy I am that I am a vegetarian in real life ... Not because that steak sucked but because ever steak after it certainly will ... 

I enjoyed it with a burrata and tomato salad that was also amazing ...

And the service at this restaurant was spectacular ... I am quite sure I have never dined in such an upscale place (many would walk in thinking they didn't belong ... I just feel I belong where I want to be ... So excuse my jeans and young appearance but I want steak and you are here) they would portion things and drizzle things and show me that my steak was exactly how I ordered table side ... Not what I am used to at all but a delightful experience for sure   

I then seek out the local hard rock and have a few drinks with the hottest bartender my trip has seen yet and she has the personality of my A Carr ... So I immediately adore her ... And then I board the train and head for my final destination of Pittsburgh ... It's almost over ... This makes me sad :( 

My one night stand with BBQ

It could be the most expensive one night stand ever ... Except for those ending with child support ;) ... But this one cost me $40,000 before we even met. 

4 years ago I packed up the boy child and sent him off to college in St Louis. He arrived the same way I arrived, via amtrak. I wonder how he felt going from small town Candor and into a city ... Probably similar to how I felt when I got off the bus in Pittsburgh for culinary school. Anyway, my days are running short in this 30 day adventure but I knew that no matter what I had to see the place he had lived and Gwendolyn apparently had been doing research for school and when she learned of my food adventure immediately said I had to have BBQ in Missouri ... They have always been two peas in a pod. 

So BBQ I did ... With leftovers obviously ... And I think as BBQ joints go I selected a smart one ... They didn't say hey this is St. Louis and only our BBQ exists ... They made it encompass all ... 

Yep dry rubbed and smoked with your choice of sauces ... So damn good ... Even though my heart is a vegetarian 

And no stop has been complete without a local libation ... I am new to the beer realm but as domestic crafts go this was definitely towards the top, if not top of my list. 

With a full tum I head to my hotel to sleep. But I get to see a the arch from another angle as I go. 

Then I awake at dawn and board back up and head back to Chicago to find a bathroom ... Yes that's right a bathroom ... There will of course be a bathroom selfie I mean come on ... Everybody is doing it 

Seattle was Seussical

So to save segments of amtrak travel I utilized BOLT bus to travel from Portland to Seattle ... It was a rainy 3 1/2 hour journey but the clouds began to clear as the Seattle skyline became visible. It was one of those moments where what I saw wasn't what I expected ... Even though I had no idea what I expected. It's actually a city!!! Yes, yes I know ... But Portland really wasn't ... I mean skyscraper/skyline-wise. I wait in a quaint little chinatown area for Mr Casey Evans to arrive from his job interview (which he got the job ... Yayyyy Casey). We head to his house and put ourselves together to go have dinner. We ended up at this place called Lunchbox Laboratory. They have a regular menu and a experimental menu ... The current one was Dr Seuss ... And yes I totally chose this place because of that ... There is no shame in my love and adoration of Theodor Geisel. I won't lie and say there weren't other options on the menu that garnered more of my attention but I had to order the Green Eggs and Ham-burger totally for the photo op 

My hipster sidecar was even served in A beaker ... It was tasty tang-alicious 

We head back home and Casey and I go for drinks ... I might have overinduldged a tad ... But I will blame the uber adorable bartender who showered me with attention. 

Morning was slow moving ... Not feeling quite up to par but eventually we get out the door and head out to see Seattle. 

We go to Pike Place Market where I get to see the ceremonial throwing of the fish and then we get some sushi made with fish that was literally right off the boats ... Yeah it's that good. 

You can't do Seattle without some real coffee ... And while I realize Starbucks tries to claim real and is a Seattle institution, trust me when I say that if you want real you avoid Starbucks and find a smaller quaint shop ... And since I am on a macchiato kick, I grab one ... I do love my macchiatos. So strong and perfect in a cute little cup. 

We venture to pioneer square, where I happen to find the city's oldest restaurant. 

After a local blonde brew beer I notice a bottle of Washington Wheat Whiskey on the shelf and I must try it ... It's smooth and tasty and takes away my slight hangover I might have. 

Their happy hour menu has these little suckers ... Bacon wrapped prawns with romesco sauce and cilantro oil ... So of course I must try it ... It wasn't bad but I don't feel the flavors made sense together ... But now I am off to go see the Space Needle 

I learn while there Seattle's a little ... How do you say ... Oh yeah slow ... Took them 37 years to declare it a structural landmark ... Oh well they had better things to do ... Like be really politically forward and such 

Near the Space Needle they have this Chulily Garden with these very Seuss-like flowers that have nothing to do with Dr Seuss but immediately get my attention ... They even sing when you hug them ... So of course I must 

Excuse that I look like hell ... It was a rainy Seattle day and well I dressed and yano didn't really do my hair based on that fact ...  

We then head home where I get a good nights sleep prepare to begin my VERY long trek to Chicago ... But of course not without more coffee because you truly CANNOT get enough of the amazing coffee in Seattle 

 

As cities go Seattle is beautiful and clean ... People friendly and animal friendly and everything is seriously more colorful there 

Plants are greener and rainbows are rainbowier 

and are literally everywhere ... I guess as they say ... The soul would never see rainbows had the eyes never shed tears makes much sense here ... Literally and figuratively for me ... When you dance through Seattle's raindrops you get rainbows on every corner ... And, for me, that  captures my heart ... I will miss Seattle ... Not sure I could endure the amounts of rain it sees, but it is a magnificent city that I love everything else about ... And then I sit for 46 hours en route to Chicago ...