Day 5: Rest Day - Pittsburgh, PA
Nau mai
Yesterday we spent the day in Pittsburgh recovering and drying out.
We had driven through the night aboard our bus, Huckleberry. She is a proud bus, old but stout, wearing chrome skirts and a very dignified coat of midnight blue paint. She had crossed the states of Indiana and Ohio and delivered us safely to western Pennsylvania, to a large carpark behind the Hampton Inn & Suites, Pittsburgh Downtown.
The rain had followed us to Pittsburgh but thankfully we didn’t have to deal with more mud. Sneakers were scrubbed clean in the hotel bathroom and the hairdryer was put to work getting them back to a wearable state.
We had lost an hour to the timezone change and I woke up at 2:30pm after a night of successive twenty minute naps. I headed out with Callum and Annabel for an afternoon breakfast date at Primanti Bros., a sandwich shop of some repute. As we took our seats the boisterous Italian-American proprietor was serving a huge blue cocktail with a tiny rubber duck bobbing in the glass to the table next to us. He soon came over to serve us and we were immediately scolded for our mishandling of the word Capicola. “Gubah-GHOOL!” was the correct pronunciation, we soon learned. I ordered a Capicola with cheese and added a fried egg. A while later and our sandwiches arrived in a huge bundle of paper and he opened each one, inspecting the protein before delivering it to the correct person. As well as the spiced Italian ham (Capicola) our sandwiches featured a thick layer of French Fries, sliced tomato, and a finely sliced coleslaw.
We spent our evening at an establishment that was called Puttery. It masqueraded as a high class bar and restaurant but was in fact a world class miniature golf facility with three courses to play, each with nine world class holes.
There were three distinct themes: the first, a ski resort with things like ski boots and snow covered fir trees; the second, a Great Gatsby mansion interior with shelves of old books and precious antiques; and the third, a high-performance car garage with stripped engine blocks and a curvy, high-performance automobile.
There was also a half price Mondays deal which sadly missed the trick of offering an alliteration like Monday Madness, or a rhyme like Monday Funday, instead opting for Unlimited Mini Golf for half off, every Monday, all day long.
Thanks Liz, and Annabel for documenting some of the finest shots of the evening’s play.
