So last weekend, Natalie’s cousin Jessica (a non Italian cousin) got married to this outstanding guy. His name is Chris. Luckily for us, they decided to get married in Pittsburgh, PA (Jessica is more or less from Pittsburgh and Chris is from some city in Indiana. Apparently, most of the people from the place Chris grew up are related to him. That’s pretty neat.)

Dude. We were in Pittsburgh!

Plane tickets to Pittsburgh are a bit expensive and it is only a 4-5 hour drive from Detroit so we decided to drive. We = Kevin, Debbie, Phil, Amy, Natalie and myself. This is the first road trip the 6 of us have taken together and, overall, we had a great time. I mean, seriously if renting a gold mini-van (it had an Ohio license plate) and going on a road trip across Ohio is not a recipe for fun what is?

So Pittsburgh.
This was my first time (more or less) in Pittsburgh and I was impressed. About the only thing I knew about Pittsburgh before making this trip is that apparently, the city had, at one time in its illustrious past, made a great deal of steal. (Hint: The Pittsburgh Steelers). From what I hear, making a lot of steel dirties a place up a little as Pittsburgh has a reputation for being a rather dirty city. Well, a couple of recessions later, all of the steel plants are

A shot of Pittsburgh from one of its many bridges.

closed and Pittsburgh is one of the cleanest cities I have been in to date. I really enjoyed the architecture of this old steel town. Built along a branch of the Ohio River, a number of bridges allow both pedestrians and traffic to move cross over the water with ease. They also provide a great landscape for those of us who like industrial age architecture.

Pittsburgh, as a city, was great but Natalie and I were there for a wedding. The ceremony was beautiful. The celebration after the ceremony was one heck of a party. Great food, excellent drinks, and, most importantly, a killer band. Natalie and I danced for most of the night and I left the wedding tired, and very very sweaty. If you want to see the pictures from our trip, check them out in our gallery.

Next time you are looking for a road trip make the drive to Pittsburgh. After all, with gas prices as low as they are what is holding you back!