Backyard Tourists

We spent our first week in Pittsburgh cooped up in our little area of Squirrel Hill, waiting for deliveries, spending a fortune at the hardware store, and hiding from the constant barrage of severe lightning storms (seriously, God hates Pittsburgh). But on the day after our belongings arrived, we were finally ready to get out and see Pittsburgh as it was meant to be seen--in duck form.

Yes, we took a Just Ducky Tour--20 little kids and us packed in a brightly painted combination bus/boat amphibious vehicle. The tour was led by two very entertaining comedic tourist guides, whose job it is to point out everything stupid about Pittsburgh, and to prompt you to call out "quack quack quack" at irritated people on the sidewalks.

The Ducky Tour begins across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, so I was pretty psyched that we'd have to cross it in boat form. Alas, we crossed rivers four times over the course of the tour, and always by driving across a bridge. But we did get to cruise on the water at 5 mph on the Ohio River, not far from the football stadium.

Virg quacks enthusiastically as she cruises around Pittsburgh in boat form.

It was actually an excellent, entertaining, and comprehensive tour, in spite of the little kids and quacking. Virg snapped about a thousand pictures, so we'll soon post images of Pittsburgh from every possible angle. A highlight: early in the tour, Virg raised her hand that we were from out-of-town, and I had to remind her that she's actually "from Pittsburgh."

outpacing the green Ducky Tour boat around The Point

Afterward, we ate a good lunch at the Houlihan's in Station Square, next to wear the Ducky Tours leave. Then we decided to check out the nearby Monongahela Incline--a pair of very steep railway tracks that each take a single carload of people up and down Mount Washington--the big hill across the Monongahela River from downtown.

The Monongahela Incline

The Incline itself was kind of lame, but the view from the top was spectacular.

Virg loves her Pittsburgh.


Dave looks wistfully toward CMU.

We walked the mile from there to the top of Pittsburgh's other Incline, found nothing there, and retraced our steps to get back home.

Near the Duquesne Incline, a billboard blocks my favorite view of the city.

The true measure of the success of this outing is that we have since been completely unmotivated to do anything else touristy.