Road Trip
I went on a roadtrip to Pittsburgh last week to pick up a friend's car. We started out late in the day, so we only made it Columbus, Ohio for the night.
Some thoughts about Columbus:
--Don't go to downtown Columbus after 10 pm and expect an easy time finding a full meal.
--Anytime a Columbusean(?) tells you some place is two blocks away, they really mean 1/2 a mile.
--You and your Columbus taxi driver may not exactly share the idea of what constitutes a nice bar.
--Priceline may be cheap but you also may end up next to this, which is usually not a good sign.
We then stopped in Wheeling, WV, which has a couple of cool bridges.(link, link2)
Random thoughts about Wheeling:
--People in West Virginia tend to stare at you.
--In spite of this, if you actually talk to them they are really friendly.
--We met the guy from the Wheeling visitor's center. He was really nice and very eager to tell us all about Wheeling. He recommended we eat at Coleman's fish market. They are famous for fried fish on two slices of plain white bread. It was absolutely delicious.
Here is a picture.
EDIT: The friend who I accompanied on this trip told me that I left some things out about Wheeling.
This information came from our new friend at the tourist office.
Step back, St. Louis. Wheeling was the original "gateway to the West".
Also, Wheeling was once larger than Pittsburgh, but the State of Pennsylvania sued because the Wheeling bridge blocked tall ships from traveling to Pittsburgh. Wheeling built a new bridge to accommodate the tall ships and Pittsburgh eclipsed them in growth.
I don't really have a lot to say about Pittsburgh. We were too tired by the time we made it there. Downtown looked really nice, but my friend said that it was pretty dead when he was there.
Oh, I did buy a case of Yuengling, which is a favorite beer of mine and unavailable in Indiana. Pennsylvania has some messed up liquor laws. One cannot buy beer at grocery stores as it is only available at liquor stores and beer stores which close at ten o'clock and you have to buy it in case form. It is not available as a 6 pack. However, after ten, you can buy it at taverns and if they serve a significant amount of food, they are allowed to sell a 6 pack. Whew, and I thought Indiana had crazy laws.
Some thoughts about Columbus:
--Don't go to downtown Columbus after 10 pm and expect an easy time finding a full meal.
--Anytime a Columbusean(?) tells you some place is two blocks away, they really mean 1/2 a mile.
--You and your Columbus taxi driver may not exactly share the idea of what constitutes a nice bar.
--Priceline may be cheap but you also may end up next to this, which is usually not a good sign.
We then stopped in Wheeling, WV, which has a couple of cool bridges.(link, link2)
Random thoughts about Wheeling:
--People in West Virginia tend to stare at you.
--In spite of this, if you actually talk to them they are really friendly.
--We met the guy from the Wheeling visitor's center. He was really nice and very eager to tell us all about Wheeling. He recommended we eat at Coleman's fish market. They are famous for fried fish on two slices of plain white bread. It was absolutely delicious.
Here is a picture.
EDIT: The friend who I accompanied on this trip told me that I left some things out about Wheeling.
This information came from our new friend at the tourist office.
Step back, St. Louis. Wheeling was the original "gateway to the West".
Also, Wheeling was once larger than Pittsburgh, but the State of Pennsylvania sued because the Wheeling bridge blocked tall ships from traveling to Pittsburgh. Wheeling built a new bridge to accommodate the tall ships and Pittsburgh eclipsed them in growth.
I don't really have a lot to say about Pittsburgh. We were too tired by the time we made it there. Downtown looked really nice, but my friend said that it was pretty dead when he was there.
Oh, I did buy a case of Yuengling, which is a favorite beer of mine and unavailable in Indiana. Pennsylvania has some messed up liquor laws. One cannot buy beer at grocery stores as it is only available at liquor stores and beer stores which close at ten o'clock and you have to buy it in case form. It is not available as a 6 pack. However, after ten, you can buy it at taverns and if they serve a significant amount of food, they are allowed to sell a 6 pack. Whew, and I thought Indiana had crazy laws.
posted by torporindy at 3/27/2006
13 Comments:
I feel great in close proximity to a bus station at around 2am!
I took greyhound once as a college freshman. I'll never forget it. It was the longest 26 hours of my life. I took it from southern Indiana to Florida, which is a twelve hour drive. They overbooked and some people had to stand all of the way from Nashville to Atlanta.
There were a lot jobcorps kids on the way home for their spring break. Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice was a popular song at the time (actually several months before). The kid I was sitting next to was listening to the song over and over and rapping along with it. The problem was he had a lisp, so it was "ithe, ithe baby" over and over. His batteries died and he told me he'd give me two dollars for any spare that I had. I told him not for all of the money he owned in the world.
i have been at THAT bus station, on a 2 hour layover before trying to get back to indiana from a jail stay in cleveland. good times! thank god there was a mall across the street~!
Jail stay in Cleveland--now that sounds interesting. Do tell.
I would hate to be lost in WV.
Torpor, you made me think of South Carolina twice in your post. 1.) Yuengling beer - it was on tap at every bar in Hilton Head when I was there last year. I thought it was an Asian beer or something. Then I saw that it's the oldest beer brewed in America or something like that. Say what? 2.) Screwed up liquor laws - I too always believed Indiana to be the most irrational state when it came to liquor laws. It wasn't until I visited other states, like South Carolina, that I realized how blessed I am to live in Indiana. In S.C., the liquor stores close at 6, but you can get a cold case in the grocery store. Until recently, the bars had to make mixed drinks from single shot liquor bottles, like those found on airlines. A guy I met thought he would get around that by ordered a Long Island, thinking he'd get one bottle of each liquor in his drink. Nope, they have pre-made Long Island liquor bottles. Just recently, they allowed bars to do "free pours".
I too have been to that bus station - and I remember being very happy to leaveit. Luckily I'd only traveled as far as Cleveland to Columbus by said bus service.
Lemming, you weren't jailed in Cleveland as well?
Jason, SC is where I first encountered Yuengling. I stayed in Columbia for a week. They were doing airplane shot bottles when I was there in November. The law may have changed January 1. I had a conversation with a bartender about it but I was too drunk to remember anything.
We have some messed up alcohol laws, but at least we don't go to some of the extremes like that 3.2 beer BS.
Nolff, I agree. Wheeling is safely nestled between Penn and Ohio, but I fear the hinterland.
Try Stella Artois... With something spicy.
Yes, the Budweiser of Europe is now available in Indiana. I like it.
Stella. Meh.
I've never had Yuengling. Going to have to give it a try.
Them Pittsburghers are strange folk.
Try the Yuengling lager, Jim.
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