Steel City, USA

Hello! If you've been following me on Instagram, you already know I've been away for the weekend to Pittsburgh, PA! It's about a 4 1/2-5 hour drive from where I live, and my big and her boyfriend are attending graduate school up there. Since my start date got pushed back to October, I thought, "Why not visit them?" I haven't had a full weekend off since graduating college, so I made sure to take off for a full four days to enjoy this trip. My friend, Mallory, also my big's sister, drove us there and back! We spent the weekend relaxing, actually, enjoying some sights and shopping, but we also enjoyed being together since I hadn't seen any of them since early summer.

Here's some of my recommended places:

• Eden's- for brunch! It's 100% a granola type of establishment, but it's so good. Our waitress was the absolute sweetest as well. I got the omlette of the day with vegan toast and a vegetarian (or vegan?) sweet chili soup as well as a green juice called Praying Mantis. 
• Double Wide Grille- We went here twice! The first time I got their jerk chicken pasta and the second time I got a pulled pork sandwich. Both were delicious, but let me warn you against the pasta if you don't like spicy. My mouth was slightly on fire.
• Sake- For sushi! It's in the Southside area, and it's usually pretty quiet, so they get everything to you super fast. Definitely get the mochi green tea ice cream for desert! And I also got the Phoenix roll and a spicy salmon roll for lunch. If you go at lunch, the rolls are 50% off.
• Mt. Washington- You can either go on the incline or just drive up yourself! We drove up, and it turns out it's free roadside parking on Sundays! This is the place where you're going to get gorgeous views of Pittsburgh. It kind of reminds me a bit of going to Montemarte to get the best view of Paris

There were some cute shops we saw, but a lot was closed by the time we could go! We did shop at some more generic shops (Old Navy, Francesca's, etc), but there were some pretty good steals. I'd like to go back in the future, but, of course, I won't be able to for at least a year!