CMU Festival with Mom

At Sunday dinner Amanda told my mom that she must be the biggest fan of Pittsburgh because she keeps coming back. She responded and said she's just the biggest fan of us. She flew out this week for her fourth trip to the Burgh. I was a little bit nervous that we've run out of things to do since we've seen and done so many things each time she has been here. I was relieved to find out that the annual CMU Carnival was the same week so there ended up being lots to do. 

She arrived on a Thursday and stayed until the following Tuesday. The first night we just hung out and had dinner the next day we got up and went to the carnival. The sororities and fraternities put together little themed houses to different movies, shows, characters, and other pop culture themes. They were so well done and it was fun to see the other half of what makes CMU famous: the arts and entertainment schools. The Encanto house was by far my favorite. 

The world's most painted fence turned 100! 

Took mom to the campus bookstore. She had Jaden pose with the kilt and asked if he planned on wearing one to graduation. That's a no for both of us.

We walked to campus from our house which honestly was so hot! It is really starting to warm up and the humidity makes it feel twice as hot. On our way back we walked through an open house of one of the other old Victorian homes in our neighborhood. I always wonder what the interiors look like so it was fun to see it in person. The owners of this one seemed to really pay tribute to the integrity of the original home it was a lot of fun to see it in person. 

The next day we went and watched the CMU buggy races. I screenshotted this pic from the school's website to give a better idea of what it is. Engineering students build these buggy cars that fits a small teammate with a tiny steering device that helps them navigate flying around a twisting road around Schenley park both beginning and ending on campus. It is worth YouTubing a race to see a buggy race but was even crazier witnessing it in person. Those buggies are so compact and narrow I'm not usually claustrophobic but I think I would be if asked to squeeze into a cocoon on wheels. 

After buggy races we went home and changed and ventured down to the River Boat tours. We had been saying we wanted to do one so with mom there we decided to do it. It's not nearly as cool as the Chicago tour but was fun to learn more about the city. Here are the fun facts I took note of:

• There are 446 bridges in Pittsburgh
• There is an underwater tunnel that costs $2.45 to use
• PNC building was the greenest building in the world at the time it was built
• Dark Night Rises and Inspector Gadget were both filmed in Pittsburgh with distinct scenes at the PPG building
• Black and Yellow sports team colors comes from the William Pitt (who the city was named after) family crest
• Forbes Ave comes from General Forbes
• Mononahala River starts in Fairmont Virginia and is 128 miles long
• The Mon meets the Allegheny and forms the Ohio River
• Ohio leads to Cairo Illinois where it meets up with the Mississipi
• Pittsburgh is the 4th largest port in the nation
• Before licks and dams (that is a typo that I'm going to leave because it is now an inside joke when I read the facts a few weeks later out loud and literally called them licks and dams instead of locks and dams) but before LOCKS and dams the rivers were only 3 feet deep
• PNC Park was named the #1 baseball station in the nation by ESPN magazine

Peaches

• Mom getting absorbed by her favorite air mattress bed

• The boys all love quoting the movie Home Alone & Home Alone 2 and one of the most popular quotes especially after we hit a big pot hole (and there are tons) is "WOW what a hole!" Had to snap this pic and send it in our PittStop group message

• Tried a new restaurant we pass every time we go to church called Butterjoint. The hamburgers and fries were delicious but surprisingly so were the pierogies. Whoever said the best pierogies were at the Pirates games is wrong. They're definitely at Butterjoint

• Finally made it to Point State Park. It was very hot and the fountain was off but I can see why it is a popular park in the city the view of the three rivers was really cool 

Pits 

• It was seriously so hot walking around in the city. I need to get out my summer clothes again