The premise was simple: family (me, Matt, Mom and Dad) road trip punctuated by stops at restaurants featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" show on the Food Network (hosted by the spiky-haired Guy Fieri). Mom and Dad got to pick the journey/destination, and they chose Pittsburgh, for its high number of DDD restaurants, and so we could go to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. We're all big Wright fans and Matt and I joke that we'll only live places where there are Wright homes (Hyde Park, Oak Park and Beverly all have Wright homes, with Oak Park being a mecca). The vacation turned out to be a terrific balance of junk food, amazing art and architecture, and a lot of great laughs.Speaking of. . .we took Uncle Sam with us too. The story on Uncle Sam is that he is a wooden "porch ornament" that we recieved as an unexpected bridal shower gift (not to be confused with the kayak that was an unexpected wedding gift). He's become somewhat of a mascot, and given the road trip covered several states and was right before the Fourth of July, we took him along for the ride to show him this great country of ours (and his).
Day 1: Chicago to Richfield, OHWe picked up Mom and Dad in Hammond, drove to the Bend for old times' sake and showed Uncle Sam around Notre Dame. See The Dome? Then we headed to Toledo, where we stopped at our first DDD establishment: Tony Packo's. Really great hot dogs. We decided in belonged in the "diner" category (of the three Ds) because it was too clean and organized to be a dive (see photo above). And it had stained glass lamps. Then Matt drove us through some crazy rain deluge (which I slept through. . . oops) and got us to Richfield, where we spent the first night.
Day 2: Richfield to PittsburghWe started Friday off with some hiking and waterfall-peeping in Cuyahoga National Park. We saw two great waterfalls and got some exercise, which was a really good thing. Uncle Sam also took time to "settle" the Cuyahoga River. Seeing as he lives a rather sheltered life, he didn't realize it's belonged to the US for some time now. We let him have his fun.
That afternoon we got settled in Pittsburgh and ventured off to find our next DDD restaurant - this one definitely a "dive" and one of our faves - Nadine's. We got really lost trying to find it. So much so that when we finally walked in the place, the guy yelled from behind the bar: "Hey! You look like the people that called here because you were lost!" We instantly had about a dozen friends in all the people around the bar, peppering us with questions about where we were from and why we were there. We had some killa food (as Guy would say) and a lot of entertainment. They cut potatoes for fries in a closet and store produce outside. We finished up the day with a walk around The Strip District, which sort of reminded me of a cross between Chicago's West Loop and Belmont area (though that's not quite right either), which was really close to our hotel.
Day 3: Double the Frank Lloyd Wright, Double the Pleasure
On Saturday we headed about 90 minutes outside Pittsburgh to visit Wright-designed homes Kentuck Knob (first 3 photos below) and Fallingwater (rest of photos below "Day 3"). Fallingwater met all of our very high expectations and I think Kentuck Knob actually exceeded our expectations since we hadn't really heard of it before. We had great tours at both (the extended one at Fallingwater is definitely worth it!) and enjoyed both the grounds and the homes themselves. (And the gift shops too!) Such amazing experiences - not something any of us will soon forget.
Day 4: Day of Extreme Gluttony and Extreme Touristing
On Sunday, we started at the Dor-Stop Restaurant just outside Pittsburgh with a fantastic breakfast. The line outside tells you that this "diner" is where it's at for breakfast around here. Then we headed to the Duquesne Incline for great views of downtown Pittsburgh from above. I'm not sure how I (Ms Really-Afraid-of-Heights) always end up on some aerial contraption and/or steep climb when I'm with my family. As usual, though, it was worth it - great views and a really cheap ride ($2 each way!).
Then we hit two museums in record time - the Heinz History Center and The Warhol Museum. Both really interesting and we definitely learned a lot. I found myself at the Warhol having a similar sensation to the one I had at the Van Gogh Museum a few years ago - somewhat overwhelmed by seeing "the real deal" of such familiar works.
We finished our evening with a bang with dinner at Big Jim's. This was a "dive" but with some of the best food we've eaten in a long time. The portions were OBSCENE - the "calzone" Dad is looking at was seriously on the menu as "Big Jim's Calzone" - it didn't say that it was for a family of 4 or anything, and it was just $10.99. It was essentially a family-sized pizza folded in half. He ate maybe a third of it. And Matt and Mom both had giant sandwiches, each on a half-loaf of Italian bread. The food was so good and the guys were cool, making fun of us for taking pictures of our food. But really, how could you not capture such madness for posterity?
Day 5: Homeward Bound
Today we headed back from Pittsburgh, with intentions to hit our final DDD locale in Goshen, IN. Unfortunately they were closed on Mondays (we called first, thankfully) so we switched it up and went to the Essenhaus in Middlebury, IN to keep the gluttony going. It's basically an Amish-style meal where they give you way too much food and then a huge piece of pie at the end. A fitting way to wrap up the trip.
The trip was so much fun, we can't wait to explore more DDD restaurants and Wright homes in the Midwest and beyond. Let us know if you want to explore with us.
