Our "Legendary" Trip to Pittsburgh

On Wednesday, my husband and I decided to change up our spring break routine and take a trip. Typically, during breaks from school, the Resident Sanguine (myself) gets into a mode of "OH MY GOSH WE MUST GO EVERYWHERE AND DO ALL THE THINGS AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!" But then, we never actually get around to planning anything or going on a crazy trip. So, it typically results in the Sanguine saying "WE DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE AND THIS WAS THE BEST BREAK EVER!" 

I know, I know, I've got brilliant logic. 

Being our final college spring break, though, I knew that we had to go somewhere extra special. My husband suggested that instead of going on a longer overnight trip somewhere, we could take a day trip to Pittsburgh, PA, and not restrain ourselves to "free" activities and sandwiches from home. Well, I liked that idea. So, after I spent some quality time on my thesis and homework Wednesday, we headed off on our great adventure. 

First Stop: Burgatory

I got the "burger of the day."
I don't know what it was, but it was
incredibly delicious! 

We had never been to Burgatory, but it was definitely a place we both wanted to go. Tons our my friends have gone here and said nothing but fabulous things about this place. Plus, eating at Burgatory supports the local Pittsburgh community, which is pretty cool. The food was amazing! Prices ran from about $9-14 for a burger, but the burgers were quite large, and came with a mix of Russet and Sweet Potato chips. 

Next Stop: Heinz HistoryMuseum

We didn't have to pay the $15 adult admission, but instead had $6 student admission. So go when you are a student! We spent about 3 1/2 hours here, and it was tons of fun. We saw cool weapons, the set from Mister Roger's Neighborhood, and even some really epic vestments. Plus, we learned some interesting things about Pittsburgh. For instance: Jehovah's Witnesses first visited door-to-door in Pittsburgh! So if you’ve ever had a Jehovah’s Witness knock on your door, you know what city to thank. 

A Heinz delivery truck!

Next Stop: Arkham Gift Shoppe and Comics

When I discovered this store's website, I knew I had to go there. I mean, according to the website, the owner of this store has a great love of 1960s Batman. I definitely needed to be there. It was a bit difficult for us to find, because the street signs didn't cooperate immensely. But, we found it. And it was awesome. The store is very tiny (think: big closet), but it is crammed full of tons of comics, some action figures, a small selection of t-shirts (there was a ridiculously cute Doctor Who t-shirt!), and random superhero-themed things. Plus, the walls are adorned with beautiful posters and pictures of superheroes and actors (some of them are autographed!). A large number of the individual comic books and packets of comic books were discounted, anywhere from 25-75% off! I picked up a 5-pack of Batman comics, which I’m very excited about. These comics are new (I think they were written a year ago), but the pictures and text are done in the style of the 1960s Batman. Super epic. Jeff, the man who owns the store, was super nice, and chatted with us for quite a while about his career story, comics, and Batman. It was great!

Next Stop: Game Masters

This place was about a 15-minute or so drive from Arkham, and from the outside, did not look very large or impressive. We opened the door and stepped inside another world. At a large round table, right next to the door, was a group of 5-6 people playing a deck-building game. Board games, card games, and role playing games lined all of the walls. The store owner, Phil, was on the phone when we came in, but as soon as he heard us enter, he asked the caller to phone back later, and he rushed over to introduce himself. Phil is completely blind, super joyful, and very awesome. After introducing himself, he took us to the back room (where there were more people playing games) to load us up with free coffee. Finding the coffee pot mostly empty, he then insisted that we make ourselves some fancy Keurig cup drinks “on the house.” Phil talked with us about the games that we like to play, and immediately began pointing out different games that we might be interested in. We spent the next couple hours looking at all of the games, deliberating, and talking with Phil. After much discussion and elimination, we settled on three games: “Love Letter: The Hobbit,” “Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage,” (this one was ½ price, which was really exciting!) and “Legendary.” After we made our purchases, we headed out to leave (Phil even offered us more free coffee! We declined, though, so we wouldn’t be hyped up on caffeine for the drive). We returned home, played a game of “Love Letter,”

The haul. 

Our Pittsburgh adventure was quite awesome and very fun. One of my favorite aspects was getting to meet the shop owners. Every person has a unique, wildly vivid story, and it is incredibly fascinating to learn about other people. Taking the time to speak with the person behind the cash register is a beautiful, community-building experience. From my own life as a register girl at a couple different restaurants, I always enjoyed it when customers wanted to speak with me; no man is an island, and it’s really epic when we can build bridges of love over comic books or board games.

 On that note, I need to work on homework so I have time for some board games later! (We’ve already played Legendary twice)