We're Going Downtown!

For my 21st birthday, Mom took me and Erica to Station Square in Pittsburgh! We stayed at the Sheraton and had a blast! I wasn't really feeling the Clubs, I don't know, I just wasn't in that kind of mood. I was bummed because Pat was out of town, and the plans for Pittsburgh got kind of screwed up so I knew I was going to have fun, but not as much fun as I could have had. So we hung out in the Red Star Tavern and played pool. It was great! I felt mature and sophisticated. We drank and talked and then started playing pool. Bar Louie's is connected to the Red Star so we got to listen to great music coming from the DJ over there. It was perfect. It wasn't crowded at all, but I felt comfortable. Although I liked it, I wish it was a little more lively. I, of course was drunk. But not out of control. The atmosphere in the Red Star, I think helped me control myself. Usually I get ditzy and giggly. But I was in control while playing pool and I just felt good. But I was definitely drunk. Walking out was a little hard and I needed a smoke SO bad! I thought I'd be okay, I didn't smoke all day or when we got there, but after a few drinks, I needed one! Needless to say, when we got back to the hotel, I passed out immediately!

The next morning we woke up pretty early and got ready to go shopping! I wanted to have martini's for lunch, but we ended up eating outside of the Island Cafe. It was good though, and I was proud of myself for not ordering fries with my wrap. I figured all the beer and Amaretto-sours I had, had done me in for over-the-limit calories, the night before. We walked along the river and enjoyed the scenery and head inside the Station Square Mall. Did some shopping and then made our way across the bridge into Downtown!! Erica had never been to Pittsburgh, or any city like it, so we had fun showing her different building and talking about how Youngstown should look like this. We ended up getting caught in the rain, buying those umbrellas that you clamp to lawn chairs at the Rite-Aid, giving a hobo a dollar(which he was very happy for!), and doing a TON of walking! We walked back to Station Square, went back in the Mall, walked around, Mom bought some stuff and then headed to the car.

We made our way down to Carson Street. Carson street is probably my favorite street in the whole United States(maybe second to North Atlantic Ave on Daytona Beach! Google Map it and check out the street views! You'll love it!) After finding a place to park, which was a task in its own, we walked up and down, and up and down Carson Street. We stopped in all our favorite store- The Culture Shop, The Groovy Store, and Slacker. And some new ones too- Bead Mine, Spotlight, and Clarissa Boutique. We had lunch in a bar. They had $2 Miller Lite! Before we left, we decided to walk down to Perlora. Its at the more open end of Carson street. Unfortunately it had closed 15 minutes earlier. Bummer. Perlora is a furniture store with a unique and different taste. Mel and I have always wanted to get an apartment in downtown Pittsburgh, and Perlora is the store we would buy from to furnish it! That's okay though, we'll just have to make another trip down! So we left and made our way to IKEA! We walked around and showed Erica how awesome IKEA is, and I looked at stuff for an apartment! Then we had dinner at Applebees and headed off on the open highway!

I'm glad we got to do it, there was some drama before that almost made Erica not come. But we made the most of it and I can't wait to do it again!

Pictures courtesy of Erica and Google Maps!