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An EPIC Adventure - A Live & Interactive trip report

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Adios to Mark & Samantha, at least until I accompany my brother to Orlando for his business trip later this month. So I'll see Mark & Samantha as they finish up this EPIC TRIP. ....It was an excellent week that went by too fast. Good times and good people. We're already looking forward to a future stay. Chef Mark (Trigg) cooked a fabulous Italian dinner for us yesterday evening. The food was fantastic, as was the presentation. Chef's Table five star quality.....Mark will catch up on Wednesday and Thursday travels on his trip report once he gets settled in at Pigeon Creek. Wednesday evening was a fun time at the Hofbrauhaus. The traditional Oktoberfest keg was tapped, a rowdy German band played, and specialty beers flowed. There should be some pics of Mark dancing on the long oaken German benches. And another surprise English Mark made an appearance....Thursday was a tour of 'dahn tahn'' Pittsburgh. Beautiful photos will follow. And lunch at the legendary Primanti Brothers.....And I'm sure we'll get some more photos of Mark and Sam at their 'overseas' home here in Elizabeth Township, where the continuous bike trail all the way to Washington DC begins just a short mile or two away.
 
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Day 10 - Eins, Zwei, Super

We spent another lazy day at the @Mad Dog resort, exploring the grounds, he has 3 acres that back onto the woods so the wildlife on offer is plentiful. He also has one of Pittsburgh’s largest trees, I forget the type (queue @Mad Dog) but the width of it alone was impressive, three people could hold hands and hug its circumference.

We had a light lunch as we were out to dinner that night and I washed it down with a local Ayrn City brew.

The night’s meal was the main event on this day and John arranged for us to go to the local German bar, Haufbrauhaus. We couldn’t book ahead of time as they didn’t take bookings and this particular night was going to be a busy one as they were doing an Oktoberfest keg tapping.

We arrived early enough to get a seat and started the night with beers and pretzels, I tried blueberry lager and the black cherry Dunkel, both were good but the black cherry was the clear winner, it was like drinking alcoholic black forest gateau, I loved this brew and drank two or three more during the night.

Sam or I hadn’t eaten a lot of German food before so the sharing platter was the natural choice for us here as it had good mix of things to try, the platter consisted of 3 types of wurst, pork snitzel, roast pork, fried cabbage and sauerkraut, the cranberry served with also worked really well. Sam was unsure at first but we both really enjoyed our meal and the empty platter proved it.

The place was full now with many dressed in traditional German hats and lederhosen, even @Mad Dog had a hat, and the people here took this seriously which was great as really added to the ambiance of the evening. Before long it was time for the main event, the tapping of the keg. They wheel the keg up and down the aisles of the tables with the band and some of the crowd following behind. With the keg now upfront of the stage for the tapping ceremony a big cheer went up as the keg was ready and everyone got inline ready for free beer. That whole keg was gone in less than 30mins, people love free beer.

The band piped up and it didn’t take long for the place to be jumping, the traditional band was superb, playing Polka tunes that you just can’t help but get up and dance too, or maybe that was the free beer, before long we were up on the benches singing, dancing and swinging our beer steins like a bunch of excited German teenagers. Before the end of the night I knew most people in the bar, including an English guy I met called Mark, unbelievable but true.

I nearly had my first ever bar fight when some drunken bum tried to pick a fight with me, he was soon escorted away but I was fine as I had half of the bar to back me up. Other than the drunk we had a fun time, the beers, food, and band were all top notch, at the end of the night I went and shuck their hands thanked them all. Haufbrauhaus was so much fun and yet another highlight of the trip and we all went home singing Eins, Zwei, Super.

Here is the song Eins, Zwei, Super. Not from our night but gives a good example.



Photos later guys.........

Quick note - Sorry the thread is a little fragmented but its the easiest way to do it without impacting on my vacation, I also have to work around Wifi. Saying that though I'm enjoying doing the reports and I hope you guys are enjoying following along.
 
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Great report as Mad Dogs and Englishmen continues....That Octoberfest tent video using the word Super instead of Zuffa was clever....I would guess you're still humming Eins, Zwei Zuffa all day like you were up here.:cheers: ...just a side note to the readers on the Hofbrauhaus. It's licensed by the Munchen (Munich) Hofbrauhaus and it's just about an identical version. There's only a few (7) of these in the USA. One is located in St. Petersburg Fl. I highly recommend it for an evening of fun, especially when they have a live German band playing.....and the tree is a Tulip Tree, named after the large orange tulip type flowers that bloom on it in the spring.
 
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Mad Dogs & Englishmen.....The close up of the hat has pins of the areas I visited while on vacation in Europe a number of years ago...And, of course, we did the Munchen (Munich) Oktoberfest. Mark looks good wearing my hat. Now he needs to hop over to Munchen for next year's Oktoberfest & get his own hat. :cheers: :lol:
 
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Day 11 – Dahn Tahn Pittsburgh

This was our last full day at the @Mad Dog resort and the plan was to head down and see dahn tahn Pittsburg, simple breakfast this morning allowed us a relatively early start as we wanted to get in and aht before rush hour traffic.

The drive in was pretty quick but we had at the top of the garage as it was pretty full, flip side of this was that it gave some stunning views of the Pittsburgh skyline. Once parked we made our way across the historic Smithfield Street bridge and headed into city. John was on top form again today and was soon pointing out the landmarks as well as the history of the area. The old prison was far too nice to have been housing inmates and seems more fitting in its current use as a court house.

As we wandered around some more we could feel the temperature dropping and see the skies getting dark, before long the wind was whipping up and it was time to find shelter. The rain came and it came heavy we also got some huge claps of thunder, the skies were angry today, after 10 straight days of hot sunshine this was the first bad weather of the trip so we couldn’t complain, after half an hour or so it was all over, the rain had stopped, the sky was blue again and the sun was soon warming us back up.

We walked through the theater district and saw the Heinz Hall, another of the city’s historic landmarks. Just up the road and across the Roberto Clement Bridge is the PNC Park stadium home of the Pittsburg Pirates baseball team. From here we made the short walk to another stadium, this one home of the famous Pittsburgh Steelers. The Heinz stadium sits on the river Ohio and we had to cross yet another bridge to get there, Pittsburgh has a lot of bridges to cross its 3 rivers.

We were viewing the stadium from across the river in the Point State Park alongside the view of the stadium is the massive water fountain which marks the point of the golden triangle, so called as 3 rivers meet here. The park has a lot of history, you can see the layout in the ground of where the old fort built by the British during the seven years war used to be, the Forts Blockhouse still stands though amazing as it dates back to 1764.

It was now getting close to lunch time so headed back into town to find somewhere to eat, we tried the food court in the big glass this was closed so we headed a little further down the road and low and behold we walked right by a Primanti Brothers, our very own @Disneyhead at recommended we try their sandwiches whilst in Pittsburgh, so we were all through the door without even asking if this is where we should eat.


We sat at the counter and I ordered the steak and cheese. It was neat watching the young line cook preparing our sandwiches, First the meat, then the slaw followed by fries on top and not forgetting the all important squish to hold it all in place. I wasn’t sure where to start with as it was so big, I really enjoyed it and we all managed to finish. All the time we sat there eating and watching the cooking, this girl had orders coming out of her ear but she really had it down and never once looked like getting flustered. Bellies full we headed back to the car for the ride back to the @Mad Dog resort.


We were having so much fun that this last day had really snuck up on us, we had laundry and packing to organize ready for leaving in the morning, but not before our last supper. John and Alene had been so good the least we could do was to cook up one last feast, we kept it simple with a platter of anti pasti, zucchini pasta and garlic bread. We cracked open the wine and we all enjoyed our final evening together.

Note to @Mad Dog, please correct me if my facts are incorrect.
 
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The dinner Mark cooked was an Epic Event in it's own right. Mark is a Chef and he looked just like one of those world renown Celebrity Chefs as he prepared the super delicious meal. Ummmm, ummmm, ummmm.......Mad Dogs & Englishmen: We finished up our two days at the Pgh. Irish Festival yesterday. Unfortunately Mark & Samantha couldn't arrange the schedule so that would fit in for them, but last year's Irish Festival was the catalyst that prompted the Epic Trip. After we finished Irish Festival 2017, Alene was chatting to Samantha and Mark about how much fun we have there. Sam said she'd love to attend some time. So I told Mark to feel free to stay over a few days before his Sept. 2018 Disney Cruise that was already scheduled and paid for. Mark got back to me and said that visiting NYC was always on his bucket list so he would look into trying to set up a side trip before the Disney Cruise started. He also needed to set aside time to visit with his close friends Dave (Disneyhead) and Bob Wadd. He also wandered if somehow he could swing side trips to Washington DC. Dollywood, Cedar Point, Hilton Head , BGW & Orlando. Pretty ambitious there, but evidently not even a 5 week trip could cover all that and allow for some relaxation, non theme park sightseeing/fun too. So Mark played around with a few ideas, checked timelines, and within a couple of weeks he came up with the present Epic Trip schedule. Bottom line is this has been fully planned for a good 11 plus months. And...its been as much fun and enjoyable for us too. Alene and I have one of our typical relaxing leisurely (no daily planning needed) Universal vacations scheduled for first part of Dec. staying at Portofino. BUT, a couple of weeks ago my brother asked me if I wanted to drive down to Orlando with him at the end of Sept. for a few days. He has business at the B&N show and doesn't like to fly during hurricane season since bad weather potential creates havoc with the airline schedules. So now I will be able to finish up the Epic Trip with my good friends Mark & Samantha.
 
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UK-Trigg said:
Day 11 – Dahn Tahn Pittsburgh

This was our last full day at the @Mad Dog resort and the plan was to head down and see dahn tahn Pittsburg, simple breakfast this morning allowed us a relatively early start as we wanted to get in and aht before rush hour traffic.

The drive in was pretty quick but we had at the top of the garage as it was pretty full, flip side of this was that it gave some stunning views of the Pittsburgh skyline. Once parked we made our way across the historic Smithfield Street bridge and headed into city. John was on top form again today and was soon pointing out the landmarks as well as the history of the area. The old prison was far too nice to have been housing inmates and seems more fitting in its current use as a court house.

As we wandered around some more we could feel the temperature dropping and see the skies getting dark, before long the wind was whipping up and it was time to find shelter. The rain came and it came heavy we also got some huge claps of thunder, the skies were angry today, after 10 straight days of hot sunshine this was the first bad weather of the trip so we couldn’t complain, after half an hour or so it was all over, the rain had stopped, the sky was blue again and the sun was soon warming us back up.

We walked through the theater district and saw the Heinz Hall, another of the city’s historic landmarks. Just up the road and across the Roberto Clement Bridge is the PNC Park stadium home of the Pittsburg Pirates baseball team. From here we made the short walk to another stadium, this one home of the famous Pittsburgh Steelers. The Heinz stadium sits on the river Ohio and we had to cross yet another bridge to get there, Pittsburgh has a lot of bridges to cross its 3 rivers.

We were viewing the stadium from across the river in the Point State Park alongside the view of the stadium is the massive water fountain which marks the point of the golden triangle, so called as 3 rivers meet here. The park has a lot of history, you can see the layout in the ground of where the old fort built by the British during the seven years war used to be, the Forts Blockhouse still stands though amazing as it dates back to 1764.

It was now getting close to lunch time so headed back into town to find somewhere to eat, we tried the food court in the big glass this was closed so we headed a little further down the road and low and behold we walked right by a Primanti Brothers, our very own @Disneyhead at recommended we try their sandwiches whilst in Pittsburgh, so we were all through the door without even asking if this is where we should eat.


We sat at the counter and I ordered the steak and cheese. It was neat watching the young line cook preparing our sandwiches, First the meat, then the slaw followed by fries on top and not forgetting the all important squish to hold it all in place. I wasn’t sure where to start with as it was so big, I really enjoyed it and we all managed to finish. All the time we sat there eating and watching the cooking, this girl had orders coming out of her ear but she really had it down and never once looked like getting flustered. Bellies full we headed back to the car for the ride back to the @Mad Dog resort.


We were having so much fun that this last day had really snuck up on us, we had laundry and packing to organize ready for leaving in the morning, but not before our last supper. John and Alene had been so good the least we could do was to cook up one last feast, we kept it simple with a platter of anti pasti, zucchini pasta and garlic bread. We cracked open the wine and we all enjoyed our final evening together.

Note to @Mad Dog, please correct me if my facts are incorrect.
Click to expand...
Another one of those coincidences from the trip, ala the British Mark at Hofbrauhaus and the British Ann at Ohiopyle..................dahn tahn Pgh. & Primanti's; At the Irish Festival Friday evening, the band Gaelic Storm (which was the steerage band in the movie "Titanic") was celebrating their first appearance 20 years ago at the Pgh. Irish Festival (they appear just about every year). As a celebratory :celebrate: milestone they wrote and played a new song that described their first trip into dahn tahn Pittsburgh and a memorable sandwich at Primanti Brothers dahn tahn. :lol::)....48 straight hours of rain now and they have just announced the postponement of the third day of the Irish Festival. As we left last night the grounds were ankle deep in mud most places. Irish summer weather in Pittsburgh ;)....and....it appears the sky's are weeping :'( now that our British friends have left the area.
 
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Mad Dog said:
Another one of those coincidences from the trip, ala the British Mark at Hofbrauhaus and the British Ann at Ohiopyle..................dahn tahn Pgh. & Primanti's; At the Irish Festival Friday evening, the band Gaelic Storm (which was the steerage band in the movie "Titanic") was celebrating their first appearance 20 years ago at the Pgh. Irish Festival (they appear just about every year). As a celebratory :celebrate: milestone they wrote and played a new song that described their first trip into dahn tahn Pittsburgh and a memorable sandwich at Primanti Brothers dahn tahn. :lol::)....48 straight hours of rain now and they have just announced the postponement of the third day of the Irish Festival. As we left last night the grounds were ankle deep in mud most places. Irish summer weather in Pittsburgh ;)....and....it appears the sky's are weeping :'( now that our British friends have left the area.
Click to expand...
Shame about the rain on the Irish Fest.

And here is what @UK-Trigg , Sam, @bobwadd and Diane are doing today.

 
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Mad Dog said:
Another one of those coincidences from the trip, ala the British Mark at Hofbrauhaus and the British Ann at Ohiopyle..................dahn tahn Pgh. & Primanti's; At the Irish Festival Friday evening, the band Gaelic Storm (which was the steerage band in the movie "Titanic") was celebrating their first appearance 20 years ago at the Pgh. Irish Festival (they appear just about every year). As a celebratory :celebrate: milestone they wrote and played a new song that described their first trip into dahn tahn Pittsburgh and a memorable sandwich at Primanti Brothers dahn tahn. :lol::)....48 straight hours of rain now and they have just announced the postponement of the third day of the Irish Festival. As we left last night the grounds were ankle deep in mud most places. Irish summer weather in Pittsburgh ;)....and....it appears the sky's are weeping :'( now that our British friends have left the area.
Click to expand...

They are in the south now. Methinks I will start to understand the language better now :)

Ain’t it D O W N T O W N now?? Or is dahn tahn some type of drink like a Black and Tan or something?

A grit is not oatmeal. Biscuits and gravy might seem like an odd combo for someone who speaks the Queen’s English.

Sweet Tea is a southern dish that the north does not comprehend!
 
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Frank Drackman said:
They are in the south now. Methinks I will start to understand the language better now :)

Ain’t it D O W N T O W N now?? Or is dahn tahn some type of drink like a Black and Tan or something?

A grit is not oatmeal. Biscuits and gravy might seem like an odd combo for someone who speaks the Queen’s English.

Sweet Tea is a southern dish that the north does not comprehend!
Click to expand...

Dahn Tahn is Pittsburgese, for downtown.
 
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Pittsburgh Photos

20180906_113838 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_144414 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_111057 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_111116 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_144414 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_112803 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_113022 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_113123 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_120905 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_123019 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_123057 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr


20180906_111354 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_123432 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_123618 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_125345 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_132609 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_132138 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

20180906_132203 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr

This bank reminded me of Gringotts

20180906_142107 by UK-Trigg, on Flickr
 
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