PGH's Best Night of the Year: The Bloomfield Halloween Parade 2012

Well, folks. Another Bloomfield Halloween Parade is in the books. This year's parade took place on the tail end of our lovely Indian summer, which meant it was warm and dry outside. Perfect conditions for beers on the street while the wonderfully odd parade went by. Words, honestly, cannot do the parade justice. So this year I took short videos of some of the parade's best moments:


Shark! Shark! Shark! (As well as a "never forget" with regard to the Zoltan costumes.)


The Tamburitzans!


A very, very creepy Mr. Rooter. That costume is...just creepy. Also, Mr. Rooter has an arm on him. He really whipped that candy into the crowd.


The little AAA car is ALWAYS a Halloween Parade highlight.


WHO YOU GONNA CALL? (Honestly, Ghostbusters is really a favorite song of mine. Like, in general.)




So much going on in this clip. Steeley McBeam, a Here We Go Steelers chant, Nightmare Dancing, and  a Gooski's chant. This is why the parade is the best thing that happens all year.


We hate crime, McGruff.

I've saved my top three moments of the parade for last.


The Polish Hill Zombie Band.


The C.S. Kim Karate Demo - BREAK SOME BOARDS.


And, finally, USA USA USA UNION UNION UNION BOOM. 

Anyone who thinks there is a better nighttime experience in Pittsburgh is crazy. The Bloomfield Halloween Parade is reason enough for me to never ever leave. The only bad thing is that when it's over, there's another year to go until the next one.

Happy Halloween!

Fright Nights: Kennywood with Ghouls

Two things I love in life: amusement parks and Halloween. Put them together and it's an "Allison Special." Kennywood's Fright Nights, for the second year in a row, proved to be an excellent time. We rode coasters (the Jack Rabbit - double dips in the dark!, the Racer - my car won!, the Exterminator - even more fun in the dark!, and the Phantom's Revenge - terrifyingly awesome!). We ate Potato Patch fries and corn dogs and fried oreos and soft pretzels. We only went through one haunted house, Dark Shadows, but it was totally awesome because it was more based in environmental frights and being incredibly disorienting. I got a really good scare coming out of the Exterminator, which ended with me yelling a very bad word and running quickly away (like the scaredy cat that I truly am proud to be). We stayed in the park until the cold started to set in and we couldn't ignore our numbing fingers and toes any longer. Here are a few pictures from our Fright Night.

Adventuring the Slopes: StepTrek 2012

Last year, on an extremely hot October afternoon (for real - it was like 85 degrees), I walked up and down what seemed like a billion steps scattered throughout the South Side Slopes. I must be a glutton for punishment, because I enjoyed it so much that I did it again. This time, I took my buddy Ross along. It was the first of a day/evening/ night full of things that Ross and I set out to do. More on some of those another post. Tonight, we focus on steps. Lots. Of. Steps. The South Side Slopes isn't exactly a place where I'm likely to be found. It's prohibitive for someone whose main mode of transport is a bike. There also doesn't seem to be a plethora of entertainment up there either. But, it's really fun to explore, because it's full of outstanding views, tucked away spaces, and a stray cat or two. The StepTrek happens every October. The money raised from registration goes towards keeping the steps in working order. These aren't just fun, they're necessary!

Getting ready for Halloween. We are so, so close.

Not sure if this is still in operation, but the Kollar Club was a Slovakian club, and many immigrants from Slovakia in Pittsburgh came here to learn their first words of English. 

A typical street in the Slopes might end with a staircase.

Going up!

What do we have here!

This adorable little guy. Would have made a good addition to my mini-collection of black cats. But he looked pretty well kept, so he'll stay up there on the Slopes.

A witch, a view of the Cathedral.

I can't help but love every view of this good-looking city. We kind of rock.

PGH Book #8: Bone Wars

Like any kid who grew up in the 80s and 90s, dinosaurs were an essential part of my life. I remember receiving books about dinosaurs for Christmas and spending hours looking at the pictures of these awesome monsters that were once real. After seeing Jurassic Park in the theater, I would put my brother and his friend from down the street in a wheelbarrow and run them around the backyard pretending they were on their own Jurassic Park tour. It was great fun, especially when I would dump them out of the wheelbarrow and tell them to run from the hungry T-Rex. Seeing Dinosaur Hall at the Carnegie Museum for the first time as a kid was incredible. There aren't too many moments in your life when your jaw drops like the first time you see dinosaur skeleton. (Well, for me, at least.)

My love of dinosaurs continues today. (So much so that I am planning on buying a T-Rex costume for Halloween this year.) (Oh, and will probably have to buy this for my dopey-looking fat black cat.) When I searched for a Pittsburgh-related book that had to do with dinosaurs and found Bone Wars: The Excavation of Andrew Carnegie's Dinosaur, I was happily surprised! But, I guess I shouldn't have been considering I now walk past dinosaurs daily on my way into work. We are a dinosaur city! How lucky for me!

"Disco Dino" lives right outside of my new office building.

But, I have to be honest. I did not finish this book. About halfway in I got so confused by all the archeology terminology I didn't know and then there were ten or fifteen different main people and they were alway changing places and connections and... Well, I just had to put it down for good before I go to the end. There was this excellent quote that I made note of, and will always remember:

[Regarding the purchasing of a complete dinosaur skeleton to be displayed in Carnegie's museum in Pittsburgh for the people of the city to view and enjoy.]

"My lord--can't you buy this for Pittsburgh--try," Carnegie scrawled along the margin of the modest New York Post story. "Wyoming State University isn't rich--get an offer--hurry AC."

Determined he was, and it earned Carnegie a collection of dinosaurs that is unrivaled by anyone else in the world. 

As self-imposed punishment for failing to finish Bone Wars (which, I'm sorry, but so many times I have almost written or said "Boner Wars"), here are some pictures of a typical almost-thirty-year-old's apartment:

Happy (Belated!) Birthday, Blog!

Holy crap! The heat has definitely infected my brain, because I totally missed EverythingBetterPGH's birthday! I am not one to forget an anniversary (seriously, I celebrate the weirdest things every year because I can't forget the dates), so I feel kind of bad about this. Sorry, blog.

Let's celebrate!

I can't believe I've been doing this for a year now. It's been a very strange year for me personally. Only a handful of posts were published before my mom passed away, which means this blog exists in the shadow of that life-altering event. This was one of the hardest years of my life. For a long time there, nothing was going right. Every morning I woke up and wondered what horrible thing would happen that day. That's dramatic, I know. But seriously: In the span of a few weeks the following things happened to me: got in a bike accident with another biker and totally messed up my knee, was nearly assaulted (i.e., hit with an umbrella) when someone tried to steal my cellphone at a trolley stop in BETHEL PARK, and was the unfortunate person sitting next to the guy in the theater whose ladyfriend gave him a handy during Crazy Stupid Love.

I digress.

In order to survive the past year, I've had to live with a very "full throttle" attitude toward getting through the day to the next day to the next day until the day when I would stop being sad. I still don't know if I'm there yet, but I'm starting to really appreciate the present, which means I'm starting to slow down a bit. Living in the moment, and all other such sayings.

When I look back at these things I've written about or taken pictures of throughout the past year, I'm so so so glad I made myself keep this blog going. I have this awesome collection of memories now, and I can look at them and realize that through all the sad stuff, there was a heck of a lot of fun. In celebration of EverythingBetterPGH's first birthday, here are ten of those fun moments, ones that I would go back and relive in a heartbeat.

(In no particular order.)

Why Not? Biking Pittsburgh at Night with Flock of Cycles

Paddling Pittsburgh: Kayaking the Allegheny and the Ohio

Kennywood's Open (For Terror and Fun)

PGH's Best Night of the Year: The Bloomfield Halloween Parade

Halloween Miracle #2: STEELERS BEAT THE PATRIOTS

The Only Fear You Have to Overcome is Getting the Nerve to Do It

Malkamania: Penguins 8, Tampa Bay 1

Winter Camping Feels Like Spring to Me

Sitting in the Splash Zone: A Saturday Night on the South Side

My Idea of Vacation: The GAP and C&O - Days 3 & 4

Tonight, at midnight, I'm going to go see The Dark Knight Rises. I promised myself I would keep this blog going until I could write a post about seeing the movie that I watched being filmed on my streets.

I can't wait to write that post. And so many more after that.

Thank you for reading!

Happy Valentine's Day: 14 Things I Love (re: Pittsburgh)

With just about four hours to go until Valentine's Day is over, and the really awesome holiday begins (check back tomorrow!), I thought I'd share 14 things I love about Pittsburgh, or have loved throughout the past year.

1. I love this man who lives on Penn Ave. I hope he stays there forever, but, if not, I'll enjoy him for as long as I can.

2. I love everything about this quote. It's a child describing how watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood makes him feel.

3. I love how many different views of Pittsburgh there are, and how many I've been able to see since I've been back.

4. I love all the color. All of it.

5. I love my creative friends, without whom I would be lost.

6. I love that in this mural in East Liberty that there are crazy-looking wolves running around unleashed! East Liberty is scary! (Not really, but in this version, look out!)

7. I love Panther Hollow. Such a good place when you need to get away.

8. I love that we have a dino in our airport. For real, this makes me excited every time I come home.

9. I absolutely love that this photo exists.

10. I love how worn the stairs in the Carnegie Library in Oakland are. So much use by so many generations of Pittsburgh.

11. I love this quilt. Simply amazing.

12. I love the Bloomfield Halloween Parade. And I loved that this kid broke a board in front of where I was standing this year. How many days till Bloomfield Halloween Parade 2012??

13. I've really loved spending time with my dad.

14. And I loved saying goodbye to 2011, and saying hello to 2012 by taking a quick dip in the Mon, bright and early on New Year's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day.

EvBetPGH Best Of 2011: PGH's Best Night of the Year

Throughout the month of December, I'll be returning to five of my favorite adventures/posts from the past year.

Date of Post: Monday, October 31, 2011
Title of Post: PGH's Best Night of the Year: The Bloomfield Halloween Parade

Very honestly the night I anticipate more than any others in Pittsburgh. You are the best on this one night, Bloomfield.

Windows on Liberty Avenue

I had fifteen minutes to kill while I waited for my last order of garlic pepper chicken from Thai Cuisine for the next TWO MONTHS (they are renovating, not closing, thank goodness). So I walked up and down Liberty looking in windows. Here are three windows that made me chuckle.

"SOME SEE THE 25 cent wall. I found your heelie Size 13 I'll be here Tuesday."
AWESOME

I don't know if this little guys lives in this storefront, or if he just hangs out there, but he is 100% adorable.

Hey Nail Salon, I feel the same. Starting to accept Christmas, but not willing to let go of Halloween just yet. (Case in point: I got a tree, but decorated it with zombies, monsters, and dinosaurs.)