It is interesting when I reflect upon my time in Pittsburgh and think about the various things that I didn’t get the chance to do while we lived there for six years. Comparatively, I scan my “Iowa Bucket List” for the short-term as we are nearing the three-year mark of being Midwest transplants.

Here are the surprises that came up for me about Pittsburgh:

I never went to the zoo. I worked at the National Aviary (essentially, a bird zoo, for those not in the know) for three years, and yet I never traveled to the east end of town to visit the city’s zoo. I had plans definitely once and canceled because of weather. Maybe twice because I used to flake out on people a lot. Spending time at the zoo is a frequent destination for us when we are traveling. I LOVE the Henry Doorly zoo in Omaha. And I have a membership to Blank Park Zoo here in Des Moines. It’s still weird to think about that I never visited the zoo in Pittsburgh.

Art museum. Same as with the zoo, I never went to the art museum in Pittsburgh. Now, I spent a lot of time at the Mattress Factory and the Warhol Museum – but never the Carnegie Museum of Art. Though I parked in front of it once! Again, we travel and frequently go to art museums in other cities. AND I’ve been to the art center here in Des Moines several times casually and for a few events. I also missed the Degas exhibit at CMA before I moved and that still makes me sad.

Yoga on a pod on Mount Washington. I’ve been on the pods when entertaining out-of-town visitors, and I ran up the hill to Mount Washington the weekend before I moved away – but the yoga on the Mount looked like such an amazing experience. If I ever go back to Pittsburgh during the warmer months, I’ll have to connect with that instructor to ensure I have a mat space. I’ve been to a few fun outdoor yoga events here in Iowa, and I look forward to upcoming opportunities to practice in interesting places.

Go to the overlook in the west end. A friend once told me that the West End overlook was the best view in town. I would have to agree solely on my many travels over the West End Bridge. But I never did quite figure out how to get to the overlook (and I very likely didn’t try hard enough). What do you think is the best viewpoint of Des Moines?

The observatory on the north side. I literally lived within walking distance. This makes me greatly sad. I’ve signed up to be reminded of the sky parties here in Des Moines. And I put a telescope on my Christmas list again. 😀

Big butler county fair and school bus smash derby. Man, demolition derby is SO much fun. And taking that up a notch to smashing school buses just sounds like the best thing ever. I imagine that there is demo derby here in Iowa, but I haven’t actively sought it out. I still haven’t even been to the State Fair yet… and I’m really interested in catching some of those cart races.