Picklesburgh
Happy Monday, y'all! I hope you all had a pleasant weekend full of relaxation and fun. I certainly did! It was kind of a big DILL, let me tell you that.
This weekend instead of lounging on the couch, I went to Pittsburgh with my closest group of friends from CHAARG for an iconic annual festival: Picklesburgh. It's basically a two-day summer festival that is themed all around pickles. The name of it is so perfect and creative, right?! They served all kinds of pickle flavored foods, including fried pickles, pickle ice cream, pickle soda, pickle hot dogs, pickle funnel cakes (which honestly look gross) and so on. The best part about the whole weekend; however, was getting to spend time with my friends after having not seen them since last semester!
I'm not gonna lie to y'all, but this summer has been a bit rough. Obviously it's been amazing with our family vacation to Cali and taking a break from college and so on, but it's been mentally exhausting. First off, I've been busy with working from 8:30 am to 5 pm every day. Second off, my anxiety has been increasing for some reason. It's weird because it was getting better this past school year, but this summer it's been like a roller coaster with my emotions/mentality and I don't know why. I've just been constantly overwhelmed and stressed out. But thankfully, this weekend was very rejunivating for both my mind and my heart. I needed some downtime with my girl gang full of positive and confident women!
My friend Danielle lives in Pittsburgh, so we all stayed at her house for the weekend. Me and my two friends, Delaney and Marj, drove together to Pennsylvania on Friday after work. It took us about two hours, but it did not feel like that long of a ride because we were so focused on catching up with one another. And the highway was clear for the most part, so that was a bonus! We arrived to Danielle’s house in the early evening, just in time to set up a bonfire and eat snacks. We met Danielle’s super outgoing family and their two cats. They recently got a orange tabby kitten named Julius and he is the cutest (and most mischievous) little feline I’ve ever met, and now I’m begging my parents to let me get a kitten!
The first night we stayed in a tent in the backyard, and thankfully it didn’t rain even though it was supposed to! The next morning, our friend Melissa showed up around the time we started making breakfast. After relaxing for an hour or so, we did our hair and makeup to look nice for all the cute pictures we were gonna take. Then around noon, our friend Alyssa arrived after driving from Cincinnati just in time for us to head to Downtown Pittsburgh for the festival. It was quite the reunion, we were all so excited to be back together again!
Me (top far left) and my beautiful friends: Alyssa (next to me), Melissa (next to Alyssa), Marj (top far right), Delaney (bottom right), and Danielle (bottom left)
Picklesburgh overall a success! We were worried about how the weather would turn out because the Weather Channel said it was going to start raining between 3-5, but thankfully it stayed warm and sunny for the entire day! Despite all the people who photobombed our pictures (not because it was crowded but some annoying people were trying to be funny and rude), we had an unforgettable time. We ate tons of pickle foods, obviously. My favorite snacks were the fried pickle chips with ranch on the side. Oh my LANTA, they were so good! Deep fried pickles are much better than regular pickles! I did take a picture of them down below and I honestly I do wish the picture turned out a little better. I think the camera lens on my phone was fogged up a bit. OR, the fried pickles were so heavenly that they literally started glowing. One or the other, you tell me!
Even after a buttload of pickles, we still weren't satisfied. After two hours, we made a pit spot at Rock'n'Joe for some coffee before making our way to Point State Park. I had a coca mocha and it was SWEET! Literally sweet, like, it's dangerous if you have a passionate love for coffee and chocolate ...
After getting some caffeine into our systems, we walked to Pointe State Park to take pictures near the fountain. It was a fun photoshoot, and even the cold mist was a nice addition! The scenery and photoshoot also reminded us of the intro to Friends in a way. From there, we decided which characters we would all be (me as Rachel, Melissa as Monica, Marj as Phoebe, Danielle as Joey, Alyssa as Chandler, and Delaney as Ross). We are all different individuals, but what we all have in common is that we value friendships more than anything, even careers or coffee. Sound familiar?
Throwing up the CHAARG bolt! ⚡️
After a long exhausting but wonderful day, we got a much needed dinner at Red Robin before calling it a night. We spent one more night in the tent and playing with Julius before me, Delaney, and Marj made our way back to Ohio early in the morning.
I’m so blessed to have amazing friends in my life. I don’t know what I would do without these girls, and my summer certainly wouldn’t be complete without this weekend. Even though I don't want to rush the rest of summer that's left, I'm extremely ecstatic about going back to Kent State this fall to make more memories with my friends. Thank you to Danielle for inviting us and letting us stay with you and your wonderful family!
If you're a pickle lover, you have to check out Picklesburgh. Even if you don't like pickles but still want something fun for you and your friends to do, go on a quick getaway to explore the festival. It's definitely one of the most interesting and unique annual events you'll ever experience on the East Coast!
