South Side Views of Pittsburgh

Lots of guide books recommend riding one of the incline trains on the south bank of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. We went to the Monongahela Incline, starting at the lower level. The train was built by German immigrants in the 1870s to make the trek up and down the hill much easier. The ascent is 635 feet, so that's a lot of stairs to climb. The incline was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and still operates today, though it is mostly a tourist attraction now.

The train on its way down

The ride is fairly smooth, going slowly for the first and last twenty feet and then reaching a speed of six miles an hour (so, not a whole lot faster). The views of downtown Pittsburgh from the top are amazing.

Monongahela and eastern Pittsburgh

Downtown

The downtown area comes to a point at the confluence of the three rivers. The Allegheny and the Monongahela unite to form the Ohio River, which winds its way off to Ohio in the west.

Bridges at the confluence

Another view of downtown

A cruise ship on the Monongahela

The many less famous bridges of Pittsburgh

While we were on the heights, we had some ice cream at a local place. I tried the cherry vanilla, which was delicious, though it was my third choice. My kids scooped the number one and number two flavors I would have chosen.

More fun than the train ride?

Cherry vanilla

Enjoying churro-flavored scoop

Banana pie fan

Back by the station, we saw some classical-looking homes next to a much more modern home. How did that happen?

Some residences that have wonderful views

At the top station, I noticed their concrete welcome mat. 

No need to replace it

Can't quite see the car coming up

The ride down was swift and did not look as perilous as the trip up. 

View from inside the top

Station Square Shopping area

The other train coming up

The funicular has two tracks, both with trains. One goes up while the other goes down. They act as counter-weights, making the system use less power to move them up and down. This was a fun attraction and a great place to visit, with plenty of amazing views (and geocaches) at the top. 

NYC 2026 Trip--High Line Park

The westside elevated tracks in Manhattan used to transport freight beginning back in the 1930s. The trains eventually stopped in the 1980s and the city considered tearing down the tracks. But a new idea took shape. They turned a long portion into a walking park called the High Line, which opened its first section in 2009. Starting in the Meatpacking District, it winds its way up Manhattan's west coast.

The southern end of High Line Park

Initial view on getting up to the park

The park blends wild and cultivated landscaping. Many of the railroad tracks are still there as a reminder of its original purpose.

Plants taking over

Layout of the gardens

Oddly enough, the walkway passes through several buildings. The trains did too, which was an advantage for some local businesses, like a Nabisco plant that had easy access to transport.

Looks like a dead end

Surprise!

At Tenth Street there's some stadium seating with a view down the street.

Viewing the city's busy streets

A bit of midtown

Stacked parking

Several art displays also grace High Line Park, though some are more cryptic than others.

Urban Rattle by Charlie Hewitt

Works by Sopheap Pich

I was gratified to see some water towers on top of buildings. If you read Marvel comics (especially Daredevil), it seems like these are on every building in New York City.

Rooftop water towers

More gardening

In Mortal Repose by Diana Al-Hadid

Pretty big tree for the park

At 30th Street and Tenth Avenue is the High Line Plinth, a large, open area that has plenty of seating and, when I visited, a sculpture called Dinosaur by Ivan Argote. It's a gigantic pigeon (whose ancestry is from the dinosaurs) and, oddly enough, no pigeons have roosted or pooped on this statue. Maybe they are showing respect? Fear?

16-foot pigeon sighted in Manhattan!

The weather was nice when I visited, so big crowds were walking along the pathway. It's a popular spot and fun to visit.

Goldfield Ghost Town, Arizona

Less than an hour's drive from Phoenix, Arizona, is a recreated goldmining town. Goldfield was established in 1893 to support nearby gold mines. Miners lived in town or in tents on the outskirts of town. One miner struck an underground aquifer which flooded the mine, making it impossible to get more gold out. In the 1910s and 1920s, several attempts were made to restart mining, ending in 1926. The area was recreated as a tourist attraction starting in the 1980s. 

We visited in late December, so we didn't worry about snakes or hot weather, in spite of the sign right by the entrance.

Snake alert!

The town recreates the 1890s days, with old time buildings including the bank, the saloon, the bordello, and the chapel. These are not original buildings, they are reconstructions.

No ATM at this bank

The star attraction is a shoot out the street which happens on weekends. Reenactors put on a show with some baddies trying to steal a payroll trunk. The story was a little hard to follow because the crowd was huge and a bit noisy. One reenactor had a hand microphone but he only used at the beginning to give the usual warnings about staying back and covering ears of sensitive people for the gunshots. The show was fun with a bunch of different loud gunshots and a lot of varmints left in the dust by the end.

People rushing to a shoot-out instead of to the gold mine

Getting ready

The bad guys show up

Arguing about something

Shooting at the good guys in the jail

That guy out in the middle is dead meat

The ladies clean up the town (and the guy is indeed dead meat)

The bordello hosts a ghost hunt and stories which we didn't do because it was an extra fee.

House of ill repute

The other side of the house

Just down the street is the church which is free to enter though there are no interactive attractions.

Frontier church

Frontier decor

I wandered out back to find a geocache out by the rusted train engines. 

Needs a little refurbishing

Another attraction is a zip-line which was also pricey and not that interesting to us. 

Someone on the zipline

Zoomed in

The Goldfield Mountains are to the north and quite picturesque. The Superstition Mountains are off to the east and also quite picturesque.

Goldfield Mountains

Superstition Mountains

Walking back downtown I saw the gunfighters relaxing before their next show.

Taking a break

One of the extras we did try was the narrow gauge train that goes around the town. The tickets were a little pricey and the line was really long.

The train station

We took turns standing in line and going into the station to see the exhibits and displays. One wall showed the 100th anniversary celebration of the rescue of a miner who was lost for 10 days in the mine with only a little water and a few candles to eat.

The info on the celebration

A model train runs around the middle of the station.

Not quite what's outside

A Pony Express poster advertises for new employees.

Recruiting orphans?!?

We finally got on the train to have a tour around the periphery.

Our people

The train engineer was the tour guide, first explaining the variety of cactus. 

What you think of as a cactus

Not what you think of as a cactus

The tour continued around the side of town where a recreated mine entrance is closed.

No entry

The train came by the geocache spot though the engineer did not mention it.

I already saw this!

We had another view of the Superstition Mountains.

We were on the wrong side of the train

A small encampment

Several actual mine entrances were visible in the distance.

A nearby mine

The train was far enough from the town to make some nice views of the small rise on which it is built.

The back end of town

The town with Superstition Mountains in the background

A couple of horses on the outskirts

Back at the station, the engineer told us about an unknown miner buried right by the entrance to the town. A large stone marks the grave.

Tomb of the Unknown Miner

Hanging with Grandpa!

We enjoyed our visit to Goldfield Ghost Town. Other things we didn't do were the mine tour and the museum. We did have some snacks (fudge and ice cream). We wandered through some of the shops but did not buy anything.