Trip Recap: Things To Do In Pittsburgh | Botanical Garden, Restaurants & Bars, Shopping!

Can you believe it’s already Thanksgiving week?! Where has the year gone?? I’m ramping up for holiday content this week and hope to have a couple more gift guides ready to go for later this week.

I had a slow start this morning after a weekend trip to Pittsburgh, PA to visit my best friends. I met these girls during my first year in college, and we love planning trips to meet up with each other now that we all live in different cities. This is the best kind of friendship; the type where no matter where life takes you or how long it has been since you’ve spoke, things always go right back to normal when you see them and it feels like nothing changed. Truly lifelong friends!

We all arrived in the city on Friday and kept things lowkey. We hung around the house, got Chinese food, and sat in the basement with wine, catching up on everyone’s lives until late in the night. On Saturday morning, we made pancakes and got ready for the day.

Our first stop was the Phipps Conservatory. This is a beautiful botanical garden that was decked out in holiday lights and decor. They have both indoor and outdoor areas, so it is lovely year-round. We had so much fun looking at all the cool plants, succulents, and displays. Of course everything is so photogenic, so we took a ton of photos, too.

The next stop was downtown Lawrenceville, where we stayed for the rest of the afternoon. We walked around, looking at the cute shops and grabbing cocktails. We stopped in the Mix Candle Co. to make customized candles. That was so fun! My candle is a blend of blue spruce, sandalwood, and cologne which is perfect for the holidays.

While we waited for our candles to set, we stopped at the restaurant Smoke for some tacos and queso. I highly recommend this place! The queso was my favorite, but everything was really really good. Then we popped into Bar Botanico for a couple of cocktails. So good!

Around 6pm, our table was ready at The Abbey, so we headed over there for dinner. The final stop of the night was Bob’s Garage (IYKYK). Bob’s Garage is a bar that is apparently always decked out in holiday decor. Of course, while we were there everything was Christmas themed; string lights, ornaments, garland, tinsel, you name it! They change the decor for every holiday too, so it is always decked out year-round.

We had a blast and stayed there for awhile. I sang karaoke for the first time! Of course I was terrible, but it was so much fun watching the girls do it too.

Sunday morning we all packed up and headed our separate ways. It was so nice to have a girls weekend in a new city. The last few weekends have been hectic with travel, especially as we move into the holiday season. But it has been worth it to catch up with friends and make new memories in cool cities. If you have any questions about this trip to PGH, feel free to DM on Instagram! 💛 -Cassie