Ainsley's Big Adventure

Ever since we arrived in Pittsburgh and people noticed that we had older children we would get the comment, "You have got to go to Kennywood." The kids have been dying to try out this amusement park, dying I tell you. With Thomas being in New York and coming home on the weekends we tried to make the absolute most of our time together. Being that it was Ainsley's 8th birthday we thought it would be a great excuse to go and see what this favorite Pittsburgh Past-time is all about.

Kennywood opened in 1898 as a Trolley Park and in 1906 officially became an "entertainment park". We rode on some roller coasters that were built in the 1920's and were still functional, I wouldn't exactly call the seat belt's modern I'm sure if you were feeling extra obnoxious you could have yourself a pretty decent accident on one of those. Historically, the park is on the location of the July 9, 1755 Battle of the Monongahela, where British general Edward Braddock was mortally wounded, ending his expedition to capture the French Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War. George Washington was a colonel to Braddock, and fought at the battle before they retreated. So as you can tell this place has more than just the memories of all those kids who grew up here and went there year after year.

The great thing about this park is that it is nestled in by trees which really gave it a home-town feel and a nice retreat from the sun.  The girls had such a great time because a lot of the rides they could ride all by themselves, which was great, because the older I get I am realizes I can't do the same rides I used to be able to, which just doesn't quite seem fair.  They even had a little kiddie park where Rainier could ride rides all by himself.

We really did have the best time and were so glad that we could add Kennywood to our memory bucket of Pittsburgh experiences and celebrate Ainsley's birthday.