Our area offers many opportunities for family-fun, including amusement parks, museums, animals, golf, shopping, sports, hiking, biking and historical sites.
Pittsburgh
There's fun for everyone at Station Square! Ride the Monongahela Incline and take the Just Ducky Tour with the kids, or take the evening off with a dinner cruise on the Gateway Clipper and a romantic carriage ride. Finish off the day in Bessemer Court for the water fountain shows.
The Pittsburgh area has many museums. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located in the same building as the Carnegie Museum of Art, has real dinosaur bones, precious gems, and beautiful mineral displays all provided through a fund from Andrew Carnegie. Also sponsored by the fund is the Andy Warhol Museum, which serves as both a museum and resource center on the life of Andy Warhol.
The Carnegie Science Center and Sports Works are great kids' museums for rainy days. The museum includes a 360-degree theatre, submarine tour, a huge miniature railroad, kitchen theatre, planetarium, and many other exhibits, activities, and theatres. The Sports Works Center is part of the Science Center, but located across the street. It has many fun things to do, such as a rock wall, miniature golf, and trampoline, and explains the science of each activity.
Family Fun
Kennywood, once an old-fashioned trolley park, has become the most popular amusement park in western Pennsylvania. The Phantom's Revenge, Skycoaster, and Pitt Fall make up some of the modern parts of the park, while the 3 old-fashioned wooden roller coasters, carousel, and paddleboats create a slower-paced, family-fun atmosphere. Idlewild and Soak Zone is slower-paced and oriented towards younger families and groups. Climb the giant net in Jumpin' Jungle, meet 'The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe' in Storybook Forest or King Friday VIII near Raccoon Lagoon, ride all of the rides in Olde Idlewild, and cool off at the Soak Zone.
Three opportunities to visit animals exist within out area. The Pittsburgh Zoo, the largest and most well known is a great place to spend a sunny afternoon. The Zoo is home to thousands of amazing animals representing over four hundred species, including 32 threatened or endangered species. Living Treasures Animal Park not only has a petting zoo but also houses many exotic animals which include zebras, tigers, camels, ostriches, monkeys, kangaroos, and parrots. Located in historic North Side's West Park, the National Aviary is home to more than 600 birds of more than 200 species, many of which are endangered or threatened. From hummingbirds to Andean Condors, their birds represent nearly every continent.
Located less than an hour away, Ohiopyle State Park encompasses more than 19,000 acres of rugged natural beauty and serves as the gateway to the Laurel Mountains. The Youghiogheny River provides some of the best whitewater boating in the Eastern U. S. as well as spectacular scenery. A great day trip is Cucumber falls and the Natural Waterslides. Bring swimming stuff! (Canoe and Kayak Outfitters are everywhere! Laurel Highlands River Tours, Ohiopyle Trading Post, White Water Adventures, and Wilderness Voyageurs Outfitters are good places to start!)
In 1934, Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build their home, Fallingwater. Acquaintances of Edgar and Liliane, Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Hagan, loved Fallingwater and in 1953, also commissioned a house from Frank Lloyd Wright. Sculpture Garden accents the House on Kentuck Knob.