Kayak Three Rivers

The three rivers of Pittsburgh unite the city into an urban and natural mecca, offering residents and visitors the opportunity to enjoy city life and outdoor adventure simultaneously.

Venture Outdoors, a non-profit founded in 2001, organizes outdoor recreational activities to spur community interest in the city's natural opportunities. Activities include hiking, biking, and kayaking, in addition to many other types of outdoor excitement.

A project of Venture Outdoors, Kayak Pittsburgh began in 2005 with a downtown station near the Pirates' PNC Park. It has since expanded to include stations at North Park and at Lake Elizabeth in West Park on the North Side.

This video spotlights Kayak Pittsburgh downtown, with photographs and conversation with Liam Cooney, Project Manager at Venture Outdoors.

Kayak Pittsburgh from kristine on Vimeo.

Penguins Stanley Cup Victory Parade

An estimated 375,000 fans jammed the streets and parking garages of Downtown Pittsburgh on Monday, June 15, 2009, to celebrate the Penguins' third Stanley Cup Championship and their first since 1992.

The celebration began for some in the wee pre-dawn morning, as fans arrived hours before the noon start time.

The parade traveled the same victory route as the Steelers' Superbowl Parade, beginning on Grant Street and turning down Boulevard of the Allies toward Stanwix Street. Downtown was booming Monday. I was not even aggressive enough to push through the throng of thousands to view the stage presentation at the end of the parade route.

View the slideshow for my perspective on the parade on the Boulevard between Smithfield and Wood Streets. (For more of my photos, go to my Flickr page.)



For more fan photos of the parade, check out the Pensblog Stanley Cup Victory Parade Photos group pool.

The Duquesne Incline

PITTSBURGH - Built in 1877, the Duquesne Incline has carried both commuters and tourists from the neighborhood hill on Mount Washington to the industrial downtown below for over 130 years. Originally built to offer steel mill workers a quicker alternative than hiking up and down the 400-foot high hill, the Duquesne Incline was one of the city's 15 inclines in the nineteenth century.

A native of Pittsburgh, I have ridden the incline to admire the view of the three rivers and to enjoy the nightlife in Station Square at the foot of the hill. I spent time with a gift shop greeter and a lift operator to create this piece on the history and use of The Duquesne Incline.

Today it stands as a historic monument, one of the city's main tourist attractions, and certainly a faster approach to climbing the 400 feet up Mount Washington. The view of Pittsburgh's "Golden Triangle" at the top has been voted one of America's most beautiful by USA Today Magazine.