<p>Hi, Darkiron and possum made great posts about the University and downtown areas. True, it is where you will spend most of your time if you are a student. (But don’t forget to ride the incline up from station square and stroll along the edge of Mount Washington. View the city lights at night. On a special occasion, maybe have dinner at LeMont’s if you feel like splurging. Very romatic!)</p>
<p>As a student, finding transportation can be hard. A car is so worth having if you like to get out in the woods. If you can tackle that, the area has so much to offer if you can find a way to travel a little further beyond the downtown-south side - Oakland corridor.</p>
<p>Parts of Allegheny county and Westmoreland county are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful in the autumn when the leaves change colors. If you can manage it, a trip to Fallingwater in the fall is definitely worth it. This is a Frank Lloyd Wright house, cantelevered over a stream in the woods. It’s really nice. I used to bike. There are beautiful biking trails at Ohiophyle. You can also go rafting there. Closer in, Hartwood Acres and North Park are also beautiful. I think there is a place to rent kayaks off the north shore, and you can paddle around and look at the city from the water. In the winter, you can go skiing at Boyce Park or, better yet, Seven Springs. Yes, there is the hill, but it’s not as big as the mountains you see out west. In my opinion, cross country skiing is definitely the way to go in that are. There is a cool cave with trails inside that you can see at Laurel Caverns. </p>
<p>If you like little towns, the area in eastern Allegheny and western Westmoreland is dotted with genuine log cabins built in the lte 1700’s. Settler’s Cabin park also has a log cabin. North of the city, there are a bunch of little towns with antique shops, B&B’s and pretty homes built in the 800’s or early 1900’s. To the east, Ligonier is pretty and in Fayette country to the south, there is an old historical military fort where George Washington once fought during the French and Indian war. </p>
<p>If you can go as far as West Virginia, Cooper’s Rock State Forest is absolutely beautiful in the spring when the rhodies bloom. The Cheat River gorge is something to see, and also has rafting.</p>