What a summer it had been! After being on the road from May 2017 until July 2018 it was beyond nice to have been able to spend the summer back home in Upstate New York. We had been able to visit family and friends back in Seattle and Northern New Jersey. We spent a lot of time at my families cabin in Adirondack Park in Northern New York as well as explored around the Finger Lakes in Western NY. We flew across the pond and saw 3 European countries and experienced Oktoberfest in Munich for the first time. We were able to take part in one of my best friends wedding. Most importantly however was the time that we were able to spend with family and friends right in Rochester. As the summer was winding down we knew we had to make a choice; find a spot for Bubbles for the winter or keep on traveling. As 3 ½ months was pretty long for us to be in a single spot we knew the only option for us was to keep on moving. It was time to head south.
As we had been to New York City, Philadelphia and Washington DC many times we wanted to take more of a westerly route south so we decided to take I-90 west to Cleveland then head south from there. Our first destination on this leg of our journey was Cincinnati, OH. Julie had gone to college at the U. of Cincinnati and still had a lot of friends in the city so it was a natural place for us to start. As we were staying with some of Julie’s friends we didn’t take our normal back roads but had to hit the highway. The drive from Rochester to Cincinnati isn’t exactly short. It took around 9 hours to make the drive going slowly in Bubbles but we did it and made it.
We were staying with our friends Tracy & Kevin and made it to their house just north of Cincinnati just before dinner. Tracy wasn’t home yet and as Kevin was putting their two young boys to sleep Julie and I decided to go to the nearest Skyline Chili restaurant for dinner. For those unfamiliar with Skyline it is Cincinnati’s most famous food. It is a slightly cinnamon flavored chili most commonly served on a bed of spaghetti topped with cheddar cheese and a few slivers of raw onion. Eating it always brings back memories for Julie about her time in the city. After dinner we noticed that there was another one of Cincinnati’s great foods nearby, Graeter’s ice cream. While I had heard of Skyline before, Graeter’s was new to me. It’s simply a local ice cream chain (with amazing ice cream). We arrived just before closing so ate in a hurry and enjoyed every bite. Once we were done we headed back to Tracy & Kevin’s where we found that Tracy had arrived home and both of the boys were in bed. We all talked for an hour or so catching up on each other lives. Since we had last seen them Kevin & Tracy had been a part of a small group that had opened a brewery in Dayton, OH called Branch & Bone. We sampled a few of their beers and they were delicious. It was certainly a great way to end our first day back on the road.
The next day we woke up ready to go. It just so happened that another of Julie’s friends had the day off so we hopped into Bubbles and headed into Cincinnati. We were meeting with Anne & Greg. They had purchased a new house in a beautiful wooded neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. After a tour of the house we headed for lunch further downtown at Findlay Market. Julie had told me that during her college days this was not an area of the city that they normally ventured to. It was rundown with high crime. These days however it had been transformed into a bustling market neighborhood. It was pretty neat to see her reaction to the neighborhood, as she could not believe what it had become. We walked though the market, which was a mix of produce, meats and restaurant stalls before picking out a Thai booth to get some food from. From Findlay Market we drove over to the Cincinnati Music Hall, which was another, recently (for Julie anyway) renovated building. A park had been built in front of the hall, which we walked around. It was great to see all of these old buildings and neighborhoods, which had been brought back to life.
After checking out a bit more in the Over The Rhine neighborhood it was time to go back to Julie & Anne’s alma mater, the University of Cincinnati. Julie had emailed one of her professors, Dr. Owens, who still worked at the school and whom we were going to meet up with. We headed over to the school meeting with Dr. Owens in the Electronic Media department. Julie, Anne and Dr. Owens caught up then without prompting he took us on a tour of the school. He said that it had changed a lot in the last 10 years since Julie had been there and he wanted to show everyone what was going on. We walked around seeing new dorms, the upgraded football field, basketball arena, business school, as well as new E-Media rooms and the upgraded technology in them. We thanked Dr. Owens for the tour and after a quick stop at the bookstore so that Julie could buy a new UC shirt we said goodbye to Anne & Greg and headed back to Tracy & Kevin’s for the night.
The next morning after breakfast we headed out once again. After a quick stop at the local Kroger (we were having a Mexican night with Tracy that evening) we met up with Anne & Greg once again in Cincinnati at a BBQ joint called “The Depot BBQ”. Once we entered we knew it was going to be good as they had Lone Star Beer, a brand of beer rarely seen outside of Texas. Anne & Greg and their baby girl arrived and we had a great lunch. We then headed over to Anne’s parents. During college as Rochester is quite a distance from Cincinnati Julie had spent a few holidays during the year with Anne’s family and she was excited to see them. Anne’s dad Denny greeted us at the door and her mom, Marguerite was soon behind. It was great for Julie to see them again as it had been a number of years. During conversation it had turned out that Denny had worked with my Dad 15 years prior. It was one of those small world moments that have no rhyme or reason but really make you think just how interconnected the world is.
From Anne’s parents we headed back toward Tracy & Kevin’s house in West Chester to meet up with another one of Julie’s friends, Rachel. This was pretty neat, as Julie had not seen Rachel in over 10 years. We met at a pub and as soon as we walked in they reconnected in an instant. As Julie had with Anne’s parents she also used to spend a lot of time during holidays with Rachel’s family. We had a few drinks with Rachel and her friend Brian and even made plans for them to come see us in a few months in Florida. After saying goodbye we drove the short distance back to Tracy & Kevin’s for our Mexican dinner. It was another great day!
The next morning we woke up, repacked our bags and tossed them into Bubbles. We had a great time the last few days seeing so many great friends in Cincinnati. It was time to head further south.
Next up… We head to the Bluegrass State – Kentucky!
