Traveling in the winter in the Midwest is always a gamble, but we were blessed with wonderful weather. The weekend before, southern Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio had been hit by a major snowstorm, but thanks to temperatures in the 40's and 50's, the trip was uneventful (i.e., ice-free). We fortified ourselves in Shelbyville, Indiana--home of The Cow Palace--you just never know when the world will run out of ice cream. Or so my mom says, and of course I always listen to her.
First stop was just across the Ohio river, in the town of Newport, Kentucky. A friend had told us about The Party Place, a HUGE party supply store--she said their inventory of beers and wines was unbelievable. She was right, and if you don't believe me, look for yourself:
We bought an assortment, mostly choosing things that had cool names--sidestepping the ones like "Goats Breath" or "Old Peculiar". St. Bridget's Porter is my favorite so far.We drove around Newport--the downtown has been preserved (no "urban renewal" where the brick comes down and the glass goes up), and there is an aquarium, large waterfront shopping and restaurant area, all with a great view of the Cincinnati skyline. We came across, quite by chance, The World Peace Bell. I just love cool surprises.
We were worried about traffic, so we scooted across one of the numerous bridges back into Cincinnati--next time we're there, I want to walk across the Purple People bridge--it's an amazing pedestrian bridge, linking the two cities.
Downtown Cincinnati is easy to navigate, so before too long, we were in front of The Garfield Suites Hotel. We were very pleased with the price and location of the hotel--we were upgraded to a two-bedroom suite with a full kitchen, living room, and dining area--but would have felt it well worth the price if we had just had a room. It's right across from the Public Library, and just a couple of blocks from nearly everything you might want to see in downtown.
This was our view (Piatt Park):
We explored downtown for a bit, and found Fountain Square--it's sort of the "hub"--there's an ice skating rink, some nice restaurants, upscale shops and major hotel chains all conveniently located with attaching skybridges. Being the shoppers we are, finding the Rock Bottom and still having Happy Hour prices for our drinks was the highlight, although meeting the older Austrian couple in the shoe store was a close second.
Now it was time for Lily--our true reason for the trip! But wait--we passed this eye-catching shop before we arrived at the Aronoff Center. Loved the colors of the suits. And the shoes.
Reminded me of the downtown stores I remember as a kid. There are a lot of those types of stores in downtown Cincinnati, including a REAL hat shop and a casket company!
I don't know--there's just something comforting or nostalgic or "right" about seeing storefronts and signage preserved, and Cincinnati does a good job of it. Other highlights of our wanderings downtown
were the Cadillac Ranch restaurant facade,
Arnold's (the oldest tavern in Cincinnati, which was closed, sadly, the day we visited (take a look at Karen's face as she tries to get in), and the
Ohio Book Store--a 5 story collection of used books and magazines (even Look magazine!). The building itself was worth the trip:
Not your cookiecutter, mall book store!
Sorry--got a little off-track there. Back to Lily....Lily Tomlin!!! My favorite comedienne when I was growing up. She was a staple on Laugh-In, and I always looked forward to hearing what Edith Ann ("My name is Edith Ann, and I'm 5 years old.")had been up to. But Lily Tomlin isn't **just** a comedienne--she's an actress, a playright, an author--it took over 4 pages just to list her accomplishments in the Playbill. She's nearly 70, but doesn't look, or act, like my imaginary 70-year-old would. Needless to say, we were giddy with excitement before the show.
She was on-stage for 2 hours, and told stories of her childhood, did some of her more famous characters (by the way, Ernestine is no longer a telephone operator; she now works for an HMO), was witty and sharp-tongued about current events, took questions from the audience, and...well...the time passed too quickly. Before we knew it, she was gone.
We filed out, and as I was looking around, it was fun to see tons of people our age--we still get out at night!Next morning's destination was The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. It's a beautiful building, located on the waterfront. The focal points of the entry are two quilts. It's hard to capture their beauty on film, but I did try:
The story of the Underground Railroad reminded me that sometimes it's hard to do the right thing, but it's harder not to. So much courage was plainly displayed, and I'm grateful that a group of citizens had the vision and the determination to remind us of this particular part of our nations' history. As it turned out, there was a vendor/book fair going on in the museum as well, so we were able to browse the tables and pick up a wonderful Barack Obama calendar (the photo on the front was taken at Guantanamo Bay, as they removed Bushes' photo and replaced it with Obamas'). I will let you know later of the luck that it may have brought us.
After leaving the museum, we briskly walked uphill to Graeter's Ice Cream. After exercise, it's important to replenish lost nutrients, so I bought the Black Raspberry chip. It was the best ice cream I have ever eaten. Truly. There's something to the French Pot method, which leads to the smoothest dessert imaginable, and the chocolate chips instantly melted in my mouth. Wait....sorry.....just had to wipe the drool off the keyboard.
We were now sufficiently energized to wander through the Ohio Bookstore, and the library.
Loved the display of puppets in the library, and loved, loved their Friend's Shop.
We had one more stop before leaving the greater Cincinnati area, and we were pretty skeptical about the awesomeness of it. But, since more than one person told us we "had to stop", we headed out to Jungle Jim's (guidebook: "Jungle Jim's is a huge gourmet food store with a small grocery store wrapped around it. It's also billed [by owner as] 'The Most Unusual Store in America'.") . We were NOT disappointed. NOT in the least. It's the most kitschy, cool, gaudy, nostalgic, amazing place, and then there's the food. If they don't have it, it probably doesn't exist anywhere in the world--fresh, frozen, bottled, packaged--they have it. A picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't think the following come close to the sheer entertainment value of Jungle Jim's. But then again, I'm easily amused. Just so's you know.
Entrance also includes a full-sized "people mover" (like at Disney World), coming out of the side of the building.
I have no idea what most of these vegetables are. Overseeing the produce section is the "Cereal Killers" band (we thought up that clever name!).
Here's the complete map, but really it's a rabbit warren to be explored.
Or, a cool place to chill.
