Riverboat cruises, baseball games and day hikes were just a few of the fun activities we squeezed in during our week in Cincinnati before heading west on our grand road trip.
Usually, when we come back to Cincinnati it revolves around one holiday or another. With both of my parents and much of the rest of my family still living in Greater Cincinnati area we usually make one or two trips out a year. One of the best things about this trip has been the opportunity to spend more time with family without the frantic rushing around that comes with the holidays. I would highly recommend anyone considering a career break or extended travel to use the time you have at the beginning or end of the trip to visit with family. Well, that is if you enjoy your family’s company.
One of the first things we did once we were in town was to spend a beautiful evening on the Ohio River aboard a B&B riverboat for a charity dinner cruise. Starting the evening with a buffet dinner we quickly moved out to the outside decks to take in the city views and eventually the beautiful sunset sinking below the western horizon.
One of the great views we had while on the Ohio River was the new Cincinnati Reds Ballpark. While I was in town when the old Riverfront Stadium was imploded in 2002, I had yet to make it to a game in the new stadium. By a happy coincidence, while we were home the Reds were running a promotion offering half price tickets to teachers. A good friend of the family, Craig Smith, is a teacher in Northern Kentucky and is also a huge baseball fan. He offered to buy tickets for all of us and was able to secure great seats 15 rows back from home plate. And despite a brief rain delay in the 5th inning we saw an amazing game by the Reds with a 7 to 2 win over the Washington Nationals.
One of our final adventures in the Cincinnati area was a day hike in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Yellow Springs is about an hour north of Cincinnati and its claim to fame is that the during the Christmas season the Clifton Mill, just south of town, is decked out in millions of lights. While it is not quite as postcard picturesque in the summer as it is in the winter, the hike along the Little Miami River was wonderful. The 5-mile path winds along the river and showcases southern Ohio geology, including erosion of the layered sedimentary cliffs and the fossils contained in them.
This trip to Cincinnati reaffirmed something that most people seem to agree with when we have asked them about it: the unique phenomenon of local residents never making the time to see the sights located in their own hometown. New Yorkers that have never been to the Statue of Liberty, Australians that have not made the trip to Ayers rock and Philadelphians that have never laid eyes on the crack in the Liberty Bell.
What attractions in your hometown have you not made it to that an out of town tourist armed with a guidebook would hit in the first 24 hours? Let us know in the comments below.
For more pictures from Cincinnati be sure o check out the Road Trip Pictures page here.
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Nice sunset photo!