The Crossroads

The relatives came.  Seattle Kin arrived for the weekend, so we decided to take a little road trip. Usually they visit at Thanksgiving when the weather is cold and nothing is open. While it's always fun, it felt good to show them around some tried and true points of pride in our neck of the woods.  After a quarry tour and a comedy show, we drove down to Clifty Falls State Park.  Indiana has 24 state parks and 1 national park.  Nothing to sneeze at. 

The hikes at Clifty Falls were topnotch, but not going to lie, the heat-humidity combo slowed us down a bit.  We found cool air streaming from a bat cave, so we sat a spell on large rocks in the cave opening. When a hiker approached,  E told him he would have to answer a riddle correctly to enter.  He walked away pretty quickly.  We called out after him to no avail. 

We next walked the historic streets of Madison.  Come to find out, Madison is our state's Music City. We also learned that Irene Dunn, 5 time Academy Award Winner, was raised in Madison.  There are examples of Federal, Greek and Italianate architecture in the beautiful old homes of Madison. I will return to spend more time wandering through Madison's 133 historic blocks some time soon. 

Next on to Cincinnati where we learned about steamboats at Smale Riverfront Park.  After a lunch in Mt. Adams at a place with an uncharacteristically grouchy Midwestern Cafe Worker, we headed to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.  So much to learn there and I bought a souvenir teeshirt.  

Next we had a wonderful dinner outside at Alcove Bar in the bustling Over the Rhine neighborhood, followed by the famous Graeter's Ice Cream. OTR got its name from the plethora of German immigrants who lived there way back when in days of yore.  

On Monday, we ate breakfast at Sugar and Spice Diner, where Husbandman enjoyed goetta, a meat product of German origin. At the end of our meal, a basket of rubber ducks appeared on the table with the bill.  Free for the taking, these ducks brought  all of us a high level of glee.  

Coming down from our duck high, we headed to the Krohn Conservatory where we communed with butterflies. We ended our time in the Queen of the West with a quick trip over to Fountain Square. We zipped into the awesome art deco lobby of the Carew building. Carew co-owned Mabley & Carew department stores, which originated in Cincinnati. The Carew Tower became a National Historic Landmark in 1994. It's now the second tallest building in the Blue Chip City.

On the way home, we decided to detour to Columbus, Indiana, where we took the self guided architecture tour.  This place is a gem, but we haven't been there in a long while.  The audio tour bragged that in Columbus kids learn their "I. M. Pei's before they learn their ABCs."  Well done Columbus. Keep shining like the star you are.

On their last morning here, we visited museums on campus, then came home for lunch.  I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  

I'm sure you'll agree that we sure do have a lot going on here at the Crossroads of America.