Road Trip: Cincinnati

      Upon waking up for day two, I had a general idea of how the early part of the day would be spent.

The morning portion would be in Fairfield, Ohio.

If that sounds familiar, it should as it was the first stop on the Omaha trip earlier in the summer. 

This meant a return to Jungle Jim's International Market, which entails plenty of food shopping to bring home for myself and others.

I've written plenty about Jungle Jim's in the past and all I can say is- you have to experience it to truly understand just how massive the inventory at Jungle Jims truly is.

We drove up the highway for a stop at the Ohio Valley Antique Mall, which Cherie and I drove by on the Omaha trip but we didn't stop so we could hit Hoosier Gym in Indiana.

Ohio Valley was top-notch and I saw a few things that I considered purchasing but walked away without buying anything- although I have some items in mind for my possible return this year!

We decided to drive back to Florence and our hotel but first, we stopped by a place that I had visited before on a trip with Ryan- the replica of Crosley Field, the home of the Cincinnati Reds until 1970.

The town of Blue Ash constructed a scale replica of the dimensions of Crosley Field including a replica scoreboard, an original ticket booth, and some of the original seats at one of their recreational areas.

I find it interesting that near the Crosley location is a field based on Riverfront Stadium to the dimensions of that former Reds home with artificial turf (or a lookalike) as its surface.

We slowly found our way across the Ohio River to Florence and decided to eat (since we hadn't all day) at a place close to the hotel, so we could rest a bit.

The pick was Ford's Garage, a chain based in six states, and one that I had never heard of before.

The motif is automotive with the wait staff wearing mechanics uniforms, and several cars around the building, and the chain has a licensing agreement with the Ford Motor Company to use their name and iconic logo.

I ordered a cheeseburger and they used a brand to place the restaurant logo onto the bun, which I thought was interesting.

After a short respite at the hotel, we drove back to Cincinnati for my first visit inside Great American Ballpark, the home of the Cincinnati Reds.

Ryan and I had stopped by on the mentioned trip earlier but only to check the outside of the stadium as there wasn't a game that day.

One thing that works against me going to major league games is the long walks to get anywhere near the ballpark.

Between my age and weight that gets harder every year but while the walk was lengthy, I don't think I did too badly and I didn't feel any pain from the walk.

When you walk up to GAP, the statues are all in front of the stadium, with a massive team store on the property but not as part of the stadium.

The stadium looms large in front of you as you walk up making it look even larger than it is!

Because we were only watching a few innings and wanted to get back before dark, we bought cheap seats in the upper deck.

I'm odd about heights, I don't mind once I'm at my destination but I'm uneasy about the climbing portion, I'm always worried about tumbling over, and that has been a concern of mine going back to childhood.

The Reds hosted the St.Louis Cardinals and hit three home runs, two by Spencer Steel, in a 6-1 win.

We didn't stay for the entire game as mentioned but we did see all three homers and all the runs that were scored in the game.

I liked Great American Ballpark, maybe a little better than Cleveland's Progressive Field but not as much as Pittsburgh's PNC Park.

The sight lines were good and I've always liked the right field stands overlooking the Ohio River from television viewing.

After we returned to the hotel and rested for the evening, we prepared for the final day of the trip which will include a stop at the independent Frontier League' Florence Ya'lls.

Road Trip: Getting There

     My trip to Omaha with Cherie was the longest trip that I've ever taken and the longest time that I've ever been away from home at one time as well.

I decided to leave at 4 AM or so but since I couldn't sleep, we left town at 2:30 with the plan in mind to make a few stops in particular and see how far we could drive before we began to tire.

The planned first stop was a return to Jungle Jim's International Market, which I've written about in the past as a grocery store/market where one could spend multiple hours shopping, especially if you aren't a regular shopper at Jungle Jim's.

Jungle Jim's caters to not only the local area but also foods from around the world and has to be seen to be truly believed.

Cherie and I spent two hours there buying things for friends, hot sauces for me, and items for our hotel such as snacks and drinks with a special gift for Posey.

If you are ever in the Cincinnati area, check out one of their two locations!

We stopped at their suburban store in Fairfield because Cherie had discovered a toy store there a few months ago and it was only a few stoplights down the highway.

I had timed things so we wouldn't have to kill a lot of time when the Toy Dept. opened at eleven o'clock and things were on track but we had passed a Roosters restaurant after we got off at our exit.

I had raved to Cherie about Roosters since my last visit to Ohio and their delicious chicken, so we doubled back to beat the lunch rush and then travel to the Toy Dept.

Based mostly in Ohio and Kentucky (there is one store each in Indiana and West Virginia), Roosters allows you to pick two sauces to spin your chicken and my sandwich (Hot and Garlic sauce), and just as in my last visit, I was very pleased.

Cherie enjoyed hers as well and noted the picture by our table of one of her favorite TV shows "WKRP in Cincinnati!

We stopped by the Toy Dept. next and surprisingly I didn't buy anything!

The store was large and filled with items but only one figure (1980's Super Powers DeSaad) was needed for the collection and even though the price was fair, it wasn't a steal and I didn't want to start the trip tossing money around unless it was a bargain!

Our next stop was Knightstown, Indiana for an anticipated visit!

Hoosiers is one of my favorite films and might get the nod as my choice for best sports drama ever, so when I discovered that the home gym for the "Hickory Huskers" was open to the public, it was an easy choice for a visit.

Knightstown is a small town and Hoosiers Gym's architecture looks very regal and distinctive of its time (1921) and rolling through Knightstown gave the feel of "Norman Dale" heading into Hickory.

Walking into the building gave me the feel of stepping into the film and a very nice gentleman (I really wish I could remember his name) told me that the gym was closed after one of his high school years in 1966.

He asked if we would like a tour and we were happy to see the gym, locker room, and the famous door that Gene Hackman walked through before Hickory's first game and uttered "Welcome to Indiana basketball".

We were told several stories about the renovation of the gym, how often it is used (over 100 times per year), the tradition that sees teams that play on the floor leave a signed jersey, and how the team picture that ends the film was possessed by someone from the film for many years before the gym was asked if it would be interested in having it.

The tour was almost completed and another person came into the building, so we thanked our host and I decided to try to redeem myself for a lousy job of shooting at the Basketball Hall of Fame (I'm not sure I made a shot that wasn't a layup) with a better outing at the Hoosier Gym.

I was having a blast when I nailed my first shot, and almost hit my second before a bad miss on my third.

I started thinking about ending the day but instead, I hit my next two and started feeling a little rhythm going before Cherie signaled she needed a drink and it's always a good thing to finish on a made shot!

I'll take my three for five happily!

We stopped in the gift area before we left with Cherie getting a Hickory Husker T-shirt (I loved the design, too bad not in my size) and I bought a Hoosier Gym mini-basketball.

If you love the film or even just basketball, I highly recommend Hoosier Gym.

The plan was to drive as far as we could and stop when I was tired, we moved across Indiana and through Illinois and decided to try a Holiday Inn inside the Illinois-Iowa line.

The clerk was very kind in finding us a room that overlooked the Mississippi River, which Cherie adored looking at through the window, and it was very pleasant to watch the barges move down the river.

We both enjoyed the hotel so much that we remarked that if we ever made this trip again, we were hopeful that we could stay there again.

I'm going to try to tell the remainder of the story in installments when I can because this post took a decent amount of time to write but I'm looking forward to writing more about the road.

Road Trip:Cincinnati

The final day of our journey was spent in Western Ohio,where I had driven through with Ryan last year and Cherie had never been.

Cherie had found a place that I had never heard in researching the trip in Jungle Jim's International Market just outside of Cincinnati.
Jungle Jim's is a kitschy type of place that I love and I had such a blast with Cherie!

With lots of displays,Jungle Jim's looks like just another extra large supermarket.
Until you get to the cool display's that feature grocery icons,such as the Campbell Soup can,the General Mills cereal characters playing as a rock band and what appears to be a tiger dressed up like Elvis and sings songs and the unique qualities of Jungle Jim's begins to shine through.
Jungle Jim's features more items from around the world that you can imagine and for me,the best part was the over 1,000 hot sauces (In alphabetical order) and loads of hot spices and seasonings.
You can be sure that I bought a few things from both of those departments,but there was so much more as every items seemed to have so many choices.
I saw the McDonald's Big Mac,Filet O Fish and McChicken sauces that were supposed to be only sold in Canada,tons of potato chips,vegetables that I had never even heard of,let alone seen from different countries,fresh fish of all types with many of them swimming live in tanks and more than I can even type!
Another super part was aisles upon aisles of different imported items.
It wasn't just a few items,it was many items from not just a few countries,but many countries and I loved seeing all these items that you cannot get elsewhere.
We spend over two hours just wandering around the store and we came nowhere near seeing the entire place!
We spent 75 dollars and could have spent far more-there is something to be said for making decisions!
Another decision was to leave as we decided to make the 90 minute trek to Wapakoneta for a return to the Neil Armstrong museum.

I had visited the museum last year with Ryan and suggested it as one of many places for the trip to Cherie,who selected it.
We had such a great time at Jungle Jim's,but needed to leave in order to make it to the museum to have plenty of time to look around.
The museum was pretty much the same as last year except for a new film to replace the one from last year,which was very dated to be honest,but Cherie seemed to like it as much as I did and thought similarly to me that it was an interesting mix of what people of our age remembered of things created in the 1970's,yet with some things being updated.
The museum isn't likely to change much as it isn't affiliated with the national system,but the far less funded Ohio Historical Society,but I really enjoyed for the space buff and the person that might not be as interested should keep their interest as well.
I wasn't going to buy anything,but I had told Cherie that last year I had bought a snow globe,which narrowly beat out an Armstrong bobblehead (helmet on,not off) and I was getting to leave and she said "you may not ever be here again,buy the bobblehead",so I listened and now I'm glad that I did!

We left for our hotel and we were hungry.
That might be because other than a light continental breakfast at our hotel, we hadn't ate,so we stopped at a midwest chain pizza place that we both liked-East of Chicago.
Now,East of Chicago isn't Donna D's in Ashland,but it's good and being a small chain,it isn't too processed.
They had a buffet,but we were the only people there and it scared me some because I didn't know how long the pizza had been sitting,so I decided to order us a medium pizza and a appetizer of fries since we hadn't ate.
This allowed me to slip to the car and get the surprise of the trip.

I had bought Cherie something a few days before,despite being "warned" that the trip would be the anniversary present to both of us.
I just wanted to get her something else that would be meaningful to add to the occasion and had smuggled it into the car.

I bought her an emerald necklace since emerald is the birthstone of the month of May,which (duh) was the month that we were married in.
I really think I surprised her and I hope she enjoys it for a long time to come!
Back to the hotel for the evening and the trip home was pretty uneventful with the exception of a good finishing dinner at Red Lobster in St.Clairsville,Ohio,which is a town that I've seen more in the last year than in the previous years of my life combined!
Thanks to Cherie's good friend,Christine Hinkle for the gift card that helped pay for it!

Thanks to Cherie for such a wonderful trip and I hope you enjoyed the look back at the trip and its stops.
I'll be back to normal for a few days,so I'm going to shoot for a signing front,a badly needed inbox cleaning and a preview of Cavaliers-Warriors.....