Cincinnati

The Engels were fabulous hosts in Cincinnati. It was great to catch up with them and see their spot. They live in a great neighborhood with lots of kids nearby. If their house isn’t already the most popular in the neighborhood, it will be by the end of the summer when their pool is completed.

John and the kids toured us around the Cincinnati Zoo the first day. The highlight, especially for me, was being able to pet a wallaby. I have a thing for Australian animals, so this fulfilled a lifelong dream.

We also saw a demonstration of the speed of a cheetah and how the zoo keepers wash the elephants with fire hoses. It was EXTREMEMLY hot both our days in Cincinnati. The zoo has water misters, which offered a nice reprieve from the heat. In one place you can walk through a passageway of misters. The mist is so intense you can’t see anything. It was difficult not to take the opportunity to scare the pants off a little kid by roaring or making some other disturbing animal noise simulating an escaped animal waiting to pounce.

The next day Robin toured us around the city. She took us to the waterfront and the Cincinnati Museum Center. The museum complex is housed in a former train station and includes an IMAX theater, a natural history museum, a children’s museum and a museum of Cincinnati history. We focused on the Cincinnati history and children’s museum. Both were big hits. The history museum has a steam boat you can walk through, a colonial town, miniature reproductions of the city with moving trains, cranes lifting things, lit trolleys, etc. that show the way Cincinnati used to look. The children’s museum had the best tree house/playhouse I have ever seen: tunnels, slides, ladders. It was filled with camp groups and total chaos. But “very cool” and “fun” according to the kids.


Of course we had to sample the chili. It doesn’t even seem like chili to us. There are no beans and it’s strangely sweet with cinnamon or chocolate; a unique flavor.