Josh Young

NOTE: This is a longer than normal post because of my reviews

Last week, to celebrate our first anniversary (September 24), Marie and I “vacationed” doing things in and around Cincinnati (hence the lack of posts here). It’s amazing how much is here that we haven’t done. I’ve been in Cincinnati since 1998, and there’s so much that I’d never done here.

Since several of you have asked me about what we did, and since you were particularly interested in the free things we did, I figured I’d outline everything we did here so that you can read through it whenever you want. If you click on the name of the place, I have linked to their website, and if you click on the location, I have linked to a Google Map of the actual address. I’ve also listed the prices to give you an idea of what things cost. I think the only thing that we ended up having to pay for (besides food) were the two museums at Union Terminal (which cost us just over $20 total for the two of us) and our trip to Jungle Jim’s (which could actually be counted as part of the food cost since we made supper with what we bought there that day).

Enjoy!

MONDAY

Ault Park
Location: Mt. Lookout
Price: Free
We spent some time at a few parks in Cincy that we hadn’t visited before, and I think Ault Park quickly became our favorite. It’s located in Mt. Lookout, and it’s gorgeous. On one side of the park, you can look down on Lunken Airport and watch the planes land. There is also a beautiful pavilion, a few side garden areas, and lots of green grass! Very relaxing. Definitely worth checking out.

Contemporary Arts Center
Location: Downtown
Price: Free on Mondays from 5-9pm ($7.50 and down every other time); ~$6 for parking
This was something new for us. Both of us enjoy “classic” art, but we’ve never really explored anything contemporary. However, it was definitely fun to check out, and the building itself was very interesting. The exhibits were well put together and the flow of things worked very well. There are actually 6 floors in the museum. Currently, they have an exhibit called “The Paper Sculpture Show,” which is actually a bunch of sheets of paper that artists had created “projects” on that we could cut and put together and leave the resulting 3D sculpture as the exhibit itself. It was kind of neat. Everyone interpreted the instructions a little differently. Parking was sort of a pain, but there was an outdoor lot about a block away that ended up costing us about $6 I think.

Montgomery Inn Boathouse
Location: Downtown
Price: $$
I’m not going to list all of the places we ate, but I figured I would put this one on here. The boathouse is right on the river, and we got a table right by the window. The atmosphere was good (although the tables felt a bit crowded to me), but the service was great, and the price wasn’t horrible. The food was good, although it wasn’t my favorite, but overall, it was a cool place to go.

TUESDAY

Sawyer Point
Location: Downtown
Price: Free; $2 for parking
Well, I had planned on us going to Findlay Market this morning, but I misread the days that they were open. Apparently if you go on a Tuesday, they’re closed. Bummer. We swung down to Sawyer Point instead. It cost us a couple bucks to park in their lot. We took a walk through most of the park (which runs along the Ohio River), and they have several historical landmark signs up. We learned a lot about the history of Cincinnati going through the park and reading everything. We also learned that the first publicly owned water works was in Cincinnati, and parts of the building are still down there. They actually made a small ampitheater out of the remains. There are several river overlook areas, and it was a great place to hang out or go walking/jogging. The only thing that was sort of annoying was that they were busy setting up stuff for Tall Stacks (which starts tomorrow), so there was a lot of work going on around us. Overall though, it’s a good place to go, and they hold a lot of big Cincinnati events there.

Eden Park
Location: Eden Park
Price: Free
We packed our lunch and ate in Eden Park on Tuesday at the Twin Lakes area. There is a great overlook there of the river and Cincinnati/Kentucky. There were ducks and geese floating around, and a lot of people were having lunch there. As a matter of fact, it got sort of crowded by the time we left. The two lakes have a little foot bridge crossing them, and there are a lot of trees and flowers around the area. It was a nice stop for lunch.

Krohn Conservatory
Location: Eden Park
Price: Free
I can remember going to Krohn Conservatory when I was young with my grandma. It was pretty much like I remembered it. There are a lot of really interesting plants and trees inside, and the conservatory is much larger than I thought. The main section has a waterfall in the back of the trail that circles around inside of an indoor rain forest. The also have an orchid room, and cactus room, and (my favorite) a bonzai gallery. One of the bonzai trees is 375 years old! They were pretty amazing. There are also a few benches inside around the trails where you can sit down and just relax. Overall, it was a great way to spend a couple of hours.

Jungle Jim’s
Location: Fairfield
Price: Whatever you spend on groceries
I’ve heard several people tell me that “you have to go to Jungle Jim’s just to see it,” so we made the trip up to Fairfield to check it out. They were right. It wasn’t like any other “grocery store” I’ve ever been to (if it can even be called that). The place was absolutely enormous, and they have different sections of the store for pretty much every area of the world. And if that’s not enough, inside they have animatronic displays that sing and move and the old monorail from Kings Island which sits on a display out by the road. It was more like an amusement park than a food store. It took forever to go down every aisle and take it all in. They have something there for everyone, including the extremely adventurous. All kinds of meats, from rabbit and ostrich to kangaroo and alligator (and they have beef and chicken too - as a matter of fact, we got some seasoned/marinated steak and chicken with homemade recipes which we made that night and were great). If you like international food, this is definitely the place to go, but they also have other great food (some of which is baked/made there fresh) that is some of the freshest and most delicious that you can find around. And they have samples so you can try new things before you buy them in some cases, which is always a plus!

WEDNESDAY

Taft Museum of Art
Location: Downtown
Price: Free on Wednesdays ($7 max all other days); $3 for parking (free with paid admission)
This is one that snuck up on me. I had no idea that this museum was downtown or that it was so amazing. It’s a relatively small collection (700 some odd pieces), but they have some incredible pieces, including a Rembrandt and a very famous statue of Mary and Jesus. It’s actually set in a private home that was basically left for the simple purpose of giving people a place to enjoy the arts. They have added on to the original house, and there is a really neat tea shop where you can have lunch (inside or outside) and a garden out back that is very cool. Each room in the house is decorated with the artwork, flooring, window coverings, etc. from whatever time/area that the art is from. It’s really interesting to see. Go check it out on a Wednesday when it’s free, and go back and support it if you like it.

Eden Park
Location: Eden Park
Price: Free
After we ate lunch, we went and hung around the area of Mirror Lake. We didn’t do much walking around (because we were a little tired from the museum and lunch), but it was a nice day, and hanging out around this area of the park was really relaxing. Mirror Lake covers the city’s reservoir, and it has a 60-foot fountain in the middle of it. There is a paved path that goes around the lake, and a few structures around, including a gazebo. It’s another nice place to relax.

Cincinnati Art Museum
Location: Eden Park
Price: Free
We spent the afternoon at the Cincinnati Art Museum. I had been there once in grade school, but things have changed considerably since then. There is so much to do at this museum that it’s nearly impossible to take it all in within a few hours. There are some great exhibits there, including items from ancient Egypt, and an entire wing of the building dedicated to Cincinnati Art (which was very cool). One interesting thing was a question that a security guard asked us. There are two statues portraying Eve in one section of the museum, and he said that one is anatomically correct, and one isn’t, and he asked us which one was correct and why. It took a couple of looks, but I figured it out. I won’t give away the answer, but it was something that I hadn’t really thought about before, and I thought it was very interesting. You’ll have to go and look at them to find out - and ask the guards if you can’t figure it out. I can’t say enough good things about this museum, especially since it’s free. Since there is so much to see, I would suggest going for a while in the morning and then coming back again after lunch so you have more of a chance to look at things with a break in between.

THURSDAY

Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
Location: West Side of Downtown
Price: $7.50 and up, with discounts for multiple museum tickets; $4.50 for parking
There are multiple museums at Union Terminal (which is a cool place to see even if you don’t go to the museums). The Omnimax Theater is also located here (it is closed until November for renovations). While we were there, we visited the Cincinnati History Museum and the Museum of Natural History and Science. The Museum of Natural History and Science is really cool. They have a bat cave, a glacier area/trail, and tons of exhibits. Right now they also have a special feature that has some computer generated models of ancient mounds in the area, along with their history. That was really interesting. One of our other favorite things of the week was at the Cincinnati History Museum. As soon as you enter this side of Union Terminal, you find yourself smack in the middle of a scale model of downtown Cincy in 1940, complete with lighting to simulate sunrise/sunset and city lights. It is absolutely incredible the amount of detail that was put into this. Outlying neighborhoods/areas are also included, such as Mt. Adams, Ivorydale, the West Side, etc. It was complete with working trains, cable cars, and even a building on fire that spews smoke every few minutes! It was really interesting to be able to recognize parts of downtown that are still the same 66 years later. It’s amazing how the city has changed as a whole though. These museums (and the Omnimax) are definitely worth a day’s time, and they have a new Children’s Museum that is great as well.

Cincinnati Observatory Center
Location: Mt. Lookout
Price: Atronomy Thursdays are free ($5 adult/$3 child on Friday and Saturday)
One of our final stops in the city for the week was the Cincinnati Observatory Center. This was the one I was looking forward to the most. Marie was really into stars and astronomy in high school, so I knew she would enjoy this surprise. The observatory has two large telescopes (one was in use by a Xavier lab, so we didn’t get to see it). The telescope that we saw (and used) was built in the mid-1800’s, and is currently the oldest telescope in operation in the United States, and possibly the world. It is an 11-inch refractor telescope mounted in the smaller of their two buildings. We were able to look at the moon, several star formations, galaxies, nebulas, etc. It was incredible! We happened to be the only two that signed up for that night, so it was like a private tour. The people at the Observatory were great, and they told us all kinds of interesting information on the history of the observatory and things about what we were looking at. Seeing the rotating roof in operations was one of my favorite parts, but nothing topped looking through a true piece of Cincinnati history (and United States history). The telescope was part of the first observatory in the United States, and it was dedicated with help from John Quincy Adams. It was originally located in Mt. Adams (which received its name when John Quincy Adams visited for the dedication), but was later moved to Mt. Lookout when the air quality in downtown made it difficult to see things because of all of the amount of coal that was being burned. There were so many interesting things that we saw/learned that night that I couldn’t possibly list them here. You have to experience it for yourself. And it’s free on Thursday nights! Just make sure you call them to sign up - they require reservations (info on their website). They have a lot of other programs and tours as well. Check their website for more info.

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We spent the rest of the week(end) visiting with our family out in Adams County - which we don’t get to do as much anymore. We also visited our home church on Sunday, Bethlehem Church of Christ, where I used to lead the Worship Ministry, and it was great to see everyone again. This was our first time back since we started going to ACC in about March. We’ll try not to stay gone so long from now on! :-)