Road Trip~Cincinnati

Part of the fun of summer is planning and going on a summer road trip.  With everyone so involved with so many things this year, we decided to do a short trip and combine it with the 4th of July.  As much as I loved the 4th here in New Town, I was willing to give it up in order to spend time with my daughter, Ashley and her husband, Eric.

We chose Cincinnati for two reasons:  one, it is a quick drive from Bloomington, about two and a half hours plus it has an IKEA, where we'd like to look for things for our new home!

Our trip starts after Ashley finishes her doctor's appointment at Barnes on Wednesday.  We jump into her car and our CR-V and head to Bloomington.  We will spend the night at their apartment, and get an early start towards Cincinnati on Thursday.

Thursday we drive from Bloomington to Cincinnati, check into our hotel, which is the 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati.  A hotel and contemporary art museum in one space!  This will definitely be just what Ashley and Eric will love!

Image from Trip Advisor.com

We'll spend some time checking out the hotel and walking around the neighborhood.  Lunch hasn't yet been decided, but I think going to the Cock and Bull Public House would be a perfect place to celebrate our Independence Day!! Another fun reason:

Image from CandBpublichouse.com

Then it is time to get ready for a 4th of July celebration in Blue Ash, Ohio, called Red, White and Blue Ash!  We will see a small town Fourth of July celebration complete with an outdoor concert, Midnight Special and Foreigner!!  Fireworks afterwards set to music.  Food?  Fair food, of course!

I am going to beef up on my photography so I can take some better photos of the fireworks this year.  I got lucky with a couple of shots, but I want better!!!

Friday we will probably sleep in a bit!  During the day we have discussed seeing the Cincinnati Art Museum, or the Cincinnati Union Museum, the National Underground Railroad Museum, or the Botanical Gardens.  That evening we have tickets to a REDS GAME.  We love going to baseball fields all over the US so we wanted to see this one.  We would have preferred to see the Cardinals play but that wasn't the case.  There are fireworks after the game as well, which I am really excited about!!   Food wise we have discussed eating at Virgil's Cafe, featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  They serve interesting food, such as frog legs!  We have plans to try Graeters Ice Cream, supposedly Oprah's favorite and Food and Wine Magazine's pick for Best Ice Cream in the USA.  They use a French pot process that I am very interested in AND... they have summer peach ice cream!!

On Saturday we will make the long awaited trip to IKEA's.  If you are not familiar with IKEA, I am just going to have to give you a link.  Full of building ideas, furniture, decorating... you name it.  I place to spend some quality time here!  This night we are going to have a wonderful meal by a top ranked chef but we haven't decided where.  There are plenty to choose from, though, which makes the choosing all the more exciting!

Bob has several breakfast places and bakeries to see as well.  He does a lot of research on the local eateries for us!

We will wrap up our fun on Sunday morning, where we will have brunch or breakfast with Sue Combs and her family.  Sue and I met each other first through blogging and secondly at the Lewis and Clark Restaurant here in St. Charles.  Sue and her husband lived in the St. Louis area before we knew one another.  She is a wonderful writer, photographer, wife and mother, and if you have watched my facebook page, you can see she is a wonderful friend, too.  Looking forward to meeting up with her and her family again!  We'll make the trip to Bloomington where we will say good bye to Ash and Eric and then head back to St. Charles.

Short trip but what a fun one!  Cannot wait to share my fireworks photos with you later!