Woke up early & went with Vickie to drop Larry at work as I had to go back to the post office to get a smaller box. Got back to the house, packed & addressed the box, packed my bags, checked facebook and then headed off to the Greyhound station in Cincinnati. I went to do some blog updating but the free wi-fi signal was extremely weak & kept disconnecting so I decided to have a wee nap instead. The bus arrived on time & by 12.50pm we were on our way to Columbus, Ohio, where we arrived on time at 2.30pm. We then had a 2 hour layover for the next bus to Pittsburgh so I had something to eat & did a bit of blog typing. Went over to the gate about 4pm to wait for the announcement to line up for the bus and got told that the bus was late as it had broken down on the way. So I had another wee nap. The bus finally arrived about 5.40pm and we were on the road to Pittsburgh about 6pm. I didn't manage to get a window seat as the bus was very full so tried to sleep most of the way, but was not very successful at this. Finally arrived in Pittsburgh about 9.20pm, got a taxi to my hotel, sorted my things out, checked facebook & emails then headed to bed.
30 September 2012
Cincinnati part 6 - Mon 24 Sept - Wed 26 Sept
Monday 24 September - got up late. Went to the outlet shops with Amanda & Renee to do some shopping. Bought a couple of things for Madison. Picked up Larry on the way home then went to Walgreens to get a couple of things, visited Jaicelyn for a couple of minutes & went to thrift store to get a jacket for Amanda. And while there I found a long black winter wool coat with a hood, which I bought. Then it was home for chicken & dumplings for dinner.
Tuesday 25th September - after Amanda got home from work we headed off on a day of missions. First was a visit to Chuck E Cheese. OMG!! What a wonderland for kids that is!! We played a few games & got some tickets and then had lunch. When we checked the time we found we had been there nearly 2 hours!! Then it was off to the post office to get me a box so I could send stuff back to G for safe-keeping and then to Jungle Jim's to get some lamb so I could cook an authentic Kiwi meal, which ended up being lamb rissoles, nothing fancy but everyone liked it. Larry & Vickie were taking Renee & Violet to Renee sisters so I hitched a ride to Walmart to get a couple of things. They dropped me off at a Walmart and there I experienced the worst customer service since arriving in the USA. I wanted to try on a couple of tops but the fitting rooms were closed & they refused to open them up or let me try them on in the restroom and the only help/advice they gave me was that I could take them home & return them the next day. EXCUSE ME!!! Why do I have to go thru all that hassle to spend my money at your store!! Suffice it to say I left the dozen or so items of clothing at the checkout for them to put back and left the store to wait for Vickie & Larry to pick me up. We then headed to a Walmart closer to them where I experienced some of the best customer service ever. I completed my shopping about midnight & we headed home.
Wednesday 26th September - Vickie & I headed off to Union Terminal which now houses a couple of museums as well as the Amtrak train. We arrived about 12.30pm so had a bite for lunch first then headed to the Museum of Natural History and Science. It was much as I had expected - fossils, stuffed animals, etc - but with a focus on the Ohio state area, which was quite interesting, and there was a Nature Trail which was a full size recreation of the landscape & animals. I then visited the Cincinnati History Museum myself while Vickie waited in the main lobby. They had diorama's of downtown Cincinnati & surrounding areas circa 1940, and the lighting was constantly changing to imitate a whole day every 8 minutes. Which was good, but annoying when trying to take photos. The museum took you through WWII and then back further to when Cincinnati was first settled. I was in the middle of watching a short video about the flatboatmen when a lady interrupted it & told me it was 5pm and the museum was closing so I was rushed through the rest of the museum and didn't get to see much. We then headed home and had a turkey dinner from Bob Evans for dinner and then watched Snow White & The Huntsman, and then headed to bed.
Tuesday 25th September - after Amanda got home from work we headed off on a day of missions. First was a visit to Chuck E Cheese. OMG!! What a wonderland for kids that is!! We played a few games & got some tickets and then had lunch. When we checked the time we found we had been there nearly 2 hours!! Then it was off to the post office to get me a box so I could send stuff back to G for safe-keeping and then to Jungle Jim's to get some lamb so I could cook an authentic Kiwi meal, which ended up being lamb rissoles, nothing fancy but everyone liked it. Larry & Vickie were taking Renee & Violet to Renee sisters so I hitched a ride to Walmart to get a couple of things. They dropped me off at a Walmart and there I experienced the worst customer service since arriving in the USA. I wanted to try on a couple of tops but the fitting rooms were closed & they refused to open them up or let me try them on in the restroom and the only help/advice they gave me was that I could take them home & return them the next day. EXCUSE ME!!! Why do I have to go thru all that hassle to spend my money at your store!! Suffice it to say I left the dozen or so items of clothing at the checkout for them to put back and left the store to wait for Vickie & Larry to pick me up. We then headed to a Walmart closer to them where I experienced some of the best customer service ever. I completed my shopping about midnight & we headed home.
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| CHUCK E CHEESE!!! |
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| Inside Chuck E Cheese - games galore!! |
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| A couple of the games we played. |
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| More games. |
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And more games. |
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| Me in the Nascar game - didn't win any tickets, came 22nd out of 26. Had so much fun tho!! |
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| This must have been just after I smashed into one of the other cars. LOL |
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| Amanda playing Mouse & Cheese - a whack-a-mole type game. |
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| Found more interesting stuff my 2nd time at Jungle Jim's. A 776lb (353kg) cheese. |
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| Halloween cheese!! |
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| Animal & flower cheese!! NB: it's just the wax shell that is decorated. |
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| Singing & swinging can of soup. |
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| Extremely cute fruit!!! |
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| And yes, that sign means 2 feijoa's for $5 - ie. $2.50 each!!! |
Wednesday 26th September - Vickie & I headed off to Union Terminal which now houses a couple of museums as well as the Amtrak train. We arrived about 12.30pm so had a bite for lunch first then headed to the Museum of Natural History and Science. It was much as I had expected - fossils, stuffed animals, etc - but with a focus on the Ohio state area, which was quite interesting, and there was a Nature Trail which was a full size recreation of the landscape & animals. I then visited the Cincinnati History Museum myself while Vickie waited in the main lobby. They had diorama's of downtown Cincinnati & surrounding areas circa 1940, and the lighting was constantly changing to imitate a whole day every 8 minutes. Which was good, but annoying when trying to take photos. The museum took you through WWII and then back further to when Cincinnati was first settled. I was in the middle of watching a short video about the flatboatmen when a lady interrupted it & told me it was 5pm and the museum was closing so I was rushed through the rest of the museum and didn't get to see much. We then headed home and had a turkey dinner from Bob Evans for dinner and then watched Snow White & The Huntsman, and then headed to bed.
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| Walking to Cincinnati Union Terminal. |
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| Cincinnati Union Terminal. |
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| One of the gorgeous paintings inside the main entrance of the terminal. |
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| It's nice that they left some of the old signs up, and that they did the new signs in a similar way. |
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| You can just imagine the glamour of the 30's, 40's & 50's from looking at these signs. |
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| Start of the Nature Trail inside the Museum of Natural History & Science. |
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| More Nature Trail - this was my favourite part of the Museum. |
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| Sabre-tooth lioness & cubs on the Nature Trail. |
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| Walking & flying dinosaurs. |
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| Diorama of Downtown Cincinnati circa 1940. |
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| As above. These were REALLY COOL! |
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| Aren't I inside this at the moment? Cincinnati Union Terminal circa 1940. |
Cincinnati part 5 - Sunday 23 September
Woke rather early, showered & was ready to leave the house by 8.30am so we could get to the Renaissance Fair by 10am to see the 'Queen' arrive. We left the house just after 9am & made our way to pick up Joey (Vickie's son). When we arrived at his place he said he wasn't going as he had a sore foot and gave us his ticket, so it was just me, Vickie & Larry. We left Joey's place, stopped & got the other 2 tickets and then continued on our way. We arrived at the fair at about 11am, parked & headed in to my 1st ever Renaissance Fair. We got a map & listing of the shows and Vickie & Larry headed to the benches for the Washerwomen show (which started at 11.30am) and I headed off to look at a couple of shops. I made my first purchase within 15 minutes of being there. LOL I was at the silvermiths shop and saw they had puzzle rings like the one Mum had (which I haven't been able to find) so I had to buy one.
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| In memory of Mum, and the reason behind me being able to take this wonderful trip. |
I then went & sat next to Vickie for the Washerwomen show. It was quite funny, and they got Larry up (which he had said on the way he most definitely wasn't going to do) along with another couple of guys to partake in the show. The bit I really didn't like was when they threatened to wet everyone if they didn't cheer loudly enough. They should have warned people at the very start of the show that you could get wet as lots of people had cameras. And because of that I kept my camera away and only got a couple of photos. We then headed to get something to eat - I was amazed at the number of people who asked "What is fowl?" LOL After having a bite to eat we headed over to the Knight's Arena to watch the jousting show. This was fun & great to watch. I took lots of photos and videoed some as well. They did 5 'passes' with the joust and I videoed the first 2, nothing much happened so I stopped videoing & then on the 3rd pass one of the knights got knocked out of his saddle! So I videoed the last 2 passes but nothing much happened. Double chocolate macadamias!!!!!!! LOL We then leisurely made our way to the stage where the Swordsmen were appearing. That show was HILARIOUS!!! I laughed so much I cried!! We then meandered to the Mudde Show, which was amusing, and I am glad we didn't sit too close. I didn't get many photos as the mud pit was in the ground & you could only see it if you stood up & blocked the view of the people behind you. We then made our way back to the entrance via some shops, a couple of which I stopped at & bought a couple of things.
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| Entrance to the Ohio Renassaince Fair. |
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| Larry participating in the Washerwomen show. |
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| Larry returning with his prize for Vickie. |
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| OMG!! They had Starbucks in the renaissance! |
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| Part of the grounds. |
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| Simple but filling lunch - fowl tidbits & curly fries, steak sandwich and blackberry cobbler with ice-cream. |
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| Part of the Queen's parade. |
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| The jousting arena. |
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| The Marshall of Ceremony. |
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| One of the knights. |
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| The other knight getting on his horse after being officially knighted by the queen. |
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| All suited up for jousting. |
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| The only photo I got of the knight after he was unseated. |
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| A real blacksmith working with real iron. |
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| They even had rides for children. |
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| Dirk & Guido - the swordsmen. The funniest show of the day. |
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| They got some guys up to teach them how to be real gentlemen. |
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| Start of the Mudde Show. |
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| I think he enjoys his job. LOL |
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| Not really the mud wrestling I was hoping for. LOL |
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| Some people went all out and dressed for the occasion. |
We arrived home about 6pm and took Jaicelyn, Jalob & Jadyn back to their homes. Can't recall what time we got back to the house or what we had for dinner or anything else. LOL I think it was early bed for everyone that night.
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