Cincinnati - part 1 (Sat 15th Sept-Mon 17th Sept)

Saturday 15th September - Slept in a bit.  It felt good to not be in a hotel room & worry about house-cleaning opening my door & wanting to clean my room.  Also felt good to wake up somewhere that I knew people, and to not have to worry about rushing to get ready so I didn't waste the day.  Got up & met everyone again.  Talked for a while, had bacon & eggs for brunch and talked some more.  Then we got in the car to go & pick up Violet (Renee's daughter).  We then dropped Renee & Violet off at her sister's and went driving around Miami University, where I kept getting distracted by . . . . wait for it . . . . . . . squirrels.  LOL  They were very surprised when I told them we don't have squirrels in NZ.  I wanted to go to a KFC to see if & how they differ from KFC back home, so they took me a KFC which has a buffet (there are only a few KFC's that have this), and it is in Indiana.  I crossed a state line to have KFC.  LOL   There weren't too many differences with the main menu - they have 'biscuits' not rolls, they have wedges not fries/chips & they have a few more side dishes than we do.  The buffet was amazing.  I asked the girl at the counter if I could take photos & she called over her manager and both of them were amused that I wanted to take photos of food.  So, of course, I did.  I didn't have everything but I did try a couple of things I hadn't had before.

Looks just like one at home.

Start of the buffet - cold stuff.  Lettuce, beetroot, cucumber, shredded cheese, cold corn kernels, raw broccoli, cottage cheese,  pickles (gherkins), cold macaroni salad, bean salad, coleslaw, potato salad.  There was also jelly, chocolate sauce & caramel sauce in this section too.

From the other end.

2nd part of the buffet - hot stuff.  Cabbage, silverbeet,  broccoli, corn kernels, okra, some white beans, mashed potato, baked beans, chicken livers, chicken gizzards, dark gravy, light gravy, spicy chicken & standard KFC chicken.  There was also apple strudel & cherry pie in this part too.

From the other end.

From the middle.

My first round - potato salad, macaroni salad, cabbage, corn kernels, okra, mashed potato, dark gravy & a small piece of chicken. 

My 2nd round - coleslaw, cabbage, mashed potato, dark gravy & a bigger piece of chicken.  Ulrich helped me to get thru this.

After KFC we headed to the river & to a boat that is moored & is now a casino.  On the way Larry stopped so I could take a photo of the river, and then told me that across the river was the state of Kentucky, and back down the river was Ohio.  That was a bit weird, looking over the river & knowing it was a different state, kind of like looking over the Tasman Sea & seeing Australia.  We then proceeded to the boat casino where Larry & Vickie had a bit of a gamble, I had left my bag in the car so couldn't have a play but Larry & Vickie let me pull the handle or push the button on their games at times, suffice it to say I am not a good luck charm.  LOL  We then headed home about 10pm, talked a bit and then went to bed.

The Ohio river looking back to Ohio & over to Kentucky from Indiana.

The building outside the boat casino.

Inside the building at the boat casino.

The boat that has been turned into a casino.  They didn't let you take photos once you were on the boat so I had to sneakily take this one.

Sunday 16th September - Woke up to be greeted by donuts for breakfast/brunch.  Yay!!  Since being here I have developed a bit of a craving for donuts, and as luck would have it Vickie's daughter Amanda works at Dunkin Donuts!!  Relaxed for a while and then headed off to Jungle Jim's with Larry, Vickie & Jonas.  Jungle Jim's is amazing.  I want our supermarkets to be like this!  Apparently he started out with just a produce cart on the side of the road (of where his store is now) and slowly grew & grew until his store is what it is today.  The outside was rather cool, and above the entrance is a race car & beside the doors are red, yellow & green lights that have the words Start (yellow) Your (green) Carts (red).  Once inside you can opt to have a guided tour or just take a map of the store.  They have all the 'normal/standard' foods and a whole lot of stuff from around the world.  The cheese section alone is as big as the whole chiller section at Pak'n'Save!!  They have a beer & wine section and say they have beers from around the world but I didn't see any NZ beers at all.  They have a candy (lolly) section which has a wall of Jelly Belly jellybeans & next to that there is a 6ft teddy bear dressed as Elvis that has a guitar & plays a song every 5 minutes.  SO COOL!!!!  They also have a live fish bar where you can see the fish swimming around, choose one & they gut & skin it for you then & there!!  They have an International section where they have aisles with foods from lots of different countries, but there was no NZ aisle (apparently the cost of importing from NZ is very high).  They did have an Australia aisle & there I found Vegemite in 2 sizes & I nearly fell down when I saw the price - 400g jar $21.99USD, 200g jar $9.99USD - OMFG!!!!  I bought the small jar so they could try it, and also so I had a little taste of home while away.  I didn't see any L&P or Hokey Pokey ice-cream either (and it is hard to describe the taste of something you don't drink or eat). Oh, and above the International section is Sherwood Forest, complete with Robin Hood & Maid Marian.  I tells ya, I want our supermarkets to be like this!  So, a couple of hours later I had been mostly around the store & we headed to the checkouts and then to home for dinner.

Outside Jungle Jim's.

Outside Jungle Jim's on the way to the entrance.

The entrance doors.

Teddy bear Elvis.

Live fish & lobsters.

Jonas was so excited to show me this - a $5000 bottle of hot sauce.  I couldn't get any details of the hot sauce as it was up high in a locked cabinet.

Sherwood Forest in the supermarket.

Robin Hood.

Up inside the tree.

Found in the Australia aisle.  And no, I haven't photoshopped this.

Something from NZ!!  LOL

Outside the exit of Jungle Jim's.

Outside Jungle Jim's.

Outside above the exit of Jungle Jim's.

Monday 17th September - Had a lazy start to the day then headed out to Wendy's for lunch.  Can't remember what else I did this day, I think I just talked to Vickie, Larry & Amanda, and Jonas when he got home from school, about New Zealand and sat at the computer Googleing answers to their questions.  LOL  Oh, and a boost to my ego, they like to hear me talk coz they like my accent.  I learnt quite a bit about NZ that day, most of which I have now forgotten.  LOL  Had a very nice home cooked meal again, worked on timeline for rest of my trip & messaged people to organise catching up.  Dad messaged me on facebook which was playing up a bit so I got off Vickie's computer, got on my tablet & skyped with Dad for a bit, found out the time difference & arranged to skype later in the week when Joan was home.



NOTE: So that everyone knows who I am talking about: Vickie is a friend I met playing Pogo games online about 7 years ago & who has adopted me as her NZ daughter, she is a few years younger than what Mum would be now.
Larry is her husband (#4).
Amanda is her daughter (a few years younger than me)
Jonas is Amanda's son (15 years old)
Renee is Vickie's niece (not quite yet 30)
Violet is Renee's daughter (17 months old)
They are all living in a 2 bedroom 'duplex' (unit to us) which I have now invaded with my body & my luggage (neither of which is small).  It is very 'cosy' & at times can be noisy, but is a very 'warm' place and I feel very welcomed.