Holiday Junction

This was one of the things that I failed to mention in my first Christmas posting.  I had been avoiding this tradition as I wasn’t sure how I would feel about about them being moved.  We used to go downtown every Christmas and do all the activities there.  Seeing the trains was always the highlight and I loved the sugar cookies that they used to give out.  But since we had family in town for Thanksgiving and looking for something to do, I decided to eventually go.

One thing that I noticed was it is definitely not as impressive as it was downtown (it might have something to do that I am no longer a little kid as well).  The trains are located in the Cincinnati History Museum.  The museum starts off with its own trains and then you have to walk through most of the museum to get to the trains and the Holiday Junction.  It makes the trains less impressive as you have already looked at a ton.  The trains are still cool and there is more room to walk around.  After the trains, there is another small train display in another room and a train that kids can ride on.

I guess that I still love and always will love what I grew up with, but this is still a neat attraction.  Every Duke energy customer receives free tickets for two adults and two children which also gets you into the Cincinnati history museum.  Parking is $6 unless you get there after 4:30 and parking is $4.

Holiday in Lights

This past weekend I went to one of the things that I wrote about in my blog last week.  Holiday in Lights is something that my mom used to make sure that we would go to to every year.  This is definitely a great Christmas activity to attend if you don’t like the cold.

The lights start before you even pull into the park with the whole drive in lit up from the road.  You then pull up to the place to pay all without having to get out of your car.  You then drive through the rest of the display of lights.  It probably only took us less than 20 minutes to drive through the whole display.  There are places that you could pull off if it seems like the person behind you wants to go faster than you.   At the end of the drive they offer Santaland which has nightly entertainment, baked goods available, a train display, and photos with Santa.  Santaland is open until December 23.  For more information on santaland and its entertainment schedule visit http://www.holidayinlights.com/santaland.html. 

It is open every day including holidays until December 31.  It opens at 6:00 pm and closes at 9:00pm on Sunday through Thursday.  On Friday and Saturday it is open until 10:00pm.  Admission is $12 per car or $45 for buses and 15 passenger vans.  There is a $2 off coupon on their website http://www.holidayinlights.com/index.html.

More Christmas!

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I love Christmas!  Since it’s the beginning of the Christmas season I’m going to write about some of my favorite activities.  Cincinnati, like most cities has much to offer for the holiday season.  Most of the events I’m going to highlight are ones that I normally do or have done in the past and most cost money.  One free activity to do around Christmas is to turn on some Christmas music in you’re car and drive around looking at Christmas lights.  It’s a definite way to get into the Christmas spirit.

A second free activity in the city is light up the square, which is held the day after Thanksgiving.  The city has its ice rink open, which cost money but it also has a free show.  The event ends with the tree being lit and a small fireworks show.  All is held downtown at Fountain Square.  This year it starts at 6pm with appearances by Drew Lachey and Santa Claus.  We went last year and since the weather was really nice the square was packed!  http://myfountainsquare.com/event/macys-light-up-the-square/

One of Cincinnati’s most famous traditions is Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo.  This is a great evening to get dressed up warm and walk around seeing the lights and animals.  This is a tradition that we used to do every year when I was a kid and has so many great memories.  Hopefully we will be able to make it out there again this year.

A lesser known tradition is Holiday in Lights at Sharon Woods Park in Sharonville.  This park features so many lights along both sides of the road.  There is an entrance fee to get it but if you look online you should be able to find a coupon.  This is great for people who don’t like the cold as you don’t have to get out of your car and can stay nice and warm as you drive through viewing the lights.  This is normally a faster activity and doesn’t take too long to drive through.  There are spots thought that you can pull over and take more time if needed.  It is open from 6 pm to 10 pm on Friday and Saturday and Sunday through Thursday it is open from 6 pm to 9 pm.  It is $12 per car but there is a $2 coupon on their website. http://www.holidayinlights.com/index.html

Christmas is coming!!!

So it’s almost my favorite time of year, Christmas!  This week I heard about a new Christmas activity, but since it doesn’t open till after Thanksgiving I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it there before this class ends.  But if I do, I’ll be sure to add my experience and pictures here!

This week I got an excited email from my mom because the Shillito’s elves are going to be displayed at Newport on the Levee.  The Shillito’s elves were displayed for 30 years (until 1982) in the old Shillito’s department store downtown (now loft’s) around Seventh and Race.   This was a tradition for my mom during her childhood as they went down to see them every year.  Much like we always went down to see the Cincinnati Gas and Electric (now Duke) train display.  She’s basically told me that I have to go because she’s so excited to show me the elves.  Some scenes would be on display in Mariemont and Crossroads Community Church, but nothing permanent with all the scenes, until this year.  There are going to be 100 animatronic elves and animals from the original display.

I also wanted to write this blog early to let you know about two great deals.  The admission cost is $7 per person but there are a couple of deals out there.  The first one is on cincysavers.com.  This one expires in 11 hours, but cost $12 for four people.http://www.halfpricecincy.com/engine/SplashDetails.aspx?contestid=35104&productid=7634343&groupmode=779044

The second is on groupon.com.  This one expires in 5 days and 11 hours and cost $14 for four people or $27 for eight people.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/shillito-s-elves-at-newport-on-the-levee.  The cincysaver is good through December 16 and the groupon is good through December 15.

The show begins on November 24^th.  The hours are Monday through Friday 4pm-8pm and Saturday and Sunday 11am-8pm.  Also, they are offering breakfast with Santa on select weekends from 8am-9am for $20.

My favorite parks in Cincinnati

One thing Cincinnati is known for, especially Hamilton county is its numerous and great parks.  Going to a park is a great way to have fun, get exercise and not spend any money.  Below is my list of some of my favorite parks located in Cincinnati.

Woodland Mound Park located in Anderson is an amazing park
with many amenities.  It has a huge playground, water park, and frisbee golf.  It has many shelters available for rent, which is where my family has their reunion every year.  But a hidden part of this park is an overlook over the Ohio River.  They have recently added a shelter and some benches and it is a great place to watch the sunset.

            Devou Park located in Covington is a great park with amazing views of downtown Cincinnati.  The park is located at 684 Madison Rd. in Covington, KY.  The park features an indoor pavilion to rent as well as walking trails and a large green space to sit and enjoy the views.

Eden Park is a well-known Cincinnati Park located in East Walnut Hills but it also has amazing views of downtown.  It also has a huge lake and scenic walking paths.  It is located close to the Krohn Conservatory and the also free Cincinnati Art Museum.

Ault Park located in Hyde Park doesn’t have the views but is a beautiful park.  It has a playground, structure with fountain, and a lot of open green space perfect for playing sports.  There are also nature trails through the woods.  I have spent so much time at this park playing Frisbee and taking the kids I used to babysit to the playground.

Alms Park, located in Columbia Tusculum is a smaller park with a great view of Lunken Airport.  Also in this park is a marble slide that has been there for many years.  My mom brought me there as a kid since both her and her mom had both gone on it as kids.  Unfortunately I could not find a picture of the marble slide, but below is a picture from 1997 but the structure in the background is still at the park.

Winton Woods, is a park that’s up north from downtown.  This park has a playground, frisbee golf, and shelters.  It also has parky’s farm which is an indoor playground as well as a bike trail around a lake.  This park also offers boats to rent on the lake such as paddle boats, kayaks, and pontoons.

Overall, no matter what park you head to going with friends you are bound to have a good time.  There are so many great parks in the city and through some research online you can find a great one near where you live.

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum

The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is definitely for the die-hard reds fans.  My mom fits perfectly in that category so she was very excited when she won hall of fame memberships for our family.  It also included passes to tour Great American Ball Park.  I was really excited to go see the museum again as the last time I had been was grade school and I didn’t really remember it.

Walking through the museum is a great way to learn about reds history.  It starts with exhibits that change and a short movie before moving upstairs past the wall of baseballs and rose garden honoring Pete Rose. Upstairs, the museum features many interactive displays.  One of these allows people to try throwing the ball the actual distance as a pitcher would in a game.  After going through the museum and the hall of fame you end up in the Reds gift shop.  Although we found that most of the merchandise here cost at least ten dollars more then we could find online with free shipping.  The museum website recommends to allow for 45-60 minutes to walk through but depending on how much you want to read it can go much faster or longer.  We went through in about 20 minutes but that was with knowing we could come back when we had more time to read everything.  We went during the middle of the week in the middle of the day and had the museum completely to ourselves.

The tour of the ball park is a great way to see all the behind the scenes parts of the stadium that you normally can’t see.  You can go into the dugout, champions club and the press box.  Tip for this is to try to pick a non-busy time to go on the tour.  We went during a busy time and had a lot of people on our tour. Another time when we were at the museum during the middle of the day during a workday we saw two people going out on a tour.  Also, this tour is not included in the price of admission to the Hall of Fame.   There is also a special VIP tour that is being offered starting on November 3 through March 16^th that features much more than the normal tour.

Welcome to the Jungle

Well the closest that we’re going to get in Cincinnati.  This week I
finally made it to the new Jungle Jims location in Eastgate that opened on September 25.  It is located at 4450 Eastgate South Drive where Biggs used to be.
This store is more than a grocery store and is somewhat of an attraction.  The store has more than 180,000 items from around the world as well as a great variety of local foods.  I had been to the previous location in Fairfield years ago and didn’t really remember much of it but since this store was supposed to be much bigger and much closer I decided that I needed to make a visit.

The store has foods from numerous countries.  We looked at food from Mexico, China, Italy, Germany, etc.  It was fun to see all of the different food from all the
different countries.  Although in the countries where English is not the first language all of the packages didn’t have English on them so we weren’t sure what most of the items were.  Upon reaching the food from the United States there was also a large selection.  There was tons of produce, ice cream, candy, and meats.  There was also a large
selection of cheese and butter in their own section.  There was also a
large selection of different hot sauces with a fire truck, one of the many items that you would normally not see in a grocery store.  Also, don’t be fooled.  Even though the restrooms look like porta potties from the outside the are actually normal restrooms from the inside.

Overall, all the people I was with basically decided that for now we would still stick to doing our grocery shopping at other stores.  Jungle Jims has a huge selection but for us it didn’t have anything that we wouldn’t have anywhere
else.  It takes awhile just to walk through the store and is definitely not the store if you just want to walk in and grab a couple items.  But one thing that my mom loves is organic produce and they had a large
selection of produce but
not much of it was organic.  Jungle Jims would be great if there was a particular type of food that the normal grocery stores don’t stock.  Or if you love a certain food from a foreign country or are from a foreign country it would be a great place to shop.  Be sure to grab a map on the way in to know where all the different sections are.  We didn’t thinking we just wanted to wander around and had trouble finding the check outs when we are done (tip – they are near candy land and the cheeses).  We will probably be back since it is very close to our house but probably not on a normal basis.

The Reds Journey to the World Series

Well it should’ve been….

            When I originally planned to write this blog about the postseason games of the Cincinnati Reds, I never imagined that they would be over by now.  I was expecting them to at least make the championship series and was hoping for the World Series.  So I guess we’ll have to wait for next year for that to happen.

This past Tuesday felt like Christmas in my house where everyone loves the Reds.  My mom was counting down the hours till the first game in Cincinnati.  Coming off of two amazing wins, there was no doubt in most fans minds that they would win the first game.  After my classes were done on Tuesday, I headed downtown around 4:15 (thanks to my last teacher letting us out an hour early to watch the game).  After parking at my dad’s office building we headed to the stadium.  The city was alive with thousands of Reds fans all ready to celebrate an expected win.  I think it was the first time that I had ever gotten to a game so early and was shocked by how many people were actually there early.  After waiting to get in and getting a rally towel we headed to our seats, expecting a great game.  The crowd at the game made it so exciting.  This time was much more exciting for me than when I went to the postseason game two years ago as I actually expected them to win.  We practically stood the whole game and even up to the last out everyone was expecting a comeback.  After the game was over there was still a party going on downtown, even though they lost, at the banks.  The banks was equally busy before the game.

Unfortunately there are no more games to go to this year.  As I’m writing this on Sunday it’s depressing knowing that there is no game to go to or watch on TV tonight.  When a sports team does well in Cincinnati it creates many fun events for their fans or anyone to go to.  Hopefully they will come back as an even better team next year and there will be more of these events to attend.  Counting down the days till Opening Day on April 1, 2013!

 

Some Tips for when they make the postseason next year:

–       Be prepared to be patient.  Lines for food, bathroom, getting out of your seats after the game, etc. are to be expected.

–       Back into your parking spot in the garage and once again be prepared to wait.  Thankfully parking at my dad’s building tiny garage meant that it didn’t take to long to get out of the garage, but my it took my dad over an hour to get out of another garage.

–       This applies to any Reds game but you are allowed to bring drinks (unopened) and food into the ballpark.  A great way to save money and time waiting in line, with more time watching the game.

–       Get to the postseason games early or at least on time if you want a rally towel.  They say that they have one for everyone but we had people around us come late and not get one.

Biking in Cincinnati

My favorite bike trail in the Cincinnati area is the Little Miami Scenic bike trail also known as the Loveland Bike trail.  This bike trail starts in Newtown and continues for 70 miles on the eastern side of town.  Eventually they are looking at connecting this trail all the way downtown.  One ride that I like to do is to ride from Milford to Loveland.  This ride is about 17 miles round trip.  The ride goes from historic Milford to Loveland.  There are many fun shops and restaurants in both town as well as a couple of places to stop for refreshments along the way.  Another favorite ride is to ride from Milford to Newtown (at the Little Miami Golf course), which is about 10 miles round.  The Little Miami Golf course also offers bathrooms and a concessions stand.  There is also a miniature golf course if you want to take a break from bike riding. For more information, go to the website http://www.lovelandbiketrail.com/ offers maps, suggested rides, where to eat, things to do, parking, and where to rent bikes.

This week I decided to try a new bike path, the Lunken Airport bike path.  My dad recommended this to me, as he likes to do it after playing golf.  This bike path is a five mile loop starting close to the golf course and circling around the airport.  This trail also connects to another 1.1 mile connector to a 1.9 mile loop at the new Otto Armleder memorial park.  This bike path is closer to downtown and is mostly flat, with a couple of hills.  It also has great views of the airport so you can watch airplanes take off and land as you are riding.  At the golf course there are concessions and bathrooms as well as miniature golf and playgrounds.  Pay attention to the signs along the route to make sure that you are headed on the path that you want to do.

Some tips for riding the bike paths–

-Make sure to keep track of how far you are going.  Both the little Miami bike trail and Lunken have mile markers.  If you don’t want to do the whole loop at Lunken or since the Little Miami doesn’t have a loop make sure to pay attention to when you are getting tired so you can turn around to head back to your car.

-Bring water!

– Bring a cell phone.  My dad broke his arm on the Little Miami trail and had to walk four miles back to his car with his bike because he was by himself without a phone.

– If you’re riding in the late afternoon or evening know what time it’s going to get dark and pay attention to how long it will take to get back to the car so you’re not riding in the dark.

Fire Up the Night

             On Saturday September 22, Coney Island hosted the first-ever international fireworks competition in the United States.  The competition featured fireworks from Alonzo Fireworks in Albany, New York, Sirius Pyrotechnics in Montreal, Canada and Lux Pirotecnia in Mexico City, Mexico.  A team of five judges selected Canada as the winner of this competition with the US taking second.  My extended family decided to attend as the $20 per vehicle price with rides included seemed like a good deal to the family.  Apparently others agreed, as even though the weather was some of the coldest on the first day of fall, there were thousands of people who showed up for the event.  I have been to Coney a ton of times for events and have never seen the park as crowded as it was that night.  This created extremely long lines for rides.  My cousin was upset that no one would wait in line for the hour plus to ride the tilt a whirl.  Also, the lines for the food and the bathroom were extremely long and people even said they ran out of food around 7:30, long before the fireworks were supposed to start at 9.  Since this was a first time event for Coney they never expected that so many people would show up, but as my Grandpa would always say if its crowded that means it’s a good idea!

Despite the crowds there were definitely many highlights of the evening.   One cool part was being able to walk into Coney’s huge swimming pool without any water in it.  This was especially neat for me since I have gone swimming at Coney since I was little and have never
seen it empty.  Two of my cousins got seats for the magic show and really enjoyed it.  The most impressive part of the evening was definitely the fireworks.  All three countries put on an impressive show and were all amazing to watch.  I enjoyed seeing some fireworks that I have never seen before.  They were also all well put to music, as that was part of there judging process.  The night ended with a finale from Rozzi’s, which was spectacular as always.

The only real downside was that we had to sit in the parking lot for an hour after the finale ended.  But we had a full carload discussing the fireworks and being excited about how we got to sit in the warm car instead of outside.

Coney Island has not said if this will be a repeat event, but due to the large size of the crowd there is the possibility that this might happen again next year.

Some tips if Coney fires up the night next year-

– Arrive early and place a blanket either by the lake or in the pool area as spots filled up fast.

– Be prepared for long lines for the rides (as they were a good deal with the $20 admission).  Get to the rides early to try to beat some of the lines.

–  If you are with kids that want to see the magic show also arrive 20 minutes before the show to get a seat will they will be able to see.

–  Don’t park in the gate 1 parking lot as you cannot get out during the fireworks and the kept it blocked off for a little while afterwards.

–  Also, park on the end of a row towards the back.  Back your car in so you are able to pull out easier.

–  If the weathers cold like this year bring extra layers and blankets to leave in your car just in case, as many in our family were freezing.

–  If the lines are long there is a fun playground for the kids and everyone enjoys a walk down to see the river.