As part of our pre retirement vacation wanderings we were exposed to the far southwestern part of Cincinnati (Florence, Kentucky) and used the month break between 2006 doctor appointments to visit the far northeastern part (Blue Ash, Ohio). Cincinnati the city itself is rather small since it is land locked into a small pocket by surrounding incorporated towns. Usually the term Cincinnati means the metro area which continues to sprawl while the city itself can only grow up.
Another consequence of the agglomeration of independent cities is the difficulty of maintaining a metro park system. Many of the major parks have admission or membership fees which penny-pinching senior budget travelers tend to avoid if other facilities are available. I don't remember exactly which park had the waterfall since it comes from before I started linking pictures to GPS coordinates. I do remember the beautiful bark pattern on this tree being on the walk to the waterfall in addition to cheating since the capture times for the photographs are only five minutes apart.
Again by cheating with Google Earth I found this is the I-471 bridge over the Ohio River and one of my earliest pictures with the new Canon 30D camera. I'm still trying to figure out which lens to use and which buttons to push. By far our favorite bridge was the Purple People Bridge shown below. A converted railroad bridge it is a wonderful connector between Cincinnati, Ohio and Newport, Kentucky. For an extra $40 you can don a purple and yellow bunny suit and follow guides on the maintenance walkway over the spans. Future maybe, for now pass.
The photograph on the right shows how Cincinnati the city is growing up since it can't grow out. In contrast Newport, Kentucky shown on the left is not the same economic and business powerhouse and has a much lower profile even though it is landlocked also.
Another viewpoint is that Newport is the fun part with these clowns making balloon art outside the fun Newport Aquarium.
Rather sad for the owners, but funny in it's own way is this boat tipped at the foot of the Purple People Bridge on the Newport side. Apparently it was tied up during high water right over the manhole which flipped it as the water receded. Getting it upright, cleaned up, and operating looks like a major operation and possibly not worth the cost.
Here is one of the operating tour boats, first taken from the Purple People Bridge and then from Newport all the way across the river with my new wonderful telephoto zoom lens.
Since the Ohio River is also a major transportation artery we saw quite a few barges being pushed along. Lori likes trains and also tug boats so we spent a bit of time just watching them go by,
I have also been experimenting with capturing patterns. On the left is a simple roadway retaining wall you see everywhere but up close and personal. The middle is just the lights on the Cincinnati Reds Great American Ballpark. On the right is a series of restricted parking signs that seem a little worse for wear when they get close to the water.
Also downtown on the waterfront is this statue of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus for whom Cincinnati is named. Since Lori likes pigs and they had a pig version of Cincinnatus you get one of the few photos of us, We are not much into selfies so consider this a rare treat or a small imposition however you want to look at it.
Getting off the riverfront and looking for an elevated observation point we visited Ault Park with this highly touted observatory. Unfortunately the trees around it have now grown so the only observing available is the park grounds shown here.
Passing through Pleasant Ridge, Ohio we spotted this unique sculpture tucked into the corner of the local catholic school. Presumably built by the students it was such a refreshingly colorful artwork I had to stop. The pig locomotive in Silverton, Ohio at the John M. Kuhnell Memorial Museum is another refreshingly colorful unique artwork we enjoyed. Again, Lori loves trains and again unfortunately the museum is only open at limited times in April through September. Mark up another one on the bucket list. We may be passing through when they are open.
This very nice park here is located in Montgomery, Ohio, home of the Montgomery Inn with what are claimed to be the best pork ribs in the world. They are very special and Bob Hope chartered a plane each year to fly a large order to his Golf Classic. What I enjoy best are the Cantonese shrimp which are butterflied and served with a plum and mustard sauce. For those who like hot food if you get a good batch of mustard it will take the top of your head right off and definitely clean out your sinuses. As a very special treat we had dinner at their boathouse location on the Ohio River which was very elegant if rather pricy for budget travelers. It was great and an excellent treat.
One of my other camera dudads was an admittedly cheap Opteka 650 to 1300mm zoom lens which combined with a 2X teleconverter, tripod, monopod, and a rare cloudless sky allowed me to capture the moon filling the whole frame without any digital zoom. It was amazing how difficult it was to adjust and hold the camera to keep the moon in the center. Just breathing seemed to knock it off.
A very special treat was discovering the BalloonTownUSA Farmer Floyd Balloon show in 2006 available from this link or the Attractions tab above. I'll be adding a page for the 2007 Baloon-a-Lot show later.