Ohio, again! This time we visited Cincinnati and snuck into Newport, Kentucky.

We’re staying in Ohio again. I never would have thought that the Buckeye State would become so prominent in our travels. We’ve stayed in Ohio three different times since July of 2023, for a total of 21 days. First, we were in Cleveland and Akron in the northern portion of the state. Then we visited Columbus and Dayton in the central section. And here it is, the middle of September of 2024, and we’re camped at a lovely Ohio state park in the southern part of the state, just over the Kentucky state line, and touring Cincinnati and the surrounding area. Let’s kick this blog post off by again advocating for the use of state park campsites. We have so enjoyed staying at state parks with their larger, more private campsites, and park amenities. This is the third state park campsite on this trip. Our campsite is in East Fork State Park, just 30 miles southeast of Cincinnati; it got really busy on the weekends, but during the week the park was quiet and mostly empty.  It was very easy to jump on the highway and take the 45-minute ride into downtown Cincinnati, which we did on several days of our visit. 

Our Lovely Campsite @ East Fork State Park, Batavia, OH

True to form, we went on a tour; one of the first tours we signed up for was a sightseeing tour through one of the more well-known neighborhoods of Cincinnati called “Over-The-Rhine” (OTR). Located just a mile north of downtown. The name derives from the neighborhood being north of the old Miami-Erie Canal which, due to the German immigrant population living there, was referred to as the Rhine River. Cincinnati was quite the German enclave in the 1860’s, and its German roots still influence the food and culture of the city to this day. We actually took two different tours of the OTR neighborhood.

·       We took a Findlay Market tour. Not just any Finlay Market Tour, but we did a Sunday Morning Findlay Market tour. And what a Market tour this was! The only surviving municipal market in all of Cincinnati, the market house is built on land donated to the City of Cincinnati by the estate of General James Findlay. The structure was among the first markets in the US to use iron frame construction technology and is one of very few that have survived. We enjoyed a very busy 9-stop food tour through the market and into the surrounding OTR neighborhood. We sampled foods from across the market. We started with the most deliciously light and buttery croissants at the French Crust Café.  We sampled an all vegetarian “goetta” at the newly established Juniper Seed Kitchen. Then there was the stop at BanaSun Smoothie Bar, for the most delicious smoothie made with kale. We tried waffles atTaste Of Belgium, and our last stop was for a chocolate truffle dessert at Ruby’s Chocolates. As busy as we were moving from place to place in the very crowded market, there was always time for a group picture. Knowing that were going to be visiting a premier food market, Judy and I came equipped with a cooler bag with icepacks, and after the tour we returned to the market to do some additional food shopping. Yum!

Sunday Brunch Findlay Market Tour

·       We discovered a different side of Cincinnati when we took a guided tour of the city’s lesser-known underground history. We toured the remnants of the underground and abandoned John Kauffman Brewery, established in 1863. The brewery was abandoned during prohibition, but in its heyday, was producing 50,000 barrels of beer a year in an enormous underground beer processing facility, at a time in history when there was no refrigeration. We explored the mysterious underground caverns of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood which included a crypt under the magnificent St. Francis Catholic Church.  All the while getting an unfiltered oral history of Cincinnati, from its earliest incarnation in the 1790’s. The underground caverns where beer was mass produced is still an active dig location, and new discoveries about this enormous underground beer plant are still being unearthed. 

Underground Cavern of abandoned John Kauffman Brewery

Our travels have afforded us the opportunity to see so much, and we have visited all kinds of different museums in our travels. From automotive and train museums of all shapes and sizes, to art, glass, and furniture museums. We like exploring a combination of different types of museums, from traditional art museums and more curated and classical museums to museums that tell a story or capture a time. The following two sightseeing museums, that we had the pleasure of visiting in Cincinnati, are excellent examples of why many of you may be readers of this travel blog. These two fantastic museums were pure pleasure and delight to discover and tour. I could easily write an entire page on each museum. (But I will not because I’m long winded enough!)  I get a thrill every time I find an innovative or unusual museum, something I’ve never even considered existed. 

The American Sign Museum

We visited a museum dedicated to the history of signs. I think my brain exploded when we pulled into the parking lot. There were signs everywhere, and they have a museum that tells the history of sign development. The American Sign Museum preserves, archives, and displays a collection of signs and the equipment utilized in the design and manufacture of signs. There were thousands of signs and other objects on display, as well as a complete “Main Street” exhibition with all types of historic & classic American signage.  (Including a sign, I was familiar with from our southern travels which were found painted on barns. See my previous post We rode trains, explored underground caverns, and visited historic Rock City. about Rock City dated March 22, 2024). The collection includes samples of gold leaf lettering on glass, a Sputnik-like plastic orb from an Anaheim shopping center, and a rotating neon windmill from a Denver donut shop.  Freakin’ Awesome! 

American Sign Museum Main Street Display

The Tri-State Warbirds Museum

We visited a museum dedicated to WW II aircraft. But this is not just a collection of old, reconditioned aircraft on display. Nay, nay!  At this museum all of the aircraft are operational. The aircraft on display have been rebuilt in the facility’s in-house, fully functional, machine shop. Finding pilots qualified to fly these aircraft is a challenge because of the age of the aircraft. We were lucky enough to be present one Saturday afternoon to watch one of these planes take flight. The Warbirds, veteran volunteers (many from WW II) who curate and help maintain the facility, opened up the large hanger doors, rolled an AT-6D Texan “Tweety” trainer aircraft onto the tarmac, and started the engines. We watched from the field as the airplane roared down the runway and took flight. What an amazing aircraft facility!  

We took our final tour just across the Ohio River in a city called Newport, Kentucky. Newport, KY is known as “Sin City”.  Before Las Vegas in the 60’s, the original Sin City was Newport. The city was run by the mob and had a history of crime, vice, and corruption.  During the 1950’s, Frank Sinatra would grace the Cincinnati Music Hall, then make his way across the river to Newport for a little backroom gambling. Dean Martin actually worked as a blackjack dealer at one of the finest clubs of the time, which Marilyn Monroe also visited. The mob’s control of Newport, KY is the stuff of legend and lore. What a wonderful way to end our stay in the East Fork State Park, with a Newport “Sin City” Mobster tour, where we had a chance to drive by infamous mob properties. Wow, the things we discover on the road.

One afternoon we just started walking and walking, and then we walked a bit more, until we had walked the East Fork Bike trail, Williamsburg-Bantam Road, and the Williamsburg- Bantam biking trail. All told, we walked more than 6-miles and were still back at the camper in time for cocktail hour.  State Parks have an assortment of walking trails that offer the campers miles of walking, hiking or biking opportunities. Best of all, the trails lie just outside your camper door and can be accessed at any time.  The East Fork State Park was no exception. Our next stop will be in Charleroi, PA and we will not be staying in a state park. We will be a short drive away from Pittsburgh, PA, so check back to see what adventures we found, as we tell… the Rest of the Story.

Our campsite was in Kansas, but all our sightseeing was in Missouri. It was confusing but we figured it out!

Did you know there are two Kansas Cities?  One KC is in the state of Kansas.  The other is in the state of Missouri.   Were you also aware that the Kansas City you think of, is really in Missouri?  Somehow, I missed that.  When you spend most of your life in New England, as I have, the more obvious geographical facts about the central plain states go overlooked. When I was planning this trip almost a year ago, I was looking to visit the Kansas City, on the Kansas side of what I thought was a straightforward equation. So, I picked an RV campsite in a town called Merriam, KS, which was a short distance away from Kansas City, KS, which literally is on the border with Kansas City, Missouri. This way I could say I visited Kansas City in two states. Makes sense, right? Yeah, come to find out, not so much. There is nothing of any great interest to see in Kansas City, Kansas. And believe me when I say, we tried!  Not only that, but the boundary line differentiating the states just runs directly through what appears to be the same city on a map. We’ve done a fair bit of traveling and visited many states whose borders often follow a river. But not KC!  Drive on a parkway or street in the city and freely flow from one state to the other. Come to find out, the city leaders of Kansas City, KS only adopted the name in order to capitalize on the growing city on the Missouri side of the state line. So, staying in Merriam, Kansas, was actually the best way to explore KC, Missouri. Not really that confusing after all.

Our campsite in Merriam, KS was remarkably well situated for almost daily travel into downtown KC. Just a 12-mile ride from our campsite found us at our first attraction: The Money Museum at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. The facility is huge, and handles money for branches in Denver, Oklahoma City, and Omaha. The museum takes visitors on a tour of the Federal Reserve System, and actually allows visitors to watch the money be processed, with a peak into the money warehouse. The warehouse houses millions in paper money and coins, which supplies currency to all its branch locations and banks. Hundreds of millions of dollars in currency is processed each day. The museum also houses the Harry S. Truman coin collection of American coins. The collection starts with American coins minted in 1776 and goes all the way through to the present day. 

Just down the street from the Federal Reserve Building is the Crown Center.  A showcase of mixed-use urban redevelopment from the 1960’s that still maintains its attractive features today. The 85-acre shopping and entertainment mecca houses the Aquarium, Legoland, Convention Center, hotels, and restaurants.  But what we mainly wanted to see was the world headquarters of the Hallmark Company, and the Hallmark Museum & Visitors Center. Hallmark was the brainchild of a determined teenager, Joyce C. Hall in 1910, and has become an enormous private company in the retail, greeting card, and television industries. And YES, the company is still privately owned and operated by the third generation of the Hall family. A remarkable accomplishment in today’s business environment. Hallmark has a terrific visitors center and museum, and we really enjoyed our 3-hour visit, getting a number of very memorable pictures. Hallmark has a humorous card division, Shoebox, which has created a recurring and very funny character named Maxine. Maxine and Judy really enjoyed each other so much that they decided to dress alike for the following picture.

Judy with Maxine "Dressed for Success"

,...and the Emmy goes to!!

I was surprised to learn about the longstanding and close working relationship between Hallmark and Disney. Hallmark artists are allowed to paint and create Disney characters on ornaments, and in cards, and the two major companies share a lot of artistic licenses. Hallmark artists are routinely trained at Disney studios, with Disney artists. Fascinating! Hallmark has a very successful cable channel and some of their original movies and productions have earned the channel multiple Academy Awards. There is an original Emmy on display and the public is allowed to take pictures with the real award. How neat is that! 

Come to find out that there are a lot of art and artists in the KC area. Who knew? I did not. KC is a hot bed of visual art, anchored by the KC Art Institute, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. And Judy and I got a firsthand look at the exterior art installations and sculptures whilst touring the grounds of these wonderful institutions on a Segway. Segway tours are an outstanding way to see neighborhoods or campuses because they allow you to cover a greater distance and see more. We zipped through the art school campus and zoomed along the sculpture gardens. What a great way to take a 10-mile city tour in about 2 hours or so.  Lots of fun and easy to handle.

Throwing pennies into fountain @ Kauffman Memorial Garden

 

It was nice to tour the grounds of these magnificent art museums, but would have been remiss if we had not returned visit to see the art inside the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  A great art museum with an impressive collection, which includes works by Caravaggio, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Andy Warhol, just to name drop a few!  The museum also features architectural pieces like stained glass windows and centuries-old furniture housed in two impressive buildings. We parked on a street near the entrance to the Sculpture Garden Gallery and strolled through the display on our way to the entrance. Along the way, we passed by a really interesting, art inspired, mini-golf course on the museum grounds. Take a look.

Mini Golf Hole # 4: Nelson-Atkins Museum Grounds

Andy Warhol's Portrait of Marion Bloch @ Nelson-Atkins Museum

Spending a week’s worth of time exploring a city affords us the luxury of exploring all different types of museums. Some of my readers may be able to relate to the experience of sightseeing in a really great place with a lot to explore, whilst also having time restraints. In such cases, there are those attractions that end up being relegated to the, “if I ever return here again,” list. If we were in KC for a shorter length of time, I’m pretty sure that the National Museum Of Toys & miniatures (indicated as T/m) would have been missed. Such a cool little museum started in 1982, by a couple of very inspirational women, Mary Harris Francis & Barbara Marshall. The museum was last expanded in 2015 and now contains more than 93,000 objects. Judy and I were attracted to the “toy museum” aspect of the attraction, as we have had occasion to visit other toy museums across the country. What we did not anticipate was how captivated we would be by the amazingly extensive collection of full miniatures. Everything from doll houses and furniture, to miniature musical instruments, and entire vignettes of miniatures, also known as room boxes. Each so minutely hand-crafted and detailed so as to be exact replicas. We were lucky enough to walk in just before a museum curator started a 90-minute tour through the first-floor miniature collection that might have spurred our fascination. In any event, we did eventually make it to the second floor to enjoy the toy portion of the museum. 

National Museum of Toys and Miniatures T/m

One last observation. There seems to be a lot of public art and water fountains on display in the downtown KC area. We did some walking and driving around the city, in addition to our Segway tour, and I always seemed to notice a large statue, abstract sculpture, or a fountain spouting water. I’ll tell you another thing I noticed… there is a hint of color starting to appear in the leaves of the trees that we pass as we travel east. Fall is approaching and we must be moving on to our next stop. In just a couple weeks we will be back in Massachusetts, but we still have a few stops left as we start to wrap up our 4-month journey. So please check back as we tell…the Rest of the Story.