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.