I'll have a runny chili with beans and onions, please

A few interesting Ohioisms I've learned so far:

1.) Instead of DMV's, Ohio has BMV's, which stands for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
2.) Everyone in the area has a twang. As in a southern, country twang. They say things like "ya'll", "git in da cah" and my personal favorite, "Chi-caaaaaa-gah".
3.) Cincinnati people love their chili, and there are two main competitors in the area - Skyline Chili and Gold Star Chili. Practically all of the locals I've spoken with so far prefer Skyline, but I don't want to make any judgments until I've gobbled some down from Gold Star.

A couple of weeks ago, my fiance and I made the trek to Cincinnati to see what all of the hubub was about. Home of some interesting tasting chili and the Bengals, it was certainly nice to be back in a place that was somewhat familiar to my home turf. You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl - at least not right away.



They don't have a giant lake, but they do have a giant river with lots of cool-looking bridges!





We discovered an indoor mall that winds around downtown Cincinnati - similar to Grand Ave. Mall in Milwaukee, but much more upscale. Found an Oscar De La Renta dress there for about $1,000. Classy place, isn't it?



Duke Energy is really big in these parts. So much so that the company has its very own convention center.



Cincinnati Reds and Bengals paraphernalia are everywhere. I don't think they're as rabid as, say Packers or Bears fans, but I can still feel their pride.



We saw some riverboats (like in the musical Showboat) across the river, so we decided to cross one of the bridges and see what they were all about. Turned out that just over the river was:



I looked for a KFC, but I didn't find any (yet). I'll have to go back and continue my search so I can tell people I've had real Kentucky Fried Chicken. After getting lost five times in the streets of Newport, KY, we finally found our way to the riverboats, which were a lot bigger than they looked from the Ohio side of the river. If you look in the background, you can see where the Cincinnati Reds play.



And now I must leave you with another funny cat picture. Enjoy!