Gobble gobble.

I didn't know how popular my blog was until this morning, when a good friend of mine demanded that I update it. Well, little-miss-you-know-who-you-are, are you happy now?!

I just started a new full-time job at a Cincinnati public relations agency, so my free time to explore the area has been cut in half. However, I will still have the weekends to venture around, especially since I got a brand spankin' new camera (which means that I no longer have any excuse if my photos turn out crappy).

Anyway, enough of my excuses and babbling - on to the good stuff.

My parents and step-grandmother are coming to visit next week, so I have been trying to figure out where they should visit while they're here. I figured, "Hey, I've been around here for a few months now, I should know plenty of places for them to go!"

The locals and I therefore recommend the following:

1.) Eat lots of Skyline Chili. With mounds of cheese. Yum.


(photo credit: lbjsbrownbag.com)

2.) Visit downtown Cincinnati.



3.) Explore the Museum Center at Union Terminal, which has three museums (I think...), an IMAX theatre and a working Amtrak station.





4.) Go across the Ohio River to Newport on the Levee in Newport, KY to enjoy great dining, shopping and a wonderful view of the Cincinnati skyline.





5.) Eat the delicious ice cream at Graeter's (supposedly a favorite of Oprah's and many other celebrities - and now a favorite of my husband's).

Mmmmmm...ice cream.....*drool*

6.) Last, but not least, visit Jungle Jim's. Remember that place? I wrote about it here.

It should be a swell time for them, and a great introduction to the area. In the meantime, I need suggestions of places to go and things to do in the Cincy/Dayton/Oxford, OH areas, especially in the wintertime! So, those of you who want me to update more, now is the time to speak up and give me story ideas. :-)

Well, since today is Thanksgiving, I have a turkey and other baked goods beckoning for me to enjoy their deliciousness. In the meantime, may I present a preview of the awesome photo quality of my new camera, with one of my cats dutifully acting as a model.

Where Have All The Colors Gone...

I love Fall (as I'm sure you've gathered from previous posts), but I dislike that the gorgeous leaves stay on the trees for only a couple of weeks until the inevitable gusts of wind tear them away.

I'm typically not one to go hiking or do many outdoor activities after October, but the climate in southwest Ohio is much milder during the transition from Autumn to Winter than in Wisconsin. In honor of the wonderful weather yesterday, a Cincinnati friend of mine (formerly featured here) introduced me to Winton Woods.

At this picturesque park, we were greeted by a quaint lake, which during the warmer seasons provides opportunities for paddleboating, kayaking, and canoeing. Since we couldn't do any of the water sports, we simply strolled around and enjoyed what nature had to offer at this time of year.













The park even had a campground, which won major brownie points in my book. Who's up for a little winter camping in Cincinnati?

Thrills, Chills and Really Old Graveyards

Even though Oxford is a rather small town, there really are a lot of interesting places to go here. One of the most fascinating (to me, at least) is the cemetery down the road from our home.

Before you start asking why I'm so morbid, you would think that this graveyard is cool too - it's built on a hill, and some of the headstones date as far back as the 1700s. It's rather picturesque, so when I needed some creepy pictures for our Halloween party (because trying to find any on Google failed in a massive way), I immediately thought of our little neighborhood cemetery.

I admit I do enjoy the macabre more than most (Ghost Hunters is one of my favorite shows), but I figured that since it was Halloween it would be only slightly less strange that I took pictures in a graveyard. Then again, I lived around a lot of them as a child and it never really bothered me.

Or maybe you just think I'm a weirdo. I can live with that.







Happy Halloween!

Fall musings (and more adventures)

Ahhhh, Fall - one of my absolute favorite times of the year (besides Christmas). The crisp weather that begs the layering of cozy sweaters and a mug of hot cider with pumpkin pie is what makes this time of year so special.

To celebrate the changing of the seasons, a couple of weekends ago my husband and I decided to venture out to one of the area's many family farms for some good old fashioned autumn fun.



They had a lot of pumpkins, as well as hayrides, helicopter rides and a corn maze.



My personal favorite parts of this place were the quaint shops that sold autumn-inspired merchandise and food. I had to resist a lot of temptation so I wouldn't come home with ten pumpkin pies.











After the fall fest, we took a different road back home and came across a MillerCoors brewery. Those familiar with Milwaukee know that it is the home of all things beer - why else would there be a sports team named the Brewers?! Well, we figured since the Miller brewery in Milwaukee gave tours with free beer that maybe this place would extend the same courtesy.

No such luck.

Turned out it was an actual brewery - I smelled it the moment I stepped out of the car - but not terribly tour-friendly. In fact, the place had rather high security, with cameras everywhere along with a gate and check-in point to even enter the grounds. Needless to say, we were both surprised and disappointed that not all of the Miller breweries gave tours (and free beer).

Random MillerCoors brewery on random Ohio road = Fail.



The day after our fall fest adventure, I joined a couple of my new-found Cincinnati friends (who will be featured more on this blog since they will give me loads of great writing material) to the Ohio Renaissance Faire. Even though I couldn't wear my period costume because it was too baggy on me (maybe a good thing?), I still had a swell time stepping back into Ye Olde England.





It's good to be the queen.



My companions beautified their locks.











On the way back I spotted something very exciting. Oh large bodies of water, I miss you so.



My friends took me to a local camp they used to work at. God I miss hiking and gallivanting around the woods.



I must be off, since I have a lot of work to do (freelancing, rehearsals, cleaning, etc). Through my festive cat, I must bid you all adieu.

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's JUNGLE JIM'S!

Hello again, fair readers. I'm having a ball exploring the region, even though in recent weeks classes have started at Miami University, so the area's been rather overrun by college students who still need to learn the fine art of crossing a street.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of accompanying the Miami physics grad students to Jungle Jim's, which is a huge theme-park style international supermarket located in the nearby town of Fairfield. It was definitely the coolest (and strangest) grocery store I've ever been to, and I'd like to think I've been to my fair share of unique supermarkets.

Their front entrance was even bizarre.











Upon entering this monstrosity of a grocery store, I made an extremely important discovery.



FREE SPRINKLES?!?!?! With ice cream?!?! I liked this place already!

In the front of the store was the "American" section. Bor-ing.



However, there was a Campbell's Soup Can swinging above one of the aisles that was pretty cool. It kind of freaked me out when it started talking and swinging while I was underneath it, though.



While trying to find the international section, we came across a little slice of home.





We were told repeatedly to check out the bathrooms in this place. When we came across them, I wasn't terribly impressed at first glance.



Upon entering, however, I was in for a bit of a shock.





After getting lost a couple of times (this place was flipping HUGE), we finally made it to the international section.



The King was there to greet us.



Along with the Amish, the Trix Rabbit and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.





If you look closely, you can see the bumper cars. Now that's what I call creative recycling.



Mmmmm...chocolate...*drool*.



Holy peanuts Batman. I actually saw people with these monsters in their carts, and that begs the question: can you ever have too many peanuts?





I guess not!

These were hot. Literally and figuratively.





We happened across some huge watermelon that were bigger than most 3-month old babies. That's my lovely fiance in the picture to illustrate the colossal size of these melons, in case you couldn't guess.



I had no clue what these things were, but they were the fruits/veggies from hell. After attempting to cradle it in my arms for a picture, I discovered they were too heavy and painful to hold so I thought it best to just step away and take a picture from afar.




Mini-pineapples!



Yum, tasty joy.



I guess Asians like their soy sauce in gas cans. That's a lot of soy sauce, mind you.



This ice cream was juuuuuussssstttt right!



I wonder if all of these fortune cookies in the enormous bags have the same fortune? Probably along the lines of: "If you buy this giant bag of fortune cookies, you will achieve much wealth and prosperity".







The international side of the store was broken up into sections according to country and/or region. There was everything from Irish to Mexican to Indian to German to Bulgarian foods. And that wasn't even half of the nationalities that were represented. My favorite so far was the Indian section, probably because I'm a little bit biased.









The Europeans have some interesting and delicious sweets. Which was dangerous, because I wanted to buy them all.













Always a German favorite.



As if having "American" and international sections weren't enough, there was also a section just for our furry friends. I wonder if my cats would have taken a liking to this:



With much resisted temptation, we ended up with a cart partly filled with goodies from around the world.



We only had an hour to spend there, which was definitely not enough time to adequately explore this place. There will be a return trip, probably next week when I run out of my mini-bananas and need to satisfy my craving.