Hanging in Cincinatti

Friday Emily informed us she wasn’t feeling well.  Probably too much activity on Thursday.   We changed the schedule because Emily wanted to see the Natural Museum and we had planned to see it Friday, we delayed that hoping that Em would feel better the next day.  We drove into town to see the Khrone Conservatory.  We found it with no trouble.  The place was abuzz with activity because of everybody setting up for the next day’s show displaying orchids.

This is a must see.  The building was set up with different environments; desert, jungle and of course orchids.

Check out their web site:  http://www.cincinnatiparks.com/krohn

We then hoped to tour the Rookwood Pottery building.  What a trip.  MA Googled it on her phone, then we went on an adventure experiencing parts of Cincinnati most people never see.  We then found out that the Rookwood manufacturing did not have tours (and it was in a pretty rough neighborhood).  We decided to find the original Rookwood building that is now a restaurant.  After some harrowing turns and avoiding expressways we found ourselves at the top of the hill and walking into the building.  This is also a must see.  We ate a snack and then walked around to see the building.  There are still 3 large kilns standing; now they are private dining rooms.  Very cool.

We returned to see how Em was feeling and found that she was on the upswing.

Saturday all was well and we toured the Natural Museum which is housed in the old rail station built in the 1930s.  Very art deco.   Very cool.

We then ended up downtown for cocktails at the Netherland Plaza.  More Art Deco… great live guitar… perfect way  to end the day.

Sunday rolled around too fast, we bid our adieus to Emily and headed to phase 2 of our trip:  Florida.  We drove to Macon to spend the night then hit the road early to make it to Anna Maria.  In Macon MA asked the desk clerk where we might find great fried chicken.  He paused and asked ‘You’re trying to avoid national chains… right?’  When we said yes he told of S & S Cafeteria.  We found the take out door and went in to order.  The place was filled with locals.  The food smelled great and looked better!  We headed to our room with our goodies.  The chicken was great, the sides were great.  We will remember this for a long time.