Cincy Roadtrip and Cincinnati (and Kentucky!)

One of the best parts of our Cincinnati trip is the road trip part. Since Ashley and I live far apart and really only see each other once a year the road trip is a great time to catch up on everything that’s gone on in our lives over the last year.

I drive by myself to Johnstown and I love the drive. Leaving Long Island and New York City is no fun, but the ride in Pennsylvania is so peaceful and pretty (as you can see above).

Cincy tennis is always around the time of the Little League World Series and I get pretty close to Willamsport. I always think it would be fun to stop and see it, but there’s always somewhere else to be (like grad school!).

Even though the tournament is called “Cincinnati” it actually takes place in Mason, OH, which is about 20 minutes north of Cincinnati. Ashley and I never made it down to Cincinnati proper, but when Friday night tickets were sold out we thought it was the perfect opportunity to see a new city. It’s actually a really pretty city and it was so clean! We had dinner at Rookwood which is a very cool restaurant built in the old Rookwood Pottery factory. The food was a little disappointing (but maybe just the things we picked!), but the atmosphere was amazing and they had tons of delicious-sounding drinks.

One of the best parts was that the restaurant was slightly above the rest of the city and the river so we had these amazing views of downtown.

There’s the old kiln and some pottery tile on the wall. The place was actually recommended to us by a couple we spoke with during the long rain delay at the tournament and then we kind of ended up there by accident when I was looking for good farm-to-table restaurants.

Also we went to Kentucky! When we were in Cincinnati we wanted to grab a drink after dinner and we had the idea to head over the river to Kentucky since neither of us had ever been there. We went to the city right over the river, Covington, and headed to the bar ranked number one on Yelp. Sadly that bar was in the middle of no where and remarkably creepy so we headed to choice number two, which was in the downtown area and ended up being really nice!

On the road trip we really love Flying J Travel Plazas. We stopped at one our first year and were completely taken in by the showers for truckers and the floral decorations on the bathroom doors (which they’ve gotten rid of!).

I’m also a fan of this sign in Ohio (the opposite direction has billboards with the 10 commandments).

Another highlight is passing through West Virginia for about 10 miles. My grandparents had West Virginia drinking glasses when I was a kid and I’ve always loved the “Wild and Wonderful” state motto and I’ve forced Ashley to love it, too.

We have a tradition that on the way home we stop at Graeter’s Ice Cream for breakfast. I’m pretty sure Graeter’s locations are only in Ohio (I have seen the pints at grocery stores in NY), but it is seriously amazing ice cream. Graeter’s and Ample Hills in Brooklyn battle it out in my heart for all-time favorite ice cream.

On the way back we also passed through Pittsburgh. I always like to see the tunnels, the bridges, and the skyline.

Cincy tennis

These posts are going to be a little delayed because of the craziness of going away, coming back, packing up my life, and moving in Minnesota pretty much all in the same week. I will do them in chronological order, probably over the next few days, starting with the trip to Cincinnati (really Mason, OH) with my friend Ashley to watch some tennis. I think I’m going to separate it into the tennis part and the road trip/Cincinnati party.

I drove to Johnstown, PA, where Ashley is from, Tuesday afternoon. Her dad and stepmom very nicely let me stay with them so that I can break the trip up into two days.

On Wednesday morning we got up early and headed to Pittsburgh to drop my car off at her mom and stepdad’s place and go to to Pamela’s. Ashley suggested we got to Pamela’s a few years ago so that I could see a little of Pittsburgh and it’s been a tradition ever since. It is an amazing diner with really heavy, but delicious, food. This year I tried the banana and walnut pancakes and had the Lyonnaise potatoes, which are always delicious.

Unfortunately we got to Cincy mid-afternoon so we had to park in a parking lot that was about a mile from the tournament. Which is fine, neither of us minds walking. But then, pretty much right after we got there, it started raining. And then it stopped raining, and then it started raining, and then it stopped raining, and then it started raining and thundering and lightening and the radar did not look so good.

Ashley had the brilliant idea to go back to the hotel, check in, change, and then come back if it stops raining (the hotel is about 10 minutes away). Which worked perfectly, except we had to walk a mile in the rain (it had stopped thundering and lightening by then) and the parking lot had turned into a giant mud pit. They literally had a tow truck ready to pull cars out.

The good thing about the rain was that it gave me an excuse to eat Cincinnati (Skyline) chili. I LOVE Cincinnati chili, which is a chocolate and cinnamon flavored chili served over spaghetti with cheese (and I add onions). It sounds awful but it’s delicious. Once the rain stopped it held off the rest of the week and we got to watch some great tennis.

Here’s Andy Murray on the second show court. This was his match against Mardy Fish.

This is Novak Djokovic and Stan Warinka is a French Open Final rematch.

And this is Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic. Of all the years we’ve been going (5 for me, 6 for Ashley) I think this is the best picture of the two of us. Thank you random stranger!

One of the best things about the Cincy tournament is how small it is. You can just walk by the ESPN booth and see Patrick McEnroe, Darren Cahill, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, etc. (those are all tennis broadcasters for my non-tennis fan friends and family) hanging out doing their broadcast.

I really like this panoramic picture I took of the grounds. From left to right there’s the food court, main stadium, shopping area, and smaller/practice courts.

Oh and I got to pose in a Graeter’s cone. More on Graeter’s later, but their ice cream is amazing.