AB1 Tour 2014 - Week 23 - Cincinnati, OH

Winston Churchill called Cincinnati “the most beautiful of America’s inland cities.”
     Hmmm …
     Maybe back in the 50’s, but now … not so much.  Sorry, Sir Winston.
     Cincinnati was first platted in 1788.  By 1850, it had become the world’s largest pork-packing center, a status that brought the city the nickname: “Porkopolis.”
     I bet the city fathers just loved that.
     We also weren’t too crazy about Cincinnati, especially after seeing the transformed beauty that has become Pittsburgh.  But a mid-week change of direction softened our feelings about Cincinnati, home of the pork chop, professional baseball, and Pete Rose.

 Sunday, August 31, was our travel day.  We landed at the Winton Woods campground, a very pretty state park with nice facilities and a great walking path around a most scenic lake.  It must have relaxed us a bit … a BIT too much.  We hardly did anything for three days.  Labor Day was exactly the opposite for us as we did everything most un-labor like.  At least on Tuesday we managed to struggle out that night to the James Brown bio movie, “Get On Up” which was pretty good.
     After the movie, we got daring and made one of our rare visits to a fast-food establishment.  Of course being that we were in Cincinnati, we had to try the city’s famous “Skyline Chili.”  Although it was definitely not like regular Texas-meat-chunk-infused chili (really more finely ground sloppy Joe like), I liked it, especially since in a nod to my childhood, they had hot dogs in it.  Diedre put up with it.
     Bravo, young lady!
     By Wednesday we had finally been shaken out of our stupor and boarded Zippy the Wonder Car for a chance to see the Queen City.  Our first stop was SUPPOSED to be the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.  Stowe, the great author who wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” lived in Cincinnati in the 1830’s.  At the time, her book was a huge shot in the arm in the fight against slavery.  Being an old history major with an emphasis on slavery and the Civil War, I was very excited to see the Stowe House.  The house, however, wasn’t so accommodating.
     It was closed, no matter what the web site said.
     We moved on.
   

 We had better luck at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site.  This wonderful house was the birthplace and boyhood home of the 27th president of our United States.  The home reflects his time there from his birth in 1857 till he graduated college at Yale University in 1878.  Previously, I had known little of the big Taft, only, of course, that he loved baseball and in 1910 inaugurated the tradition of the President throwing out the first ball of the season.
   After Yale, Taft graduated from the University of Cincinnati law school.  Working his way up through the legal system, he eventually became the Dean of the Cincinnati Law School (1896-1900) and then became the Governor of the Philippines (1901-04).  From there, he was chosen to be the Secretary of War under the Teddy Roosevelt administration (1904-08) before attaining the presidency (1909-13).  In 1921, he was named our country’s 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the only man in history to hold the highest posts in the land in both the executive and the judicial branches of our government.
  Other firsts for our 27th president included: 1) being the initial chief executive to have a motor car; 2) becoming the first president to preside over 48 states when he signed the statehood bills for Arizona (YAY!) and New Mexico; and 3) probably being the first president to have the family cow, “Pauline Wayne,” grazing out in front of the White House and other nearby public buildings.  And no slouch Mrs. Taft, she was the one who arranged to have the cherry trees planted along the tidal basin in Washington D.C.; they were a gift from the mayor of Tokyo and they’ve flourished ever since.

     President Taft died in 1930 at age 72 a month after resigning from the Supreme Court.  He’s buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
     OK, enough with the history lesson.
     We then went and parked at the downtown Horseshoe Casino and had a nice buffet lunch.  In fact, everything about this place was incredibly “nice.”  All of the other casinos we’ve run into have had just a small section allotted for non-smokers.  Those casinos were very unfriendly to Diedre’s asthma and allergies.  But the Horseshoe Casino reserves their small section for SMOKERS and leaves the main part of the casino smoke free for the rest of us civilized gamblers.  VERY nice!
     The town of Cincinnati, at least to the north, was not so nice.  It was pretty dumpy, actually.  We made our way about ten blocks to the famous “Findlay Market.”  It’s been in operation since 1852 and is Ohio’s oldest continuously operated market.  We had high hopes for it.  Unfortunately, it was in an “iffy” part of the city amidst shuttered buildings and unemployed people hanging out on every corner.  The market itself was not much to see or shop in.  So far, especially after enjoying downtown Pittsburgh so much, we were very disappointed with Cincinnati.
   

 After a day of recuperation which included a hair appointment (Diedre’s, not mine), we got ready to take another shot at Cincinnati with a ball game that evening being its climax.  Today the city would be served much better, at least in our eyes.
     Parked at the casino in our usual manner, we began our walking tour of the south side of the downtown Cincinnati area, this time much closer to the river.  Our opinion of the city quickly changed.
     After getting DK’s glasses repaired, we made our way to the heart of the downtown area, Fountain Square.  There were a lot of things going on there.  In the center was the majestic “Tyler Davidson Fountain,” dedicated in 1871 to the people of Cincinnati.
     We then checked out the massive “Aronoff Performing Arts Center.”  Although we weren’t able to see inside any of the theatres, Diedre did get a chance to rub snouts with the star of the play being performed at the Center, “The Phantom of the Slopera.”
     Cute.
 While I then took my mandatory time at “The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame” right next to the ball park, Diedre Kaye got some “Grand Canyon Training” in by walking across the John Roebling Bridge.  Seemingly a Brooklyn Bridge knock-off, it was built in 1867, three years before the famous New York borough bridge was started.  You could get some great views of the ball park from the middle of the bridge.
     At the Hall, I enjoyed seeing the Reds’ last three World Series trophies.  They also had a three-story wall covered with baseballs, one for each of the 4,256 hits Pete Rose had to set the all-time hits record.  I loved hearing about the history of the Cincinnati Redlegs, baseball’s first ever professional team, who went pro in 1869 three years after they were founded.  Led by Hall of Fame brothers George and Harry Wright, they finished the 1869 season with an incredible 57 wins, 0 loss record.  In fact, they didn’t lose their first game until June 4, 1870.
     Other things I enjoyed seeing at the Reds’ HOF:
 -an all-Reds man-cave, complete with a giant TV, a long bar, and stadium chairs, decorated totally Redlegs, maybe the perfect place for some buddies and me to watch the game;
 -the baseball from the last out of the 1919 “Black Sox” World Series, which was a ground out by White Sox star
 Shoeless Joe Jackson;
 -a Cincinnati Reds giant “Mickey Mouse” statue seen here with an unknown fan.
     The Hall gives out a different bobblehead free each month to patrons on Fridays and Saturdays.  I lucked out because I had not only just happened to stumble in there on a Friday to get a free bobblehead, but also because it was now September, and that month’s prized piece of memorabilia would be a Pete Rose bobblehead.
     YAY!
     Pete just happens to be my favorite Cincinnati Reds player of all time, regardless of what soon-to-be-deposed-commissioner-Bud Sleazebag has to say.  In my eyes, Pete is guilty only of not being too bright.  I don’t think he would have ever done anything close to trying to have the Reds lose.  The Reds Hall of Fame loves Pete, too.  They’re hawking Pete Rose stuff like crazy in there and making a ton of money off him.  They sure as hell have no trouble selling anything to do with his image, yet they won’t induct him into their own Hall of Fame for the same reason the National Hall of Fame won’t let him be inducted.
     Hypocrites.
     (Deep breath)
     So anyway, Pete will go nicely on our AB1 dashboard next to the bobblehead of Dante Bichette, which we got last year at the Colorado Rockies game, and the statue of Betty Boop we bought on Beale Street in Memphis, also last year.  I’ll bet no other RV in the country has a triumvirate like that.
   

 Diedre met up with me at the Hall, then we walked around the stadium to check out the team statues.  There was a nice one of all-time great catcher Johnny Bench.  
And they had a wonderful three-man statue set up on a pitcher’s mound and home-plate area with Reds’ hurler Joe Nuxhall (the youngest man, at age 15, to ever play in the major leagues) pitching to Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as another Hall of Famer, catcher Ernie “The Schnozz” Lombardi, waits behind the plate.  I filled in as the novice umpire in this life-sized diorama.
     From there, Diedre took me to a place she found for lunch.  It was down a cleaned up alley and was called “O’Malley’s in the Alley.”  Of course, our waitress was the owner’s wife, Sally O’Malley.  We had great Cincinnati sandwiches called “Smashers.”  They were regular, hoagie-like sandwiches that were beat up, smashed, and pummeled so that they’d be flatter.  Surprisingly, they were very good.
     

The Riverfront walk along the Ohio River turned out to be a lot of fun.  There were wonderful parks for blocks and blocks all along the river.  We made it to and crossed the Newport Southbank Pedestrian Bridge, more commonly known to the locals as “The Purple People Bridge” due to its odd paint job.  Once again, we found that on a walk over a bridge in the east, there were padlocks and more padlocks all clamped onto the bridge’s protective pedestrian fencing.
     Padlocks?  What’s up with that?
    As game time was nearing, we stopped for a few beers at the German brewery, “The Moerlein Lager House.”  It was just across the street from the Cincy stadium, “The Great American Ballpark” on Pete Rose Way.
     Before the game, we were sitting in the courtyard waiting for the gates to open when I started up a conversation with a guy sitting near us.  You know how these “guy-sports-talks” go.  Soon enough, I found out that my new nameless friend’s high school basketball coach had played for the very small-school Mylan Indians basketball team when they upset the big-school Indianapolis team in the 1954 Indiana state tournament.  I knew a lot about that team because they were the inspiration for one of my favorite movies ever, “Hoosiers.”
     The Great American Ballpark would be the 10th and last major league stadium we would be seeing on this year’s trip.  Our overall stadium total is now 26 ballparks visited with four to go (Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners, all to be seen in 2015).
     By the top of the 9th inning, the visiting New York Mets had scored in EVERY inning except the 3rd while pounding out 17 hits.  In the end, they trounced “our” hometown Reds 14-5.  There was excitement all over the place as the Mets hit five home runs and the Reds hit two.  Mets’ third-baseman David Wright, who always seems to do well when we’re at his games, got four hits.  The loss blew our winning streak all to hell; our final home-team record for the summer ended at 10-5.  The “Reds” were probably jinxed that night because they were really more the “Greens.”  
Yes, they were wearing green for their promotion, “Irish Heritage Day.” They even had the world champion “River Dance” kids there to entertain.  You know Riverdance, don’t you?  That crazy dance where the arms stay at your side while the legs go flying all akimbo.  Sort of spasm-like.  Still, a lot of fun.
     To assuage our loss, the Reds organization had the requisite Friday night fireworks after the game.  And these ones were good, coming fast and furiously, never stopping for what I timed to be a solid 15+ minutes.  Our “oohing” and “aahing” face muscles took a real beating.
     Our luck for the evening did a 180 when we returned to the wonderful mostly-smoke-free Horseshoe Casino.  Once again, we brought a mighty financial institution to its knees, walking out of there at 1 AM (pretty late for us oldsters) a cool $18 ahead.  Now I can finally get that brain operation I’ve been saving up for.
     This turned out to be a great day.  It allowed us to appreciate Cincinnati so much more than after Wednesday’s debacle on the north side.
     After getting home quite late and showering, we finally hit the hay at 3 AM.  Fortunately, all we had left on the schedule in Cincinnati the next day was oldest cat-child Charlie’s 8th birthday party.  Then it would be on to Music City on Sunday, Nashville, Tennessee, where we can really get our country-music Jones a-hoppin ...
        “Trailer for sale or rent,
                Rooms to let fifty-cents.
                        No phone, no pool, no pets;
                                ain’t got no cigarettes!”
     Grand Ole Opry, here we come!
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Diedre here...There are just a few more snaps I want to share with you from Cincinnati.  While Alexx explored the Sports Museum I decided to wander the river side of the city to see if I couldn't feel better about the town.  On our previous days it just felt dirty and uncared for by the community - not at all what we were experiencing in the other towns we have visited.  But this day was different.  

The sun was shining and the water glistened as I walked the bridge.  I was determined to hit my Fitbit goal of 13,000 steps so I was happy to have the time to explore.  After crossing the bridge in both directions on both sides, I realized that I had missed the best shot of the baseball stadium , so I walked halfway over and back again just to get this shot.

The river side of the town is really nicely developed and I discovered a beautiful building that was dedicated to the underground slavery railroad.  I'm not much for museums, but when we were in Memphis we visited a home of one of the abolitionists and the stories were amazing.  Had I realized earlier that Cincinnati had this exhibit I would have made time to explore it.  Just from the outside it was obvious there was much care and attention that went into this attraction.

As my walk was winding down and I headed to the stadium to meet up with Alexx I noticed a wonderful mural on the side of one of the buildings.  It was just one more example of the dedication the city has to its ball team and the sport of baseball.  I wasn't much of a baseball fan before we started our rv tours, but I must admit I am converted.  It's not the game as much as it is the spirit that the game inspires in it's fans.  I love watching the joy that lights up the faces of the fans when their ballplayers run the bases.  The energy that boosts us all to our feet when a home run ball flies over the fence is exactly why we always cheer for the home team.  And besides watching Alexx's face when he tours each stadium, I love imagining what's going on in his head when he studies the memorabilia of his favorite old time players.  I can just see him standing on deck when Ted Williams is at bat or rounding the bases behind Ricky Henderson or Ty Cobb, and perhaps crossing the home plate after a home run is hit by Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth.  

So who would think that I would feel a bit verklempt when realizing this was the last baseball stadium we would visit on this year's trek?  I've learned much more about the game and the players this year.  I've talked to strangers who are nearly as enthusiastic about the game as Alexx.  One fella pointed out to us as we stood overlooking the stadium plaza that the design of the courtyard was that of an infield. We didn't realize this when we took the shot of Alexx earlier with Joe Nuxhall, Frank Robinson, and Ernie Lombardi. But if you look closely you can see the paths between the bases   Now that's just cool. 

   The day was a success - I felt totally different about the city and I surpassed my 13,000 steps on the Fitbit!

   The blog will be on hiatus when game 7 of the World Series is played (if we are lucky enough to have it go to 7 games) so you will have to watch it yourself or the box scores to hear how it all turns out.  I am predicting the St. Louis Cardinals will meet up with the Kansas City Royals.  I guess I'm biased now because those are two teams that we have seen play on their home stadiums.  I'll be cheering for St. Louis as I fell in love with that stadium last year and it still remains my favorite of the 26 we've seen.  The rest of this trip will be site-seeing and a few more visits with friends which I always enjoy, but I will miss sitting in the stands of major league ball parks and being a part of America's favorite pastime.  It's truly been a most enjoyable part of our 2014 trek.

Now give me some of that good ole' country music!