The next stop of our 2014 road trip was Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati is on the Ohio/Kentucky border so we actually stayed in Kentucky to save a little money. We did have to drive to the ball games and to do some of our tourist activities but you can also park in Kentucky at various locations and walk across a few bridges to Cincinnati, especially the ball park. You will see locations in Ohio and Kentucky, so just know that they are all in the Cincy area. Here we go!
Things to Do
Like with Pittsburgh, our main objective was to watch the Braves play the Reds at Great American Ball Park. I (Courtney) randomly remember that Brandon Phillips’ walk up song was ‘Fancy’ by Iggy Azalea which was not a song he carried with him when he came to the Braves but it certainly made an impression.
One interesting thing that happened at one of the games we attended is several couples got married in a quick ceremony on the field. They had everything from dresses and tuxes to matching jerseys and Courtney made a note to self that this was a great idea.
They also have fireworks after Red’s games on Friday nights that you can watch from the Taylor Southgate Bridge, which connects Cincinnati to Newport, KY. We thought they would just last a little while, but it seemed like they went on forever. It was great. Overall, Great American is a nice park but it seems older and is not one of the nicer ballparks we have visited. That being said, the people were friendly and we still had a great time.
We also visited the Newport Aquarium, which is just across the river from the stadium. This is a rather small aquarium and not one of our favorites, but they did have penguins! It was a good place to spend a few hours.
Because we love food (have we mentioned that before?), we had to do another food tour. We went on the Flavors of the Queen City Food Tour in downtown Cincinnati. We got to try the famous Skyline Chili and Graeters ice cream among other local dishes. You can buy Skyline and Graeters at our local grocery stores, but there is something special about getting it from some of the original spots. It was a nice taste of the Queen City and we recommend it.
After our food tour, we were walking around and noticed a line of people, mostly wearing Braves gear, standing by a tour bus. We noticed the bus was parked at the Westin, which is generally the hotel the team stays in, so we sidled up and asked what was going on. They were waiting on the team to come get on the bus and soon they started trickling out. We saw most of the players at the time along with some of the broadcasters. A few stopped to sign autographs, a few waved, and a few stopped and talked. Most importantly, Don Sutton stopped right where we happened to be. The Hall of Famer was so nice and talked with us for a little bit and shook my (Courtney) hand. I have listened to Braves baseball most of my life and know Don’s voice better than many of my relatives. I was so honored to meet him that I nearly cried. He passed away recently which was terribly sad, but also made this memory more treasured.
Food
Drake’s Beer, Burgers and Sushi in Florence, KY is the type of place every town needs. It’s a Dream Cafe of sorts (my Seinfeld people know what I’m talking about). They have burgers, beer, and sushi which seems like an eclectic mix but it worked. And that is exactly what we got. Courtney got a burger and a beer and Mallory got sushi. And it was all good, which was the biggest surprise of all. We recommend this place if you are in the area.
My (Courtney) parents came to Cincy to visit us because our vacation was immediately before theirs and we were leaving for DragonCon before they got back, so they had to come see us because they missed us so much! They stayed at hotel near the Horseshoe Casino and we ate with them at the casino buffet one night. The buffet had all kinds of foods and we tried as many as were humanly possible. We then walked to the ball park to prevent exploding.
Overall, we had a good time in the city and it was a great way to end out our baseball road trip.
Our McTravels 