usa: road trip from Columbus, IN to Charlotte, NC

The original plan was for John to pick me up on Thursday morning, then we'd take our time driving back to Charlotte. That plan was delayed by a little over two days, but such is life. John picked me up after lunchtime on Saturday, and we started driving.

Our first stop was in Columbus, Indiana, for lunch. The pizza was good, and I saw a business with my last name :) I've done a day trip to Columbus previously, but didn't get to see everything. This quick stop reminded me that I want to come back and see more.

We kept going until we got to Cincinnati, Ohio. I got to drive much of the way, which was fun. Though the U.S. doesn't have a good public transport system, it does have a good network of highways. (Notice that I didn't say that all this infrastructure is in good shape, because it isn't.)

Cincinnati is a city of almost 300,000 people, founded in the late 18^th century. Wikipedia tells me it sits at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio Rivers, I only knew it was on the Ohio River. Clearly I need to go back and make sure I see the Licking River, just because it has a fun name.

I grew up going to Cincinnati every summer to watch the Cincinnati Reds play at Riverfront Stadium. The stadium has a different name now, but it will always be Riverfront to me. We parked the car near the riverfront walkway developed by the city, and started walking. We didn't get far before deciding to cross Roebling suspension bridge. Crossing the bridge took us over the state line into Kentucky, a state in which we had zero desire to spend any time.

The water of the Ohio River was not particularly good looking, it was a shade of brown as far as I could see. Yuck. Somehow I doubt it ever looks all that great.

Just after coming off the bridge I realized I was rather dehydrated, and needed water quickly. I'd heard about an ice cream place called Graeter's that was originally from Cincinnati. It has now spread to other cities/states, but the fact that it was originally from Cincinnati made it okay for me. (My general rule being to avoid national chain restaurants.)

I drank a bottle of water really fast, then enjoyed two scoops of black raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. I would most definitely go back for me the next time I'm in Cincinnati.

From there we wandered around a little bit of the city center, enjoying the architecture of the sky scrapers. We didn't wander far, heading back to the car soon enough. I've since checked a couple travel apps and found plenty of things to do and places to see in Cincinnati, I'd like to go back. (With plenty of water.)

We started driving with no end point in mind for the evening. We pulled into a hotel parkplatz a little before midnight, after having crossed state lines into Knoxville, Tennessee.

The next morning we decided to explore a bit of Knoxville, just because we could. I'd been there once before, when I was 18 years old and trying to decide where I would go to university. I don't remember much about that trip, it was nice to go back and basically see the city from scratch.

We found a free parkplatz downtown, near a pedestrian street. The street was nice looking, everything had been developed nicely. This pedestrian street was mostly lined with cafes and restaurants, nothing too extraordinary.

We walked to the end of the street, circling around a few streets down there. One of the buildings we saw was the old county courthouse, it still has a war memorial on the lawn. Another building we saw was one of the most boring government buildings I've ever seen. We also saw a church or two. As it was the middle of summer, flowers were blooming, and everything looked lovely.

Finally we saw something we'd seen while driving into the city center: the tower of the convention center. There is a gold ball at the top of the tower, the whole thing is really eye catching. The rest of the convention center wasn't anything great, which wasn't much of a surprise.

The bottom of the tower was near a small body of water, which had also been redeveloped nicely. There was a splash pad, steps by the water, etc... Not too far away we found a war memorial for the soldiers of east Tennessee. Very nicely done, with maintenance done regularly.

Around that point I realized that yet again I'd let myself get dehydrated. We walked back to the pedestrian street and found a local cafe. The server brought water, which I drank immediately. We asked for a full pitcher of water, she brought another glass for each of us. I drank that fast as well, finally feeling closer to normal again. When she saw how fast I was drinking she realized I had asked for the pitcher of water for a reason, and finally brought it. Our food was fine, and the air conditioning felt good :)

Before leaving town John found a cigar shop to visit, but didn't buy anything because he didn't want to spend that much on rolled up tobacco leaves. I had no idea cigars can cost more than $100!!!

From there we went back to the car and got back on the highway. Our next stop was Asheville, North Carolina, because I was craving ice cream. I found a place listed on a travel app, it was okay, but not as amazing as I wanted it to be.

From there we drove to Charlotte. I'd never been there before, it was completely new to me.

I would definitely return to Columbus, Cincinnati, and Knoxville, as there is always more to see and do :) Road trips are the best.

usa: indiana: west baden springs and columbus

The next day was Saturday. We didn't have anything specific planned, but Dad was up for my idea of a day trip to West Baden Springs hotel. I'd never been there, but I knew he had, as had other family members. Every photo I'd of the place looked pretty amazing.

We stopped for lunch at a fast food place along the way, nothing exciting. As we drove I made note of the petrol prices, as they were considerably lower than what was available in Bloomington. (I hate the way people in Bloomington pay higher prices for rent, mortgage, petrol, etc... because we're a captive audience.)

Indiana is mostly made up of small towns, we drove through a number of them. Life in rural towns isn't great economically these days, and you can see that when you drive through. What I also noticed was that petrol prices were considerably cheaper than in Bloomington.

West Baden Springs hotel was built when you could take a train from Chicago all the way to southern Indiana. I'm pretty sure that isn't possible anymore. The town of West Baden Springs was originally developed by Germans (hence the name) and was known for natural springs.

The hotel itself is pretty amazing. The grounds are huge, no matter which approach you use. The atrium you walk into is stunning. The roof of the atrium is giant, and the whole thing is a skylight. The hotel was originally built at the beginning of the 20^th century, and after a while fell into disrepair. At some point Jesuits used it as a monastery, and darn them they capped off the springs. I think renovations started in the late 80s or 90s, something like that? The renovations were done really well, the place looks fantastic, and looks just the old photos from way back.

We walked through the atrium, unable to miss the GIANT skylight letting in a huge amount of natural light to the room. The engineering of the whole thing is really impressive. There are couches and chairs set in groups throughout the room, it's a great place to hang out with your friends and family.
We also walked through the hallway that encircles the atrium. We also checked out the porch, which had plenty of rocking chairs. If it hadn't felt like a sauna outside I would've been super keen to sit on one of the chairs and read for a couple hours.
The last area we explored was an area of landscaped gardens. Two of the old springs (also capped by the Jesuits when they 'owned' the property, argh,) were on the edge of these gardens. A pretty area, but too darn hot to dawdle in the sun.

Even though I'd brought water with me, and grabbed a couple bottles from a cooler, I was still feeling the heat. Instead of going to another sight in southern Indiana I told Dad I was ready to go home. We got home mid evening, so it was probably good that we didn't go anywhere else.

Of course, if we'd planned the day ahead of time and gotten moving a bit earlier, we could've done more. Oh well.
Three days later, I did a road trip with my sister.
Just like everyone else in my immediate family, my sister has lived abroad at least twice. Though she now lives in Bloomington, she and her husband (and now my nephew) still travel, but it's domestic travel. They've done an amazing job of finding places in and around Indiana, places I didn't know anything about before receiving a postcard from Hana.

We wanted to spend time together again, and decided to do it by going on a day long road trip, to a nearby city called Columbus, Indiana.
On the way there I asked her to stop so I could take a photo of myself with the city sign for Gnaw Bone. Yes, there is a town called Gnaw Bone in Indiana. Not surprisingly, it is not a giant metropolis.

I'd been to Columbus more times than I can count or remember, but every previous visit was while I was a competitive swimmer. I remember many an early morning driving through the quiet streets of Columbus, not really knowing the city at all.

There are two high schools in the city, I've swum at both of them. There is also a swim club that had a summer meet and a winter meet, adding to the number of Columbus visits every year. This time I wanted to see what Columbus is known for, it's architecture. Buildings all around the city are unique.

We started by going to the visitors center. I was excited when Hana told me the glass sculptures were made by Chihuly, because I've seen photos of those sculptures from around the country and they're always beautiful. It was a really nice visitors center.

From there we walked. I suppose that's all we did, but it was nice. The weather was reasonable, which made a huge difference.

I took a lot of photos, of course. I took one of the old armory. I took one of a church. I took several of various sculptures. I took several inside the play area inside a mall.
I took pictures of the bridge you are likely to cross if you're coming in from Bloomington. I took pictures of the courthouse, and the nearby veterans memorial.
I took more than a few pictures of my nephew as he took in the world around him.

I did not take a picture of lunch, as it wasn't anything to get excited about. After the main part of lunch (soup, salad, sandwich,) we stopped into an old time ice cream shop. It looked great, they've done a good job staying with the style of places back then. The ice cream was so so, I doubt I would go back for more.

After eating, we drove a little, to Mill Race Park. There is a nice walking trail around the park, and the best part is the covered bridge. Cars still drive through the covered bridge, so when I convinced Hana to take a photo with me, we had to keep an eye out for any traffic.

We probably would've walked through more of the park, but the weather wasn't so pleasant anymore, becoming more and more humid. It's not much fun to walk around when you feel like you're in a sauna.

After the park we felt like we were done for a while. I can always walk around any town for hours, but my nephew was done for the day, and we had one more stop to make.

There is a series of outlet stores in a town called Edinburgh, not far from Columbus. Hana likes one of them in particular, so we went shopping.

I found one thing I liked, but it looked awful on me, so my wallet was spared, hee hee.

My nephew was tired of course, but like most babies, did not want to go to sleep. He screamed for a while, then fell asleep, just as we knew he would.

I love spending time with my sister.