Hello, Cincinnati! My home for the next 5 days. Well, actually, its Covington, KY because apparently its cheaper to stay here in a hotel than it is in Cincinnati or anywhere else in Ohio. But, I can see the bridge that takes me to Cincinnati from my hotel window. Along with the large cinder block wall that holds the river back from the hotel. Either way, I will be here for 5 full days for work purposes.
I drove in from Chicago yesterday afternoon. It was about a 5 hour drive which I had to mentally prepare for. And I did not plan very well (I know my mom is shocked by that) because I forgot to eat lunch before I left at 2:00. Needless to say, about an hour into the drive, I was starving. So hungry in fact, that I thought Taco Bell sounded delicious. I opted for that over Potbelly's, Subway and any other decent sandwich shop in the area. Although, the diet Mountain Dew that Taco Bell offered me was a lifesaver for the drive. Extra caffeine, no calories. Perfect since I got my fair share from the chicken quesadilla and taco that came with it.
Overall, the drive was very uneventful save for one event. I will get to that later. But talk about a gorgeous drive. The highways here in the Midwest are very different from back home. The roads are not surrounded by trees on either side like they are in Virginia. In Virginia, I feel like you could drive for hours and the only scenery you see are trees. In the fall, its absolutely gorgeous as you can imagine. But, I totally understand why my mom used to say "it was a boring, long drive." Here, all you see is open spaces. Farm houses, silos, and farm land for miles. Its breathtaking. Definitely a different change of scenery than from back home. But, the most stunning thing I saw on my drive came in Indiana...
I was about 2 and a half hours into the drive when I saw something off in the distance. At first, it was just a bunch of white specks, but as I kept driving, the objects came into better view. It was solar wind-powered field. In the distance, these solar windmills looked about the size of trees. As I kept getting closer, I realized how wrong I was about their size. To explain how large these things are is impossible. Basically, they make telephone lines and trees look like pick-up-sticks. And there were HUNDREDS of them. Our highway ran right through the middle of this 5-10 miles stretch which made for a very interesting feeling. We were literally surrounded by these monsters and their long, spinning arms. I pulled over and tried to get a picture of them with my phone. But my phone is from 1993 (not literally) so the camera function is pretty pathetic.
After the solar wind field, I had about another 3 hour drive which again was pretty easy. It got tricky when I was arriving in Cincinnati and found out that my exit for my hotel was closed. I knew this ride went too smoothly. On top of that, my Tom Tom was not functional because the plug in the car thatI n eeded to hook up to was not working. I found that out when I got in my car to leave for the 5 hour drive. But, the googlemaps I had were just fine up until this point. The nice thing about the GPS is that if you need to take a different exit, it can reroute for you. Physical paper directions don't do that for you.
So, I decided not to panic and just get off at the next exit. Once I got off, I figured I would just get back on the highway and get off on the same exit on the other side. Turns out if you do that, it takes you to the heart of downtown Cincinnati. It was actually pretty cool since I drove by the Duke Energy Convention Center and the Cincinnati Reds' stadium. What wasn't cool was the fact that these areas were completely deserted and it was about 8:45 at night. Fabulous.
So, surprisingly, I actually stayed pretty calm and called my wonderful sister. Courtney was the absolute best and found exactly where I was and got me back to Kentucky. So, shout out to Court for getting me to my hotel safely. AND shout out to Court for finishing first in the women's division with her roommate in the Peanut Race last weekend :)
I do have to work today which was against God's will when he created Sunday's, but I guess since it pays the bills, I can't be too bummed. There is a Bengal's game today, so if I get out of the college fair in time, I might have to wander over to a bar and check out the crowd. Since Virginia doesn't have a professional football team in the area (I refuse to count the Redskins as the hometown team), it might be awesome to be in a city where the majority of the people are pulling for one team. I know I have that living in Chicago, but I haven't been able to go to one of the hundreds of bars in our neighborhood yet to see a game. Last weekend was Lauren's bachelorette and the weekend before was the Patriots game.
I will keep you all updated about my time here in Cincinnati. I am sure I will have some interesting stories after 5 full days of meeting with students. But more importantly, I have a list of things I have to do/try while I am here. Most involve food. So, I will make sure to keep you all in the loop, just in case you ever find yourself in Cincinnati.
Enjoy your Sunday. One final shout out to my dad: I am not sure how he has been able to take the heartache of the Red Sox for 35 years. Court and I experienced their worst choke-job since we have been following them. I was with Matt watching the entire thing that last night of the regular season. I told him that if it wasn't so embarrassing, I would cry. I am not ready to only watch football. And with the NBA headed in the direction of a long lockout, all my hopes for Boston sports teams have to be placed in the Patriots. And they only play once a week. And I have to listen to ESPN talk about every other football team that I couldn't care about any less. And I refuse to watch the playoffs unless I know TB or the Yankees are getting their butts kicked. I will NEVER root for either of those teams to win the World Series. I can't do it. I think I am pulling for the Tigers this year to win it all. I hate the Phillies (sorry, Lauren. I still love you though!) and I couldn't tell you who else is in the post-season for the NL other than the Cardinals.
So, I am pulling for the VA native Justin Verlander. Remember, the Skankees hold the record for the worst choke job in post-season history. So even though the Tigers got spanked last night, I still have faith. Maybe they will half-ass the rest of the series like they did the last regular season game against the Rays...
And Tito...you will be missed by the fans. But, I would LOVE it if you came to Chicago....Cubbies could use a manager like you. Afterall, you brought two World Series titles to a team that couldn't win one in 86 years. Always a Red Sox fan, but still a Tito fan :)
No comments:
Post a Comment