so we had a good day at king's island. the forecast had suddenly changed to rain all day, but we figured, hey, we get wet, we get wet. as it turns out, that was a great decision. although most of the water rides were closed all day, it didn't rain a drop, and the forecast seemed to have kept a lot of people away. we got to walk onto just about every ride without more waiting than for the next car to stop. none of that two hour line stuff. how cool is that ? one of the best amusement park days ever. (what's that about “authenticity“? ;-) )
dinner was at betta's in mt. lookout, always dependable. i had fun all weekend announcing to the waitresses that my guests were from out of town. seems to get more friendliness. hmm - now that i think about it, all it really seemed to take was the presence of an obvious family unit. us single folks don't get anywhere near that kind of nice treatment. but this thought can get filed in that paranoid section.
slow starts and chillin' was the order of the weekend, so we spent the next morning biking, jogging or skate boarding, according to individual interests. i think french toast and softshell crabs for breakfast were thrown in there somewhere. then we went geocaching, at cincinnati observatory center, and the california nature preserve. beautiful day for it. actually, the main goal of the day was to end up at montgomery inn for ribs, you know, do the cincinnati g-astronomical thing (my pun-filled sister-in-law would have loved this last one, if i had thought of it then). sure enough, happy places were found, and not much leftovers found their way home. stopping at graeter's in mariemont on the way back only made it better. more happy places. sometimes this city really hits its stride.
we found out that playing uno by torchlight makes the greens and blues nearly indistinguishable. in case you cared.
after another slow morning, we took the boats out to caesar creek. first time i rigged and launched the capri by myself. went without any major or minor embarassments, very cool. the girls were out on the sunfish, while us guys took the capri for a ride. rednecks in powerboats were out in force, with nary a boating safety course in evidence. since my niece is the one who knows how to sail, her mom played bow-beauty/babe/bimbo all day. the winds were light and squirrelly, so our bratwurst dinner was delayed until we got home. the sunfish found its way onto the top of my brother's van. we got back too late to catch much of the fireworks on tv.
finally, we putzed around monday until lunch, where i introduced them to another cinci thing - skyline. my niece found her dietary happy-place yet again with a three way, so did my nephew with cheese coneys. cheese is always a winner. finshing off at the udf next door for ice cream was next, then they got into their sunfish laden / mountain bike appended van and rode off into the - well, you get the idea.
happy jeep
there, that's it for the summer trips, i think. i'm thinking of taking the capri up to their place at the end of the month (for storage, use, whatever) after working on it and sailing it here, with a stop by sterling state park and lake erie. or maybe i should make one more trip to visit my uncle up in manistee, to get a chance to sail her on lake michigan. then again, it's nice to have some undone fun stuff to look forward to.