Cincinnati 2012

Our vacation to Michigan last year was clouded by the fact that our neighborhood had just been hit by a tornado , and we left before our power ever came back on.  Because our minds were elsewhere, we didn’t enjoy the vacation as much as we could/should have.  This year was much different!

I was determined to make this a good vacation for our family!  After discussing our choices, we decided to head to the Cincinnati area this summer.  It is close enough to be “close”, but far enough away to be a “vacation” versus a “staycation”.  To top it off, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge north of Cincinnati.  Great Wolf is a resort that includes restaurants, children’s activities, an arcade, and most importantly…..their own indoor waterpark.  The waterpark includes a children’s area, lazy river, wave pool, interactive family area, a water coaster, and several waterslides.  We had a wonderful time there, and we spent our entire third vacation day at the resort exclusively.  From our balcony, we could also see part of King’s Island, so I spent every night watching the rides.

While in the Cincinnati area, we also we able to see some great attractions.  Our first day we visited Entertrainment Junction, which advertises as the largest indoor train display.  It was huge!  There was a children’s play area, an opportunity to ride Thomas the Train, and a funhouse.  For our train fan, Amelia, it was great!  She had a wonderful time!  Taylor really enjoyed the funhouse which included a curtain maze, mirror maze, and clown college, to name just a few.

Our second day, we visited the Cincinnati Museum Center, which is located in the Union Terminal building.  The building is architecturally amazing!  The center itself houses many museums; we visited the children’s museum and the natural history museum.  Taylor was not overly excited to be there, but museums never hurt anyone – lol!  We also visited Chateau Laroche, a castle.  A man spent his entire life building this castle by hand.  He passed away in the early 1980s and now many boy scout troops spent retreats there, but it is also open to the public.  I found out once we got back that my brother-in-law had stayed there with a boy scount troop.  It is off the beaten path but very interesting to see.

Our fourth and last day we actually went into Kentucky – Newport, Kentucky to be exact.  We took the girls to the Newport Aquarium, which is the largest in the Midwest.  We got to pet crabs and sharks and see many animals up close.  There were several opportunities to walk through the tunnels and be surrounded by animal life.  It was beautiful, and I’m so glad we went.

All in all, it was a great vacation.  We had plenty of down time to relax, but we also got to visit some great places that we will remember.  I always think of family vacations as wonderful bonding times.  You all are sharing the same experiences that you can talk about forever.  And sometimes fun things happen that you will never forget – such as hanging a U-turn in the middle of the Taylor-Southgate Bridge.