Our Ten-Year_Old Adventure Begins

July 7, 2010

Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois

On our way to pick up Andrew in Newcastle, we stopped in Cincinnati for a quick lunch with daughter Megan.  We got there early, so had time for a stop just over the river in Covington, Kentucky, where we enjoyed spectacular views of the Cincinnati skyline and the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1866.  John Roebling went on to design the similar, but longer Brooklyn Bridge, which was completed almost 20 years later.  

We could have spent another hour or so walking along the Covington flood wall, which is painted with at least 30 spectacular larger than life murals tracing the history and cultural heritage of the area.  Statues along the river walk call our attention to people of note connected to the river, such as John Roebling. 

After reading the plaque near a statue of Riverboat Captain Mary B. Greene, I vowed to find out more about this woman born in 1868 who steered her boat through a cyclone, survived a nitroglycerine explosion, gave birth to a son while her boat was in an ice gorge and who ran the Greeneline Steamer Company after her husband’s death in 1927.  As you will see, though, I haven’t had a spare moment to devote to learning more about the intrepid Captain Greene.  

We caught up with Megan at Cincinnati Museum Center, which is looking as Deco delightful as we remember it.  We had lunch at the Frisch’s nearby, another Cincinnati icon, and caught up on all the news.  Then we took Megan back to work and headed to New Castle, Indian to pick up Andrew.  

Here we are in Andrew’s driveway and the start of our big adventure.

And, here is Andrew a few hours later, in the pool at our hotel in Danville, Ill, just over the border in Illinois, enjoying the first of many water features he will sample over the next few days.