Coming Home

We were up and out of the Sioux City Super 8 early since we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We had planned longer days of driving on Wednesday and Friday so we could take time at Mt. Rushmore and especially at Badlands National Park. Nothing in Iowa, Illinois or Indiana particularly interested us on this trip, so we planned to put a lot of miles under our wheels today. After being away for two weeks, we were looking forward to being home and sleeping in our own bed.

We took US Rt. 20 for 200 miles to Waterloo, Iowa. Rt. 20 was really more like an Interstate highway so we made good time. We took I-380 from Waterloo to Iowa City. It had been over 20 years since I was in Iowa City. I did some test development contract work for ACT while teaching at Cabell Midland High School, and we met at their headquarters near Iowa City. They took me to some interesting nearby attractions including the Amana Colony, Herbert Hoover’s birthplace and other local attractions. We made a note to return here some day but kept moving today. At Iowa City we took I-80 a short distance to Davenport where to got on I-74, which took us through Peoria, Bloomington, Champaign and into Indianapolis. We hit major construction in Indy that really slowed us down. Most of the construction was in the southwest corner of I-465 so we considered taking I-70 from Indianapolis to west Louisville then backtracking east to Georgetown. However, traffic appeared to be bad toward Louisville as well, so we stayed the course and made our way to I-74 which brought us to Cincinnati. We caught I-275 to Erlanger, KY where we got on our familiar I-75.

We were home a little after 10 pm, unpacked a few of our things, then went to bed. We planned to leave around 9:30 on Saturday morning to meet the Koehlers at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati 2017

Because Sarah had a conference in Columbus and Greg was visiting friends in Colorado, we were able to spend a day with Peter in Cincinnati.  We were fortunate that it was also Oktoberfest weekend.  We never miss Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.

We ate a quick dinner at home then drove to the Finnell Pike property to spend the night.  We inflated our air mattresses and turned in.  Since we needed to be in Cincinnati by 7:30 am, we woke early.  I was surprised to learn that I hadn’t secured the valve on my air mattress and I had been sleeping on a flat mattress with no air.

We made a quick stop at McDonalds for a biscuit breakfast and arrived to see Peter a little after 7 and Mary drove Sarah to where she was to meet her car pool by 7:30.  Peter & I stayed home and romped.  We rough-housed most of the morning then left for Oktoberfest a little before 11 where we met up with Emily & Ian.

Ian & I had beers from the Weihenstephaner tent.  Ian had a Fest Bier which is the Oktoberfest special and I had a Kristallweißbier, the light wheat beer.  We both enjoyed our selections.  As we walked we had schnitzel sandwiches, goetta balls, Kartoffelpuffer and reuben sandwiches.  We never remember that our favorite booth for most food items is Izzy’s.  Their reuben sandwiches and Kartoffelpuffer are outstanding.  By early afternoon the crowd was larger and the music was pretty loud so we thought it may be best to leave with Peter.  He had been really good but we didn’t want to over stay his patience so we left for the playground on Ridge Avenue near Peter’s home.

He played on the ladders and slides for quite a while.  There were several children there but it wasn’t crowded.  He is a daring little guy and has no fear of climbing and sliding.

We god back to the house around 2 pm got Peter down for a nap by 2:30.  He slept for over two hours, almost until Sarah got home at 5.  Since Sarah and Peter were leaving for St. Louis by way of Indianapolis we didn’t stay so they could get on the road.

We stopped at Babe’s Barbecue in Scott County although neither of us was very hungry.  We split a cup of brisket and had a small cup of baked beans then went to Finnell Pike to sleep.

Since I secured the air valve better my air mattress held up well on Saturday night and we awoke at 5 am feeling rested and ready for a day of work.  We started working at the lagoon before 9 am clearing more brush.  I cut most of the willow trees that had overgrown the perimeter of the lagoon and Mary piled them up along the ditch for burning at a later time.  The hardest part was sawing the stumps off near ground level since the weather had heated up to near 90 degrees.  We stopped working around 3 pm when Emily stopped by for a visit.  We got our showers, made a quick stop by the Post Office and came back to Milton to get ready for the week ahead.

Zinzinnati Oktoberfest 2014

We always look forward to the third weekend in September because that means that we go to Oktoberfest in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Zinzinnati Oktoberfest is the world’s second largest with only Munich’s being larger.  Oktoberfest started in Munich in 1810 as a wedding celebration for the popular Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese.  Although starting in September, the original two week long party lasted into October 1810.  Even today’s Oktoberfest celebrations begin 16 days prior to the first Sunday in October.

Cincinnati’s Oktoberfest is only one weekend but is no less festive.  There are tons of bands from Germany, the US and other countries.  Dancers, street performers and other acts line five blocks of East Fifth Street as well as out Vine, Walnut, Main, Sycamore and Broadway.  The streets are closed to all but foot traffic.

We met our friends, Rex and Natalie Dillinger, at 9 am to drive down the AA Highway to Cincinnati.  Since we were planning to drive on to Indianapolis, we needed to take a separate car from Dillingers.  We took a break from the three hour drive in Cold Spring, Kentucky at a Gold Star Chili which we all enjoyed.  When traveling to Cincinnati, a bowl of Cincinnati Chili can really hit the spot.  We continued on to the Cincinnati Museum Center to see the Cincinnati Under the Sea exhibit.  Although not a large exhibit, the informative displays illustrated what the area of current Cincinnati was like during the late Ordovician Period (450 Million Years Ago).  

We moved to the Cincinnati History Museum where we saw a model of the city as it looks in the early 1900s through the 1940s.  A large display showed the role of Cincinnati in World War II.  In the replica of the Cincinnati waterfront there was a full sized replica of a riverboat of the late 1800s and many historical interpreters to explain the significance of the items.  We finished up at an exhibit of black and white photographs of the Cincinnati area.  We all enjoyed our visit to the museum especially considering that we had seen only about one third of the exhibit area.

At three o’clock we drove to the Over the Rhine area and, on Greg’s recommendation, we found parking easily at the Gateway Parking Garage.  Although this parking area was further from Oktoberfest than other parking areas we have used, it was very easy to get in and out.  As we were parking we saw J. K., Deanna, Ian and Emily outside the parking garage.  It was great to see them there.  We walked several blocks over to Fifth Street and we were very surprised at the size of the crowd.  In other years we typically came earlier in the day and had much smaller crowds but at 3:30 the streets were packed.  Lines for beer and food were very long.  There were bands on the stage at Fountain Square as well as sponsored tents on each of the streets intersecting Fifth.  Lots of guests were in lederhosen, dirndl, and chicken hats.  There were living statues and even a “naked cowboy” on the street.  We ate goetta balls, goetta reubens, sauerkraut balls, potato pancakes from Izzy’s, Kaiser Schloss, Mecklenburg Gardens, Laslo’s Iron Skillet and other street vendors.
Of course we took part in the "world's largest chicken dance" led by Drew and Nick Lachey (formerly of the band, 98 Degrees) with just under 50,000 people participating.

I was pleased to meet up with my former student Andy Adkins.  Andy was a classmate of Sarah’s and was a star member of our school’s Quiz Bowl team.  It was great seeing Andy and we hope to meet up with him again soon since he is living in Cincinnati. He told me that his brother, Tim, had lived in Cincinnati but is now living in Arizona.

At five o’clock, Greg was part of the Young Professional’s Choral Collective that performed several German songs on the main stage at Fountain Square.  We enjoyed the performance and our visit with Greg afterward.  We left Oktoberfest and said our goodbyes to everyone and drove west to Indianapolis where we had reserved a room at the Sleep Inn near the convention Center.

We were very impressed with the Sleep Inn here.  The lobby borders on luxurious and our room has a king sized bed, microwave, refrigerator and tasteful décor.  With our AAA discount, this motel is quite a find.  We watched a little of Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts on PBS then turned in for the night.

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Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

We had a great time at the 2013 Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.  Of course, we always enjoy our visits to Cincinnati, especially at festivals like Oktoberfest. 

We picked up our friend, Rex Dillinger at 8 am and made the drive down the AA Highway to Cold Spring, Kentucky where we met up with Emily and Ian and made the short trip over to downtown Cincinnati. Since the Bengals were playing Green Bay at home, parking was more difficult than usual but we were able to find a spot on a lot fairly quickly.

We walked along the closed Fifth Street from Vine past Broadway and sampled the food and drinks from the many vendors from the Cincinnati area and around the world.  We all love goetta balls and the potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) but we also had goetta reuben, sausages, sauerkraut balls and strudel.

As every year, there were many music venues with bands from the Cincinnati area and even from Germany.  We spent time to sit and listen to most of the bands and to enjoy the variety of German music. 

We took off around 3 pm and made a stop at the Party Source in Newport, Kentucky on the way home.  We got back before 7 pm.  We are already looking forward to the 2014 Oktoberfest.

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