Well, I can officially mark Cincinnati off my list of cities to visit.  Nice little town that sits right next door to the Kentucky border.  It’s a little like living in Kansas but being six feet from Missouri.

Clearly, I was a little out of my element tonight traipsing around downtown Cincinnati.  Everyone was wearing orange.  I thought to myself, “Wow, this city is SO ready for Halloween.”  Turns out the Bengals were playing … oops, my bad.

My exposure to Cincy (as the locals call it) was previously quite limited.  Sure, I watched “WKRP in Cincinnati” growing up.  And I found out today that a majority of “Rainman” was shot in/around Cincinnati.  It has more of an east coast feel than I expected and yet with Kentucky in its backyard, it might as well be the Deep South, all y’all.  (Heck, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Museum is based here.   Slaves found freedom here in the mid to late 1800’s because slavery was outlawed in Ohio, but allowed in Kentucky.)

On my tour around downtown, I got a bit of a history lesson from my friend Jerry Broach.   I wasn’t really paying much attention to what Jerry was saying unfortunately because I was dreading driving over bridges.  Being a river town, the city is connected by an endless, intertwining array of bridges.  Good thing I wasn’t driving, as I would have lost my ever-loving mind.  Guess I’ve seen too many scary movies where bridges collapse and cars go careening in to the water.

From a Foodie perspective, Cincy is the chili capitol of the world.  It has more chili restaurants per capita than any city in the world.  Who knew?  There are a lot of German and Bavarian influences throughout the city too.  Plenty of schnitzel and pastries.

It was a great town to visit for a few days.  Big thanks to Jerry for showing me a good time and not letting me hole up in my hotel.  And if I don’t drive over another bridge ever again it won’t be too soon.