513 Day In The Queen City

 Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Crafty Super Market

Today we started the day at the Crafty Supermarket.  This craft fair occurs a couple times a year and is held in the historic Music Hall Ballroom.  The Music Hall is a short walk from us so we headed over just after opening.  Our walk took us through Washington Park which was also holding an art and craft fair.  Donna was looking for yarn and I was looking for a cool local hipster Cincinnati shirt.  We walked the fair and ended up with yarn and new ceramic earrings for Donna.  I didn't like any of the shirts I saw enough to pay money for them.  Donna and I commented that there were all kinds of really cool things that we would have purchased if we had a house or apartment.

Us just outside of the Music Hall

I took this photo for my sister who loves true crime documentaries and does needlepoint art and then I forgot to text it to her.  She will see it here.  I am also noticing that the person that makes this has the same name as my other sister.  

After the craft fair we walked through the fair going on at the park and didn't find anything we needed.  There were some of the same vendors inside and outside.

Walking US 127

Our plan after the fair was to walk to Findlay Market and look at food and see the farmers market that happens on Saturdays.  Our walk took us up US 127 and it was a segment I haven't been on yet so I was able to mark it in my highway tracker, Travel Mapping, when I got home.  I like keeping track of the highways we have been on but I don't like the idea of driving around with no agenda just to pick up highway segments so I try to take different routes each time we drive, mark highways our busses travel on, and when I can, walk segments of the highway to mark them off.  My loose rule is that if I experience any part of the segment of the highway, I count the whole segment.

The gray segment is the part we walked on a bit.  We probably did about 200 yards of the 1.04 mile segment.  Mark it!

Sam Adams Cincy

It turns out that Samuel Adams Brewing Cincinnati was between us and the market so we stopped by.  They had a beer release and their own craft fair going on for 513 Day.  The Cincinnati area code is 513 so they celebrate 513 Day here on May 13th.  It's a day to celebrate everything Cincinnati so we went to a Boston Brewery that opened up a brewery in Cincinnati. 

The taproom is across the street from the larger brewing facility.  They offer tours but you have to pay for them so we weren't down for it today.

This was by far the best non-alcoholic beer we have had.  I would order this again when I want to cut out the alcohol in my beverage.

After Sam Adams we went to the market and didn't find anything we wanted.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at home relaxing with Francis.

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here, Contemporary Art Center of Cincinnati.

Pinball in Texas

 McKinney, TX

Arcade 92 in Downtown McKinney

Downtown McKinney

As many of you know, Donna and I like playing pinball and we like to play pinball in different places and different states.  It's a goal of ours to play pinball in every state.  We have played pinball in 14 states so far and yes, that number seems high to me too.  I had to double check to make sure I was tracking correctly.  Also, I haven't even marked Florida because I am not absolutely sure we did play pinball there.  I am sure I played pinball in places before I started tracking.  Anyway, Arcade 92 is a great place with classic arcade machines, classic consoles hooked up to TVs, as well as current and classic pinball machines.  They are open from 11 to 11 and once you pay your $12 you can come and go as you please.  

We got there just after 11 and brought our niece Erika with us.  She is a big gamer but hasn't really experienced the arcade scene.  We all enjoyed playing pinball and other games.  Erika and I played a very competitive game of Mario Kart on the switch and Donna and I played a competitive game of Mortal Kombat OG.  I didn't find Mortal Kombat like riding a bike.  I forgot all of the moves and had to mostly button mash to get through it.  

They had a handful of pinball machines I hadn't played and even a few Stern machines with the Stern Insider log on.  I am just getting going with the whole Stern Log in but here is my profile if you are curious.

Wednesday's happy hour is $2 off bottled beer 

This was a new machine for me.  I didn't like it that much.

This game gave me flashbacks.  We had this same machine in the Lake Tahoe office while I was helping finish NFL Blitz 2001 for PS1 and N64.

Nice and empty on a Wednesday at 11:45am

After our first pinball session we went to lunch at a little place downtown.  We had breakfast for lunch at Layered.  The food was very good and it was served by a smiling robot.

Our food was carried on the trays in back but a server had to hand them to us.  It's only 2022 you know.

Well, the eyes are smiling

They had a good spirits collection too.

After lunch we swung by a yarn and fabric store so Donna could pick up more yarn to make more Octopi.  They had a great selection and everyone there was very nice.  

Socks are supposed to be comfortable, not tough love...

All the colors and textures!

They had a "robot" winder there.  Who knew McKinney was the land of robots?

After the yarn store we walked back to the car and drove Erika home and then headed home ourselves.  We went to Kroger to get salad ingredients and made a nice cool salad for dinner.  It's still in the 80s after the sun goes down and the front room in our Airbnb still gets pretty hot even with our window coverings up.  

In the early evening I took Francis out for a wee.  We usually just have him find a place in the front yard on the grass because the sidewalk gets hot during the day.  There is a marker on the grass that notes a fire ant mound so we are sure to steer clear of it but apparently today I didn't steer clear enough.  When I was opening the front door I felt stinging on my right ankle and looked down and saw 3 or 4 red ants.  I quickly took off my shoes and socks and kindly asked the ants to leave my feet.  Donna looked up "fire ant sting" and had me run to the shower and wash my ankle with soap and water.  Fire ants don't bite, they sting.  When they sting they spray formic acid on you so washing the area really helps.  I think I only got 5 stings and we tended to them quickly and also put Hydrocortisone on the affected areas.  As a final precaution I took a Benadryl because some people are allergic to the sting.  I was heading back to the arcade for an evening session of pinball and didn't want anaphylactic shock to set in until I got home.  For the rest of the evening I couldn't even really tell the stings were there so it was a cheap lesson and we will be on the lookout for the little critters and protect Francis from them as best we can.

After the great fire ant incident, I headed back to Arcade 92 for more pinball.  I had already paid so why not?  I got there around 7:30 and the place was hopping!  Screaming people everywhere!  They were mostly playing the party games like Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, and 10 player Killer Queen so the pinball machines were pretty much available but it was loud as heck!.  Also either someone was trolling the pinball players or they had no idea what they were doing and it ended up being a troll.  I found many machines with 4 player games abandoned at the start.  It's more of a pain than it sounds because you have to plunge 12 (actually 24 because of ball saves) balls to get the game to end so you can play a normal single player game.  I focused on a few machines and got some really good scores and filled out my Stern profile a bit more.  Pinball is really fun and the Stern Log In makes it even funner (that's a word and it will get into the dictionary if we all start using it).  My friend, The Palm Springs Linguist says so.

Booya! 

Double Booya!

Well that's a lot of words today but a lot happened that isn't shown in photos.  I don't mind if you skip the text and just look at the photos and read the captions.  

If you didn't hear about our double dip into Oklahoma yesterday you can live that experience through text and photos here.

Mother's Day in San Diego County

 San Diego, CA (well actually Spring Valley, CA)

Sunny and Breezy in Spring Valley

The Road More Traveled

Today we hit the road at 8:30.  We were heading down I-5 for a stop in Irvine and then continuing on to Spring Valley which is a handful of miles west of San Diego.  The drive was traffic free so locals were enjoying going a good 20mph above the posted maximum speed limit.  Our first stop was at a park and ride in Irvine for a shady deal in the parking lot.  Donna made sure we weren't followed and met a shadowy figure in a Tesla.  Pleasantries were exchanged, I am pretty sure code words were used, and then the exchange happened.

Donna enjoys knitting these Octopi but we have no need for the end result so they pile up.  Donna's friend and former coworker has 3 small children and they gleefully took ownership of these fantastic creatures. 

After the first mission was accomplished we jumped back on I-5 and punched it.  We had lunch reservations at The Dining Room at 11:15 and wanted to be on time.  Apparently The Dining Room at the Senior Living Center we are visiting has been booked for Mother's Day for quite some time.  

When we hit San Diego County we encountered a unique construction zone.   They had striped the lanes in a way that I had never seen.  It made it abundantly clear that it was a construction zone and made the temporary lanes really stand out against all of the other lines that occur in construction zones that don't actually reflect the current lanes.  People still went through at 85mpg but they were able to see the lane they were supposed to be in.

Look at those well defined lanes!

We arrived with enough time to drop Francis off in Mom and Bill's apartment and to place the Mother's Day Gift we bought at Home Depot on their patio.  We had nice conversation at lunch and then took a walk around the grounds.  We also had a bit of time to help out with a few things that are difficult for them to do.  It was a nice afternoon.

We removed the bag and didn't give them our Amerigas Tank

Francis enjoying the hot deck

Our walk around the property.  If you look about 10 miles to the left you can see the Mexico border

Our drive back featured some of the famous Southern California traffic.  It was a long day in the car but it was really nice to visit Mom and Bill.  Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Want to read about yesterday today?  Click here.

Brunch, The Broad, Books, and a Black Hat

 Los Angeles, CA

Out on the town

Another Grand Adventure in LA Part 1

Today was another grand adventure in LA curated by our friend Doug.  We met at Union Station.  Doug had arranged for another friend of ours to pick us up and take us to The Arts District for coffee.  Chris found parking quickly and we were at our first stop, Eightfold Coffee.  Donna and I had already filled up on coffee at our Airbnb so we passed on what we were sure was a wonderful cup.  Once everyone who wanted coffee had one, we headed to our next stop a short walk away. 

Eightfold Coffee in The Arts District

We walked to the newly opened Bike Shed Moto Company.  As we were looking over the parking lot of motorcycles, I asked Vern who was with us and is an avid motocycler (that's what the cool kids say right?) if he had seen Long Way Round, Long Way Down, and Long Way Up.  He said yes and we talked about it for a bit and then he mentioned that this very parking lot was where Long Way Up finished. Pretty cool!  Also it turns out this is not only a restaurant, but also a Bar, Tattoo Parlor, Clothing Shop, Barber Shop, and it's also a club that you can join along with it's companion club in London.  We had really nice brunch and a drink there.  Photos tell the story better so here they are.

Admiring the bikes in the parking lot

A really striking mural on the wall 

Their logo

The bar was impressive

Motorcycle related art was on all of the walls

And bikes were throughout the building

The Barbershop

My Boomtown Beer

The attached clothing shop

Mr. Broken Bones himself!

After brunching we walked to The Broad Museum.  The museum was featuring an installation that Doug really enjoyed and he wanted to share it with us.  Unfortunate the installation closed a few days earlier.  Fortunately The Broad had a ton of great art on display.   They also have a great online database of all of their art sorted by artist.  You can look up an artist and see what art they own and what pieces are currently "On Display".  It's really fantastic.  I looked up Keith Haring and they have a few pieces but none are on display currently. 

The outside of The Broad looks like a cheese grater (you can see elements of this inside too)

The Entrance

Some of the paintings filled entire walls (like at LACMA)

They have quite a few works by Lichtenstein

I liked this Lichtenstein made to resemble a Mondrian

Doug fits into this Lichtenstein really nicely

I liked this couple in front of this Kruger.  It wasn't a battle but it kind of looks like one

Under The Table is a Giant Table you can walk under.  I think we saw this or one like it at the DeYoung in San Francisco

Everybody loves Michael Jackson and Bubbles.  This piece was larger than I expected it to be in real life.  Almost life size

The Broad has quite a few Warhols

Another Warhol

This 3D piece was really striking

When taking the stairs down, you can see where they store art that isn't on display

More storage

All of the ways to get to the 3rd floor (Stairs, Escalator, and Glass Elevator) are really cool.  Do them all!

We exited through the gift shop and I saw a hat I wanted.  I debated and then Donna's cooler head prevailed and I bought the hat!

It's Black so it will go with everything

After The Broad Donna and I took the bus back to tend to Francis while Doug and Vern pressed on with the adventure.  We were going to meet up again at 5 this evening.

Went to a Bookstore and Bought Yarn

We ended up at our next rendezvous point a little early so Donna, Doug, Vern, and I went to "The Last Bookstore".  Don't worry, that is just the name of the bookstore.  Amazon hasn't entirely killed brick and mortar bookstores, yet.  It's a great bookstore that is incredibly photogenic.

Cool hip totes and t-shirts so you can let people on the streets know you support independent bookstores

Donna quickly lost me looking for the Science Fiction Section

An art installment that has some foreshadowing of what is to come

They made a really cool arch out of books that people were lining up to put on the Insta

Looking down on rows of books

#notdrseuss

We found the Science Fiction section but the imbedded Yarn Store's pull was too great.

Donna's knitting projects are done so she shopped for yarn to start a new one

Yarn Stores are photogenic too

Donna found this yarn and the lady working at the shop wound it for her.

Drinks and Dinner

At 5pm the bar that Doug was taking us to opened.  We made our way from The Last Bookstore to The Wolves Bar.  It's a beautiful space and they make great craft cocktails.  We ordered our drinks and sat and talked.  Julie joined us in time for a cocktail before we had to head over to our dinner reservation.

The entrance alluded to the coolness that was inside

The Glass Ceiling is really cool

Taking photos from the 2nd floor balcony

I could just reach out far enough to get a top down of Donna

Donna's Millions of Peaches

Me waiting for my drink

Our hard working bartender at work

The silhouette of patrons on the 2nd floor balcony

We wrapped up the evening at Brera Ristorante.  I didn't really take any photos of the food or the space but it was great.  I guess I just got lost in good conversation and good food.  We had a great day with friends exploring this cool city.  I can close with random photos I took during the day.

I need to check and see why CA 110 and turns into an Interstate at some point.

Union Station

Watered down graffiti

The water shortage is real

Street Art

The colors on this building are really cool

The New Sixth St. Viaduct Bridge is going up

More street art

Landscaping out front of the Broad

The escalator at The Broad

I don't know how they deliver mail to this box, it's like 10 feet tall!

Yesterday we went to Claremont.  Read about it here.