Kentucky Trip #2: Family Gathering

April 18-20: Travel Adventure, Celebration of Life, Cincinnati Discovery

Mr. E and I headed back to the Midwest for a family gathering to celebrate and remember my cousin's husband, who died in September. When we arrived at SMF on Thursday morning, we were surprised and puzzled to see such a long line at the Terminal, extending throughout the lobby and all the way to the sidewalk outside. We quickly learned that the AT&T network wasn't working, which meant that Southwest had to process everything manually, including checking bags and issuing boarding passes (who knew they even still had carbon copy forms available??!!). Luckily, we had checked in online the day before,already had our passes, and didn't need to drop off bags, so we could just go right to our gate. Unfortunately, this technical glitch impacted flight schedules, and our departure was delayed nearly 2 hours, meaning that we missed our connection in Denver.

Unfortunately, there were no Southwest options later that day or even the next morning that would get us to our destination (Cincinnati) in time for the 11am celebration of life service on Friday. Instead, we purchased one-way tickets on United for an evening direct flight, which just happened to be the same flight that my cousin was on! We spent our unexpected layover enjoying the United Club, thanks to Mr. E's annual membership, and finally arrived at CDG a bit after 11pm. By this time, the rental car center wasn't open, so we grabbed a Lyft to our hotel, TownePlace Suites Cincinnati Downtown (Mr. E had already cancelled our Avis reservation because we knew the timing was going to be an issue). I quickly unpacked and went to bed, since it was past midnight, and Mr. E picked up some food and wine at the hotel lobby market to tide him over.

We had to be ready for the hotel buffet breakfast by 9am on Friday morning. Mr. E then went to fetch coffee at a nearby Starbucks but had a frustrating experience with a "lost" mobile order. By the time he got our beverages and came back to the hotel, we had to leave to pick up our newly-reserved rental car, which luckily was within walking distance at a downtown location just about half a mile from the hotel. We were both surprised by the wonderful historic buildings and multiple murals that we observed during our walk, as we hadn't done any research about Cincinnati prior to the trip, since the main focus of the journey was the family gathering.

The rental car pick-up was easy and quick, and we arrived at the funeral home in plenty of time for the pre-service visitation hours, giving us time to chat with some of my family and others attending the gathering. A buffet lunch followed the lovely service, and we also spent time perusing the personal items that my cousin had brought to display in the funeral home to showcase her husband's passion for and expertise related to custom saddle repair and restoration, his second career after starting out his work life in the corporate world at Avon.

Mr. E and I took advantage of the lovely sunny weather to explore more of downtown Cincinnati in the afternoon, riding the free streetcar around the 3.5 mile loop to get a sense of the area and making a stop at Findlay Market to check out the seasonal offerings (I had some yummy sorbetto) and local purveyors. We particularly liked the window signage in one of the shops across the street.

We continued our streetcar loop to the stop closest to the Taft Museum of Art, which was our primary destination for the afternoon. Thanks to our Crocker Museum reciprocal privileges, we didn't need to pay an entry fee. I love this type of museum, housed in a historic home and composed of a family's private collection that they bequeathed to the city. We really enjoyed exploring the special exhibits and admiring the design of the historic building.

One of the primary exhibits was focused on African Modernism, and we spent most of our time in this gallery, which provided a diverse ranges of works and curatorial information about the artists and movements represented.

Across the street from the Museum were a boutique hotel and city park with views back towards the downtown panorama, including the ballpark.

In the evening, we joined other family at my cousin S's home for a light dinner and more visiting time. Mr. E and I took our leave around 8pm, and I settled into our hotel room for yoga and relaxing while Mr. E headed across the street for some Blanton's and a burger.

The weekend breakfast buffet was available until 10am, so we had a little more time on Saturday morning to get up and get going. We decided to try a different Starbucks for coffee and once again were impressed by the historic buildings and public art.

We learned that our hotel had previously been a bank, which made a lot of sense since we had seen what looked like an old vault door in the lower level near the pool. And I discovered that one set of stairs was clearly the original internal staircase of the building -- so fun to find these little unexpected gems when traveling, especially when staying at a mainstream hotel brand!

My final cool discovery happened as we were packing up to leave, when I realized that the artwork hanging over the couch was a collage made of slices of the various murals around downtown, several of which we had seen during our urban wanderings.

Our return trip to Sac was relatively uneventful, with just a short delay. Coming home on a Saturday evening was such an unusual and welcome schedule, since we then had all day Sunday to enjoy the rest of the weekend at home with the kitties.

I definitely want to return to explore more of Cincinnati. Hoping for perhaps an architectural tour and definitely a riverboat excursion!