Zinzinnati

Hey everyone. We've been in Cinci for about 2 weeks now. It's been good times so far. We've went to the Newport Aquarium in Kentucky and we've seen a few bluegrass shoes at different venues. We also had some friends come down last weekend to see Umphrey's McGee play at the Taft, which is within walking distance of our place. Went up to Miami University to collect the campus and give a presentation to the geographyds, which was nice. It was crazy seeing all of the changes that have been made to the campus and also good to see some of the geography professors. After our presentation, I was able to show Emily what Jungle Jim's was all about. It's a huge grocery store with a large International Section, and even better, the best beer and wine department you will ever see! She thoroughly enjoyed that trip! Last weekend, we also went to a farm up in Blue Ash that has a sculpture installation. There were different local artists who installed various sculptures on this private farm. There were definitely more sculptures than I was expecting and it was a beautiful day for the adventure. Lastly, the Browns beat the Bengals last Sunday, which was awesome. I was at BW3's with a bunch of Cincinnati Bengals fans (aka Miami buddies from Cinci), so it was nice to pull out the win. I've found out I'm going to St. Louis for the month of October and then to Kansas City for November. The Browns are playing at St. Louis on October 28, so if anyone wants to make their way over, I'll be there! I'm excited to be heading Out West. I'll also be home for Thanksgiving - can't miss that Wednesday before Thanksgiving bar night! This weekend is the downtown Oktoberfest Zinzinnati. That's what it's called. So, we'll probably make our way down to Fountain Square for a bit. Tonight, we're planning on going to the Art Museum and to dinner in Mt. Adams. Alright, well we're about to leave for the day. Hope everyone is doing well! Also, I've posted some pics on the last few posts that were pic-less, so check them out!

Five States in One Week

Camping in Indiana - lots of playground time!
















Niagara Falls

We left Cleveland and headed back to Pittsburgh to re-collect a few streets and go to court. We got to Pittsburgh a few Thursday's ago and court was on Monday, August 27. We stayed at a hotel in the Southside, which is a street with about 20 blocks of bars and restaurants. It's a more eccentric area of the city. It was pretty fun being able to hang out in Pittsburgh again, especially on the Southside, but we were definitely ready to get out of there. So, we decided to head up to Buffalo, NY to see Team 5. We trained with them in Portland and then drove across the country to Austin with them. This is the closest we've been to them, so we decided to go up for a visit. We hung out in Buffalo for a night and then drove up to Niagara Falls for a bit before heading back to Pittsburgh. It was really great to see Niagara Falls again because I hadn't been since 6th grade. We only went to the American side, but it was still cool, especially since Emily had never been there. It was also really fun out in Buffalo because all of the bars there are open til 4am! We then went back to Pittsburgh and had a nice night of lounging. Court was the next day and we won and got the money on the spot, which was awesome. We were then ready to head to Toledo where we stayed with my good friend, Meredith's, sister, Missy. She has the cutest house about 15 minutes away from downtown. She also has DVR and a dog, so both of those things have been nice. We've spent lots of time at the local bar called Doc Watson's. They have $2 beer specials that change monthly, so we got to experience Molson Canadian in August and Warsteiner in September. We also went to the Toledo Art Museum and Glass Pavilion, which both were great. The art museum was huge and cased a lot of different time periods and styles. The Glass Pavilion contained 7 galleries and a lot of local glass work from Toledo, which is knows as the Glass City because much glass was produced here starting in the late 1800's though today. For Labor Day weekend, we went camping near Wolcotville, Indiana. We camped at a 75-acre campground called Gordon's. It was very family oriented, which was cool because there were a LOT of playground type places to play. Swings, teeter-totters, slides, etc. There was also a pool, but we decided not to frequent that. There really wasn't a lake or anything nearby so we drove about 30 minutes north to Pokagon Lake State Park which did have a lake, so we rented a paddle boat and swam out in the middle of the lake. We then went on a hike after we were able to break into Emily's friends car because we accidentally locked the keys in the trunk! We also went to the Nature Center where we were able to learn about all of the critters running around in the park. We went back to our spot at Gordon's and proceeded to play Bingo and get extremely drunk! It all started when we decided to make Bingo a drinking game - easy to play - if you don't have what they call, you drink! We then went to sing and dance to Karaoke, which is what Gordon's really tries to advertise. We didn't get to sing though because it's so very popular. Then, I was able to find a party (which is something we were looking for all weekend) and drank more and played beer pong. Good times! Oh, and the fifth state we visited was Michigan - they don't sell beer on Sunday's in Indiana, so it was a good thing we were only 30 minutes from Michigan. We also bought sweet bi-colored corn there. Alright, so now we're back in Toledo and we are leaving tomorrow (which is Thursday, September 6). We're heading down to the Nati (Cincinnati) where we are staying in a really nice apartment with a rooftop terrace right downtown. We should be there for a couple weeks and it should be fun! So, if you're able to come on down, let me know. Umphrey's McGee is playing next weekend (September 15) and Oktoberfest is the weekend after that (September 22-23). Should be good times! Oh, and sorry for the lack of photos, hopefully I'll get it together in Cinci.

Goodbye, Cleveland

We finished up Cleveland this past Wednesday. We had our biggest collect day yet - 299 miles. It was great being home in the summer and seeing friends and family. There were also some festivals I attended while home. The Burning River Fest is held on an annual basis at Wendy Park which is on Whiskey Island. There is a great view of the city from the park and it's also on the Cuyahoga River. The fest is held to raise environmental awareness of the river and lake and is named so from the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969. There was live music, local food, and other various vendors. The next day, I was able to go to the Midwest Reggae Fest, which was held at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park. I hadn't been to the ledges since high school, but it was everything I'd remembered. The Quarry is absolutely gorgeous. The water is extremely clean and very deep. You can basically dive in from almost any spot along the Quarry edges because it gets so deep so fast. There's also a spot about 30 feet up that you can jump off of into the Quarry. Lots of fun to be had there! And, I can't forget about the MelonHead Gainer. I was also able to go to the first Browns pre-season game against the Chiefs. We won, so let's hope it's an indication of the rest of the season. Emily and I were also able to take the Mega-Bus to Chicago for a weekend. I was able to visit my very good friend, Meredith and Emily was able to visit some of her friends as well. I also got to see some of my neighbors from college, so that was fun. We had drinks on top of the Hancock Building and the view is absolutely amazing. The drinks may be expensive, but it's worth it for the view. It was actually really strange - it was raining down below, so we thought the view wouldn't be that great, but it was spectacular. You couldn't even tell it was raining from the 95th floor. So, basically, it's a great thing to do - rain or shine! I got to have one last night out with my girlies before we left for Pittsburgh (yes, we're back in Pittsburgh). We went to a Vietnamese restaurant on the corner of 31st and Superior called #1 Pho. It was delicious - huge portions, good beer, and good service for a reasonable price. Definitely recommended! So, we're back in Pittsburgh for just a few days. We're staying at a hotel in the South Side, which is a really cool area. It's basically 20 blocks of bars, restaurants, and odd shops. We went out last night for sushi and drinks on East Carson Street, which is the main strip of the South Side area. Tonight, we think we're going to hit up the Strip District which is an open-air market by day and a bar/club scene by night. So, we're here because we had to recollect 12 scenes from our previous collect here and then we go to court Monday to sue that lady who won't give us our money back. So, we are looking forward to a victory followed by Pamela's Pancakes. Then we're off to Toledo - we think we'll be there for about 2 weeks and then Cincinnati - we'll probably be there for about a month. So, I'm thinking Toledo for the end of August, beginning of September and Cincinnati for the end of September through mid-October - just in time for Oktoberfest! So, if anyone will be in those areas during those times, let me know! Cheers!

C-Town

Hi All! I've been in Cleveland for two weeks now. Things are going well. We've had a couple of rain days since we've been here (today included). We're hoping to be done by August 17 with Cleveland, but it's all depending on the rain right now. I've seen a lot of music since I've been here, starting with Xavier Rudd at the House of Blues - he is just amazing! I also went to the Tri-C jazz fest to hear some Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood. The Jazz fest was located on what's called The Mall downtown. It's right by Lakeside Ave. in between Ontario and East 6th. It was a great location for a concert and I really hope the city decides to play more music there. Last weekend I went to Matisyahu and 311 at Tower City Amphitheater (I will not call it Time Warner) and it was great. I've really wanted to see Matisyahu for a while, so I'm glad I was able to. Then, Emily and I went to Blonde Redhead at the House of Blues - they're a band she likes, but were also really good. We also went to see Hurricane on the Bayou at the Omnimax Theater at the Science Center and the Rockefeller Gardens in University Circle. Omnimax movies make you feel like you're actually in the movie and the footage was just amazing, so it was a good time. I didn't even know the Rockefeller Gardens existed - it's a small outdoor garden and indoor garden, but it's free and it was kept up really well. Other than that, I've just been hanging out with the fine folk up here in Cleveland. It's really nice to know people in the city we're working in. It's also really strange to see Cleveland how I'm currently seeing it. My outlook of the city were always definitely swayed living out in B-town. There's so much of this city that I have never seen and is quite sad. Almost the entire East Side of Cleveland is boarded up. You can see there things used to flourish, but everything moved out to the suburbs since the 1960's and 1970's. On the positive side of things, there is construction EVERYWHERE, so it looks like a lot of efforts are being put forth to turn this city back around. Pictures to come soon - everyone have a good week!

Phipps & Floyd

Hi All - I'm already a day late in posting every Sunday, but I'm really close (today is Monday). Anyways, we are leaving Pittsburgh today. We're going to take one last yoga class at this place called Amazing Yoga. They do Baptiste yoga and it's pretty intense, but really good. Then probably have one more breakfast at Pamela's Pancakes. They have amazing hashbrowns and pancakes. Then we're headed to our new place in C-town, which is on Lake Ave. and West 104th Ave. We're excited because it has a pool, jacuzzi, fitness room, and elevator. We have this really heavy bag of equipment that we've been hauling up and down three flights of stairs everyday in Pittsburgh, so this will be nice.
We've been working really hard the past 2 days trying to finish up Pitt. We took Friday off to do some last-minute touristy things here before we left. We first went to Phipps Conservatory to see the botanical gardens. The gardens were amazing on their own, but there was a special exhibit by Dale Chihuly, who is masterful in the creation of glass art. He's done glass work in the Bellagio in Vegas and also in the Atlantis casino's in the Bahamas. It was really quite amazing. The glass pieces were huge - some were hanging from the ceiling and some were installed into the gardens. All of the pieces added so much to the garden experience and he did a wonderful job making each piece really bring out the other elements in each garden. If you ever plan on coming to Pittsburgh between now and November, you must see this exhibit. I think I took over 100 pictures, but I won't post them all!
After our amazing Chihuly (by the way, he's my new hero!) experience, we went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, which is about an hour and a half away from Pittsburgh. He too used very organic methods in building Fallingwater. It's built around this waterfall but he incorporates parts of the landscape into the house. There's this huge boulder that most architects would have eliminated from the landscape before building, but he decided to make it a part of the house. So, you can see the boulder from outside of the house on one of the many terraces, and then it's used as a bench in the kitchen and as a fireplace in the living room. It was really great, except for the tour guide. We think she had a hangover or something because she didn't really explain much. But I did find out the house used to be occupied by the Kaufmann family, who owned the Kaufmann's Department Stores, but I think those have been bought out by Macy's.
Here are some pics of the glass gardens - I will get some up of Fallingwater soon as I haven't downloaded them to the computer yet and everything is packed away for our move to Cleveland. Come visit me in Lakewood! Oh, and we're trying to put together a Put-In-Bay trip for a weekend in August. We'll be camping, so let me know if one of the earlier weekends in August work for you and if you'd be interested.

For you mom...

Hello again - here are some pics from Team 2 (Maureen and Jacqui) from Disney, Jacksonville, and DC. I thought I'd post them to keep you occupied. Enjoy!

Eeyore trying to eat me at a Cast Brunch at Disney.















Inside a phone booth at Epcot.
















Outside the Phone Booth at Epcot.





















PB&J before Rafting in West Virginia - thanks, Emily!
















Dinner at the Argonaut on H Street in DC















Dinner on Team 2's rooftop terrace!

Home for Weddings

Hi All! I've been kind of bad about posting on the blog, so I've decided to post once a week - probably on Sunday's from now on. So, I went home for a little over a week for two of my very good friend's weddings. Both of them were very nice and tons of fun. I don't have any pictures though because I relied on my friends and am waiting for them to send them to me - thanks, Pam and everyone else who sends pics! I also got to spend a lot of time outdoors while I was home. We went to Vermilion on Lake Erie for two days with Dev's family, which was great. Lots of beach time! Katie O. and I also went water skiing with my dad at Fairport Harbor. Katie is a much better skier than I am though. Hopefully I'll get better when I'm home next month. There was also lots of quality pool time spent at Allison's, which was wonderful. It was great to see everyone and I can't wait til we can all get together again! So, I'm back in Pittsburgh now. Emily and I worked for two days, but it rained today so we're hanging out in a coffee shop. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but I really hope it doesn't. We'd really like to leave here Sunday and we have two more days of collecting and one more day of fun left. After we're done here, we'll be heading up to Cleveland until mid-August. Ok, it just stopped raining, so we're go try and collect. We're looking for places to live in C-town right now, so if anyone knows of any furnished apartments near downtown or downtown let me know. Right now, we have a pretty good lead on a place on the lake on Lake Ave. on the Cleveland/Lakewood border. So, look for another update with pics this Sunday. Take care!