Trip to Cincinnati

An account of our trip to Cincinnati . This is my hubby's account of our trip. My hubby's cousin lives in Cincinnati. I'm still exploring how to add photos for these blogs. I will upload them soon.

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My maternal aunt and uncle have been visiting US. They joined my cousin in Cincinnati. This is their fourth visit to US. Every time they visit US, it is customary for me to visit them. More over Cincinnati is just 4 hours away from Detroit. R’Cho needed a family outing. It had been a month after our trip to Mackinaw Island. So we decided to go to Cincinnati in the last weekend of June.

We started on Friday. We left Farmington around 7 pm. It took us 4 and half hours to reach Cincinnati. We reached my cousin’s home by 11.30 pm. All of them were awake and waiting for us.

On Saturday morning, aunty suggested that we go around the town and look for garage sale. We woke up late. Aunty had prepared huli avalakki for breakfast. By the time we got ready it was 10.30 am. We set out on garage sale in the downtown area. My Cousin had printed out about 130 locations where garage sale was going on. The first few were unimpressive. Most of the stuff was sold out by the time we went to see.

In one of the sales, R’Cho picked up a couple of books. The garage sale bug had bitten her. I was looking for ceramic items. I found none during the course of the day. We visited more than 25 garage sales. Aunty picked up a doll and baby clothes. In one of the garage sale, R’Cho and I played with a pair of golden retriever. They liked us so much that they wouldn't let us go. We returned home for lunch.

The lunch was delicious. Aunty didn't disappoint us. There was vangi bath, huralikai saru and huli. We ate sumptuously. After lunch we went for a walk. I wanted to check out the old ceramic shop which I had visited on previous occasions. The shop was shut. In its place a yoga center had opened. We walked down the Market Street doing window shopping. There was no agenda in Cincinnati. There are not many places we could visit in Cinci. My cousin gave us the option of either going to a movie or to the river side. We opted for the latter.

We went to see River Ohio at two places - one was overlooking the river from a hilltop; second one was on the shores of Ohio River in Kentucky. The hilltop view was excellent. The weather was nice. It was cloudy and warm. We took a stroll in the park adjacent to the hilltop view. Uncle bought us ice cream. From hilltop we went to shores on the other side of the border. The walk way was uneven along the shores with few benches to sit. One could see downtown Cinci on the opposite banks. All of us relaxed on the bench before heading back home. For dinner we had masala dosa. My cousin prepared it. After dinner R’Cho , aunty and I played chouka bara. We were playing the game after a long time. It was interesting and had great fun.

I helped my cousin to set up with her computer. I set her up with scanner, web cam and speakers and the printer.After breakfast, we went to Office Depot to get the cable and cartridge. The cartridge and cable cost more than $80. Instead of buying these items, my cousin opted for going to a new printer. I explained to uncle the concept of capitalist society. Here it is easier to buy a new and better product than buy spare parts for old ones. Most electronic stuff wouldn't have a shelf life of more than 2 years. Here we dispose things off before the first sign of trouble. That is American way of life. Back at home, Uncle showed me his nail cutter which he has had for the last 70 years!!!. That nail cutter was made in US! He was saying that it is an antique since it is so old !

After a sumptuous lunch, R’Cho and I played kaimale kashi and chouka bara. Kaimale kashi was a cake walk. Aunty helped R’Cho win chouka bara game. It was almost 3 pm. We left Cinci by 4 pm. We asked aunty and uncle and my cousin to come over and stay with us. They didn't give any firm commitment.

It took us 4 hrs to drive back with 2 breaks in between. There were lots of mamas(cops) on the highway. Despite this, we reached home by 8 pm. This was the first family outing for R’Cho in the US. She enjoyed the company of Aunty and her stories.