Newport, Kentucky- Sunday, July 3, 2011

After a leisurely few days staying in more or less the same place in Columbus, the cities are going to start coming fast and furious, at the rate of one a day until we get to New Orleans. Lots to see!

Our first stop was two hours from Columbus, in Newport, Kentucky. Julie woke everyone up this morning with great enthusiasm, and we headed south. Just after we passed through Cincinnati and crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky, we found ourselves in Newport. We knew what to expect here, because it’s our third time stopping here. We stopped once when we were driving to Florida before, and once when we went to Nashville. It was very hot today, but there were lots of people around, since it’s a holiday weekend.

Julie’s favorite aquarium is here, and was our first stop in town. What may stand out most about this about this aquarium are the many tunnels it has that cut through the enormous tanks. When you are passing through the tunnel, you are surrounded by the fish, and they are swimming by and over you. While there are several of these tunnels, the largest and most impressive puts you in a tank filled with sharks, rays, and other large fish. There were also two divers in there this time. We’ve seen these kinds of tunnels in other places now, but we saw them here first. Even though the original newness of the tunnels has worn off, they are still quite wonderful to experience.

You can see that the aquarium’s philosophy is one that tries to create an immersive (that’s their own word) and multi-sensory experience. The girls enjoyed the usual touch tank for horseshoe crabs and starfish, but Julie and Anna were even more fascinated by the shark touch tank. We all went in the “Shark Cage” where a hydraulic floor shakes you as a movie shows a Great White attacking you. (We had to wait in line for this experience because the hydraulics had to be reset, but there was a lot of weird and curious fish and animals to look at while we waited.) We fed lorikeets that would land on your hand and grab away the plastic cup of nectar when they got mad. Anna was taking lots of pictures again. Emma’s favorite in the aquarium was the jellyfish that floated quietly in blacklight. She also liked the sharks and the octopus and others. Anna liked the otters, lorikeets and penguins.

From the aquarium, we walked a block to the Hofbrauhaus, the German restaurant that Scott was looking forward to. True, we had German last night, but this place is different. For one thing, last night’s was something of a neighborhood tavern (even though it was very, very crowded). Today’s has the atmosphere of a large German beer garden. Instead of the sausages that we enjoyed last night, Julie and Scott got schnitzel (pork, not veal). Scott’s was just a cutlet, but Julie got it as a sandwich with a pretzeled bread and a beer-cheese sauce. It was great, and Scott gladly finished half of it for her. Julie also loved the German potato salad, and Scott, of course, enjoyed a liter of the famous Hofbrau beer. There was an accordion player who was keeping the crowd going. The musicians here certainly must get tired of some songs, but they must REALLY get tired of the Chicken Dance. They played it twice just while we were there. Even though lots of people were standing on their benches to dance along, Anna and Emma wouldn’t do it. The Reds game was on the TV, and the stadium they were playing was almost visible from the front door, across the river in Cincinnati. The Reds beat Cleveland, 7 to 5, in interleague trans-Ohio game. (By the way, the original Hofbrauhaus is in Munich. We’ve been there. There are three establishments in the United States licensed to use the Hofbrau name. We’ve been to two: once in Las Vegas, three times here in Newport. The one we haven’t been to is the one that’s closest to us- in Pittsburgh. Sounds like a reason for a road trip this winter.)

After eating, it was around 3:00 in the afternoon. We listened to Dwight Yoakam sing “If You Ever Get South of Cincinnati,” a tradition whenever we’re here. We made our way to Florence, KY, where our hotel is. We called it a day, as far as touring goes, and the girls were happy to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in the hotel pool. We ordered Papa John’s pizza in. It’s a treat we can’t get at home.

At 10:00, just after we were tucked in for bed, we heard fireworks. We got to see a pretty large display from the hotel parking lot. They were about two miles away. The girls opened the back of the truck and sat in it.