Cincinnati Trips

Jake and I travel to Cincinnati, OH, a few times a year on business for Jake's job.  Each time, we learn more about the city and enjoy new experiences.  (Jake went a time or two without me while he was a married bachelor, but now we always try to go together.) Our first visit to the city included a trip to Benihana (a Japanese restaurant mentioned on The Office), two visits to Rock Bottom Brewery (a yummy restaurant on Fountain Square), and countless trips to Graeter's for ice cream.  We enjoyed walking around downtown and visiting Jake's company's corporate offices. Below are some pictures we took during that visit.

Me in front of Tyler Davidson Fountain,
the centerpiece of Fountain Square.

Jake really likes this building.  I can't
even remember what's housed there,
but he loves it.

Jake in front of Graeter's, home of
the yummiest ice cream!

On our second trip to Cincinnati in December 2010, our friends Steve and Lindsey changed our lives forever by introducing us to IKEA.  Lindsey and I went to the store to browse while our husbands were doing work business.  We went back with them the next day.  Jake hates shopping, so he quickly lost energy and interest, but he was happy that I enjoyed myself so much.

If you have not been to IKEA, please drop whatever you're doing and begin planning a trip to the nearest location now.  This store is phenomenal!  I was enthralled with the low prices of most items.  There were also a number of sale items with super low prices.  Everything IKEA sells is pretty modern and simply designed, which tends to appeal to people in our age group (though Jake and I love sturdy old stuff, too).  We left with two desks (which I used to form an L-shaped workspace for Jake), a rolling desk chair, a coffee table, a large poster frame, a toiletry bag, cutting boards, tons of brackets for hanging shelves, a pillow (for Jake to use on the ride home), metal shelving (for Jake's lair) and a hanging shoe organizer, all for $147.  Before shopping, we grabbed lunch at IKEA's snack bar.  For just $4.00 (including tax!), we got 4 hot dogs, 2 bags of chips, and 2 fountain drinks (with refills!).  IKEA trips will be the highlight of all future visits to Cincinnati, I am sure.

During the December trip, we also visited Dave & Buster's for the first time and had tons of fun.  Basically, it's an upgraded version of Chuck E. Cheese.  Part of the building is a casual restaurant with lots of food options for adults and children alike.  The other part of the building is a huge arcade and fun center with games of all sorts.  All the people in our group raced each other in a multi-player racing game, then we split up to play other games.  I did tons of Skee-Ball.  Jake played a battleship-type game over and over.  We redeemed our tickets for two large cups and a blue monkey (stuffed, of course).

Another night, we went to a fancy restaurant, where we got to sample different kinds of tasty cheese.

The one activity we did not do was ice skating downtown.  I think everyone was just kind of tired from their training activities.  If Jake and I are in Cincinnati in the winter in the future, I think we'll try to squeeze in some ice skating.

Cincinnati trips are fun, and every time we go, we feel like we get to know the town just a bit better.