Cincinnati Zoo, Hot Dogs at Senate, Blue Ash Park, Kings Island
Cincinnati Zoo
Our first visit to the zoo in what seems like a long time. I guess we’ve not been here since earlier in the spring perhaps. We did enjoy ourselves, although we arrived at the zoo and within fifteen minutes everyone was hungry so we stopped for pretzels and popcorn and Icee’s. We also visited Mai Thai who recently turned fifty years old. Mai Thai the Asian Elephant is the oldest member of the Cincinnati Zoo. We also saw our friend Henry the organgatan in Jungle Trails. I’ll also report something else interesting, we decided to walk down paths we normally do not go and actually found two places we’re not sure we’ve ever been to in the zoo. The first was the path alongside and two the left of the white rhino. You see here the black rhino, a zebra and the back end of the Mexican wolf enclosure. We both agreed we’ve not seen these before, and if we have, it’s been awhile. Finally we found another quite path with an overlook to the lake where you can see the elephant house and the new carousel. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen this view either. It was nice and quiet.
Hot Dogs At Senate
After visiting the Scout Shop to pick a few things, namely Ted’s Webelo uniform and a hat for me, we went up to Senate and ate lunch. First off, we were super lucky that the lunch rush was over. We sat down immediately. We really liked Senate in OTR, and that used to be the hopping place and the real catalyst for the OTR rebirth. The new restaurant is large and spacious with high roofs and very hip. The food was great of course and I ate until I was stuffed. I ordered the “trailer park” which is a hot dog with cole slaw and crumbled up barbecue chips. I also got a Korean themed hot dog with bulgogi and pickles, and of course, duck fat fries! The boys demolished their food, which is funny because both swore to me that they weren’t hungry.
Blue Ash Park
Outside of Senate in Blue Ash is the new park that was built over top of Blue Ash Airport. This is the first time I’ve seen it since it’s been completed and it is really nice. There is lots of flat places around to play ball with your friends and it was getting a lot of use. The kid’s playground area was cool and our boys loved climbing around. It’s a great design, I normally don’t like parks because I like to keep my eye on my kids at all time. I freak out when I can’t see them, so my patience usually wears pretty thin at them. This park is designed in a way that you can sit in one spot and watch your kids the entire time.
Kings Island
Our first visit to Kings Island in 2023! Most important note is we saw the new themed area and the two new rides. The pictures are below. This was also the first visit that Ted rode big kid rides while I stayed in Snoopy Land. Ted and his uncle rode the Racer (which evidently freaked Ted out), Backlot, Adventure Express, and a few other rides like Scrambler. He rode a few with his mom too. I enjoyed myself. I like to go to KI and hang out with the little ones and watch them ride. I had two of my nieces there and I enjoyed watching them laugh with my son Ben. I am glad they have passes too it is nice to go up with other people. I also ate a bunch of food. We didn’t get to try the new Grain and Grill, they opened a little later in the day than when we were planning to eat. We will have to try that again next time.
