The word that describes our Ohio trip is “serendipitous”.  Everything came together and worked out better than we could have planned it.  It was a recurring theme throughout the visit.

I’ve divided the trip into four parts for the four days we were there.  We packed a lot of meaningful reunions, events, returns to favorite old haunts and parks, new friends, cemetery visits, and E’s birthday observance into those four days.

Here we are crossing from Kentucky into Cincinnati.

We found this sign in the office, and this birthday greeting over our motel room when we arrived, courtesy of the very nice manager, Robyn.  Here she is with Ziggy the dog.  The motel is quaint and retro, situated in a park-like setting with deer, down the road from town.  We had some good talks with Robyn.

Of course our first stop was our old favorite HQ, Ye Olde Trail Tavern.  It was good to be back at our old watering hole.  But since their new management, their food is more to die from than for, which we found out the hard way.  So it’s safer just to drink!

Here are a few more scenes in YS that first evening, including this horse-drawn carriage.

Later we paid our respects at one of the cemeteries where E’s family members are buried, and returned to the motel, where Robyn had lit a bonfire in the fire pit for us.  We watched a large deer eating apples from the trees a few yards away.

Here ends Day 1.