Left the family, Left my house, Left my Job... and went HOME!

My vacation lasted from June 11th to the 16th  and had me flying from Salt Lake to Cincinnati to Indianapolis....  Then I got the rental and drove right back to  Cincinnati.  My connection in Cincinnati was a last minute change from Minneapolis on the way there so I still went to Indy to get the car.  From Indy at the end I flew through Minneapolis.

My first night in Ohio away from the family took me home.  A home I hadn't been to in nearly 18 years: SKYLINE CHILI!  Ok kidding, but the first picture I have is of the Skyline Chili/Root Cellar combo in Kenwood, a suburb of Cincinnati Ohio.  I used to work at the Root Cellar and frequent Skyline often between my 12th and 13th years of life.  Stu ran the Root Cellar when I was there and was a great friend.  I found out during my visit that Stu had been dead for 10 years.  I ate at this Skyline a total of 3 times during my visit.
Across the street from the Root Cellar and Skyine was Jordan Realtors.  Behind Jordan Realtors was my old house.  This was the house my family lived in for a year between moving from our HUGE house and to Utah.  It was still a really nice house and in a great neighborhood.  It pretty much looks the same.
The next visit I made in Cincinnati was to the house I lived in from age 1 to age 11.  This is a picture as you approach the house from the south.  The red driveway is new since we left 19 years ago.
This next picture looks almost nothing like the house I remember.  They added the top windows in the attic and the windows on the second floor.  The house looks really nice, the lawn looks nice and they had a really nice car in the driveway by the garage.  They must have a lot of money.
This picture is from the NW looking at the house.  My goal with this picture was to try to get as much of the back yard as possible.  In the back is a swimming pool and another fairly large yard.  Also on the north end of the property was a creek that ran through the yard.  I loved this house and will probably hold it as the standard for when I am ready to buy a permanent home.
Just over the creek and through the woods is Indian Hill High School.  I went to Indian Hill schools until the end of my 6th grade year.  Indian Hill is always in the top 100 public schools in the nation.  I could see the quality education I was getting there when I moved to Utah and was ahead of the game in a few subjects, even though I was in the lower courses at Indian Hill.  Its hard to explain, but I know my education in Utah didn't compare to what my peers at Indian Hill received.  Maybe thats part of the reason I am in education... regardless, the picture below is of Indian Hill High School's football field carved out of a forest of thick trees.  While I was there I was able to watch the football team do their wind sprints proudly wearing my Uintah Football shirt.
After going down memory lane in my old neighborhoods I headed downtown to see if I could get stadium tours of the Reds and Bengals fields and also visit the pro-shops for each.  First, the Bengals.  When I parked my car I parked right between the river and the stadium near the Bengal's practice fields.  The gate was open and I was wondering if I could go in.  The South gate had some other fans by it waiting for the players to leave and I asked if they let people watch their practices.  They told me that there is usually a security guard and we would get in trouble if we just walked in.  Not believing them I decided to just leave it be and I walked north to the other gate.  When arriving at the gate I saw a bunch of people on the sidelines watching the Bengal's practice.  So I walked in and just stood around with them.  I then began to catch a glimpse of who these people were... IT WAS MEDIA DAY.!  I was like, "Yeah, I'm media from Vernal Utah..."  so I just hung around and acted like I belonged.  The first picture here is from the actual practice.  Not much of a picture from my disposable camera, but the guy in the orange pants is Chad OCHOCINCO aka Johnson.  Carson Palmer was also there throwing the pass that Chad caught on this play.
After practice a few of the players came over after coach Marvin Lewis addressed us and I asked for pictures from the 3 that I recognized (most of the stars didn't come over for autographs).  The first picture is me and Chris Henry #15.  Chris got into a lot of legal trouble and the Bengals released him after many arrests and suspensions, but now he is back with the Bengals.  I am glad, he is a good reciever.  He is the one that caught that BOMB against the Steelers on the very play Carson Palmer had his knee jacked up.
I know I kinda look gay, but there wasn't much time to crank out all these pictures.  The next pic is of me and Palmer... you know the quarterback... the back up quarterback and brother of starting quarterback Carson Palmer... This is Jordan Palmer, #5.
One of the better kickers in the NFL, Shane Graham #17 and me. 
After feeling high about this Bengals visit I was on to the Reds Stadium.  The Reds had this particular day off, so no games.  I went to the gift shop and asked about stadium tours.  I had just MISSED THE LAST TOUR BY 10 MINUTES.  I was actually pretty bummed.  I wanted to get on my knees and beg but I just bought a pass to the Reds hall of fame.  That was a fun trip down memory lane.  Below is a picture of the Reds World Series Trophy from when I lived there and the Reds were Champs.  Also included are a couple photos of the Reds stadium and the river nearby.

Fountain Square in Cincinnati
...and of course the Red car we rented for our jouneys.

Everything that I have posted above is from the first and last day of my vacation.  I didn't have a camera in Cleveland and that is another story.  After driving from Indy to Cincy the first day I stayed in a hotel just blocks from where my old church building was.  I wasn't able to get in and see the place, but it brought back a bunch of memories.  

The next morning I woke up early and got some Busken Bakery goods and drove through Columbus to Cleveland to pick up Kent, long time friend from Orem, who flew in from Boston.  We met their specifically to see his Cardinals play the Indians.  We saw two games, Cleveland won 1, St. Louis won 1, and Pujols... 3 dingers.  Anyway, that first day just after picking up Kent we went golfing on a small 9 hole course.  What beautiful weather.  Kent and I both agreed that we wanted to move to the midwest someday.  Not much humidity in Cleveland, unlike Cincy, and that made for a pleasant day.  The time in Cleveland also included another round of golf with a nice couple from Cleveland, throwing the football near Baldwin-Wallace College, watching old man baseball, talking with a nice lady from Texas (watching her hubby play old man baseball), eating out at Friendlys, Dennys, Red Robin, Applebees, Taco Bell and more.  My snoring didn't keep Kent up too long, I think he may have gotten two hours sleep a night.  

Kent took a bunch of pictures from Cleveland so I will steal those soon and post more.  

It was fun.  I ate Cincinnati Style Chili (Gold Star and Skyline) a total of 6 times.  I think the best part of it all is that I was able to get the urges to go back out of my system.