Saint Patrick’s Day 2023

Posted on March 18, 2023 by Travel Spirit

For St. Patrick’s Day this year my friend Linda and I went to a few bars in Covington, Keystone, Blinkers Tavern, and Smoke Justis. They were situated close together so we weren’t out in the cold too long. I asked random people if I could take their photo, everyone seems to love to have their photo taken.

We had a drink at Blinkers Tavern, the least busy of them all.

Next we drove 20 minutes to a party at my brother’s house. There were about 30 people there. That’s my brother and his wife below.

It was a nice time, but I prefer one-on-one versus parties nowadays.

Plan B for Jimmy Buffett Concert

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Jimmy Buffett had a concert at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio Tuesday evening and my friend April (2nd from left) invited a group of friends out on her boat to listen to the concert from the water. What an adventure! Here we are pre-party. (Not taken with my camera…little fuzzy)

I’ve been boating on the Ohio River for 20 years and have encountered some hairy situations, but this one was the most intense. I’m usually with my husband (the Captain). Anyway, here are some pics before all of the “situations” occurred. Love this photo of April having fun driving the short 10-15 minutes to the concert. Grass skirt blowing in the wind…

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Midlife Madness

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Remember I was telling you how this past weekend was a non-stop party…this is from Friday night at the Four Seasons Marina in Cincinnati, Ohio. We met my friend April there, along with other friends…listened to a band, danced, talked, etc. Walking down the dock to April’s boat…it was fun to read some of the boat owners’ names for their boats.

Midlife Madness seemed very appropriate…

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Art and Music in Cincinnati

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Travel Spirit

It’s been over a week since I spent the day in Downtown Cincinnati for the Reds Baseball Opening Day celebration, but I have a few more photos I’d like to share with you. I’m always on the lookout for creative and/or artistic photographic opportunities and I think this staircase fits that description.

I’ll call it “Curved Elegance”…

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A Day in Cincinnati

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Cincinnati, Ohio has something for everyone! Monday was Opening Day for the Reds Baseball and what a party. My girlfriends and I watched the Findlay Market Parade and then joined the party at The Banks (an area with restaurants and bars on the Ohio River in Downtown, Cincinnati). This is the beautiful fountain at Fountain Square raining blue sky…

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Food, Friends and Fun in Cincinnati

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Have you ever gone to an all day party? That’s what the Reds Baseball Opening Day festivities is and more! It started with the Findlay Market Parade that I shared with you yesterday and then my friends and I made our way by foot to The Banks, which is, according to their website, “An 18-acre development on the Ohio River between Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium. This vibrant project is transforming downtown Cincinnati by creating a place for everyone to experience and enjoy.” There are cool bars and restaurants and outdoor urban gardens, etc. Some of Monday was a blur, because we were going from place to place pretty quickly, so I don’t know the name of everywhere we went. For example, this place below.

But, I loved the girl, her style and the lips on the wall. Looks like they still need to paint the wooden structure…

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Football and Fun

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Saturday evening we attended a Bengals Playoff Game party at a friend’s house. I’m not much of an organized sports watching fan…but I love to socialize. I made some Tailgate Ham/Cheese Sandwiches that were a big hit. Originally the recipe was on Pinterest, but when I went to the website, the recipe was no longer there. Luckily, I had typed it up and saved it—

Ingredients:

* 1 pkg. (12 count) Hawaiian bread rolls

* 1 lb. shaved Black Forest ham

* 12 slices Gruyere cheese

* 1 tub (8 oz.) Philadelphia Chive & Onion Cheese Spread

* 1/2 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

* 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

* 1/2 Tbsp. dried minced onion

* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

~Cut all rolls in half. Place roll bottoms in 9 x 13 inch pan.

~Place equal amounts of ham on each roll bottom. Top with Gruyere.

~On each of the roll tops, spread a generous amount of the cream cheese spread. Return the tops to the bottoms making sandwiches.

~In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, Worcestershire sauce, onion and Parmesan cheese. Pour over your sandwiches and let sit for at least 20 minutes. (You can make these ahead of time and allow to sit in fridge overnight.)

~Place sandwiches, covered in foil, in a preheated 350 deg. F oven.

~Bake for 20 minutes or until warmed through. Enjoy! Yield: 12 servings.

After a while of talking, eating, and drinking, it was time to have some fun…so I arm wrestled four women and won! They wanted me to try a couple of the guys…so I did…but I knew they would win. My arm is a little sore today.

Next, we convinced a couple of the guys to help us make a partial pyramid…

The photos were taken with my friend’s iPhone. Who says you have to act your age?

Recipe: French Onion Soup Grilled Cheese – Recipes from The Kitchn (thekitchn.com)
20 Tasty Ways to Cash in on Grains and Beans (wholefoodsmarket.com)
Bengals Lose To Texans 19-13, Extend Streak Of NFL Playoffs Futility (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
The Perfect Football Fan (thetechscoop.net)
Bengals vs. Texans: Five Reasons To Feel Optimistic About A Bengals Playoff Win (cincyjungle.com)

Bal Masque

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Travel Spirit

The evening that our cruise ship left Venice, there was a Masquerade Ball aka Bal Masque. It was fun to see all of the colorful and unusual masks!

Of course, Venice is famous for their masks…

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.” ~Jim Morrison

Here are some lovely girls!!

My mask was quite simple!

Another cutie!!

Don’t miss Rome tomorrow!!

Epiphany Events Venetian Masked Ball Brings Venice’s Carnival to Seattle in February (prweb.com)

What girls do on a girls’ weekend

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Travel Spirit

This weekend I went on my annual girls’ weekend with my friends Sherry, Gina and Dee. This was Dee’s first trip with us. The tradition started almost 20 years ago with a trip to Put-n-Bay and the destinations have included Myrtle Beach, Red River Gorge, Ky, Indianapolis, Shawnee Nat’l Forest, and Nashville, to name a few. Typically, we would find a cabin with a hot tub and the weekend consisted of eating, drinking, talking and hiking. But more recently we’ve been heading to cities for sight-seeing and listening to bands. I’m usually in charge of finding the accommodations and booked a 3 bedroom condo in the Highlands section of Louisville for the weekend that I found through VRBO online. It was in a great location, within walking distance to restaurants, boutiques and a large park with walking trails.

The Highlands reminds me of Yellowsprings, Ohio. It was an eclectic blend of boutiques selling handmade jewelry, vintage clothing, books and wares from around the world; cozy coffee shops, a yoga studio, art galleries, and many restaurants that varied from Indian to Asian.

This painting caught my eye in one of the shops!

An interesting sign…

While walking down the street we were stopped by a local T.V. reporter wondering if we’d be interested in giving our opinion on pornography pop-ups on the internet. So…being it was a new experience…I volunteered. I don’t remember most of the questions, but I’ll be able to view it on their website.

We had fun trying hats on in one of the shops…a little pricey for me at $190 per hat!

It was a beautiful fall weekend for our escape…so we went hiking in Cherokee Park.

We went to a bar that caters to the over 40 crowd called Jim Porter’s Good Times Emporium. Boasting three live bands (Pop, Rock and Blues) we had a great time dancing most of the evening! Our husbands don’t particularly enjoy dancing…so we indulged ourselves!

The following evening we dressed for Halloween and our first stop was 4th Street Live in downtown Louisville.

We stopped a man on the street to take our photo before we left the condo…he was a bit shaky I believe! As you can see, Gina was a girl scout! But what was remarkable about it, was that it was her uniform from when she was 9 years old!

After having a very tasty dinner at the Red Star Tavern, our plan was to party downtown…but it seemed a little dead…so we took a taxi back to Jim Porter’s.

Being “Supergirl” I had to pick someone up, so I chose this girl…but the photo turned out too blurry to post!

This girl “the naked girl costume” won third place in the contest at Jim Porter’s. I didn’t think it appropriate to take a picture of the front, although it wasn’t real!