Cincinnati Weekend Getaway — Part Two
Welcome back! On Saturday night, after dropping off our Jungle Jim goodies in our hotel room, we ate dinner at Oakley Kitchen, a food hall, which was nice to eat at since you could just walk around and buy food whenever you found something you liked. We ended up getting BBQ. My pulled pork was quite greasy, but still good. We then got drinks at Placebo. Decorated in a 1940s art deco style, this bar provides classy drinks in a fun atmosphere! I really liked their choice in jazz music. I do wish they served more kinds of small plates rather than just different flavors of popcorn.
On Sunday, we made our way to downtown Cincinnati since we had gift cards to redeem at The Escape Game. Back in 2019 for my birthday, we escaped a room in Nashville and got a discount on gift cards. I had purchased two gift cards with the discount and had chosen Cincinnati. Unfortunately, there are no The Escape Game franchises located closer to where we live. We made our way to the room called, “The Heist,” where we had to find a stolen Monet painting of water lilies within 60 minutes. It was fun, difficult, hot (a staff member had to stop our time and bring in a fan for us because there was no air conditioning!), and rewarding! We completed the task with 5 minutes and 41 seconds left to go! I will not go into details since I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who would like to try it out themselves.
We then walked to a park on the riverfront, found some swings, and swung by the Ohio River. After discussing the pros and cons of “The Heist,” we walked to the restaurant, Taste of Belgium, to eat Belgian waffles. Mine was s’mores flavored, of course! Afterwards, we drove to the Cincinnati Art Museum, which is free. I enjoyed their exhibits on Egyptian, Islam, and Asian art. I wouldn’t say any of the artwork was particularly moving though.
We later had dinner at the Incline Public House. If you go, make sure to try to get a seat outside where you can take in a lovely view of Cincinnati!
What was cool about our hotel was that we could see Fourth of July fireworks off in the distance from our room! We could just lay in bed and watch fireworks from about 3 different locations far off in the distance! It was quite convenient and relaxing!
On Monday morning, we drove to Mount Airy Forest to walk in their arboretum and garden, as well as to go up into their treehouse. It was a lovely walk, and I would definitely like to stay longer in the park if we visit again.
Overall, I had a wonderful holiday weekend in Cincinnati! I was surprised there weren’t many people on the roads, especially on the highways and especially during a holiday! When we drove around Indianapolis to get to and from Cincinnati, the highways were clogged with cars! I recommend checking out this Ohio city if you’re ever in the area, and I highly recommend trying exotic foods and drinks from around the world at Jungle Jim’s!
