Four States Fall 2018 - 22 - CINCINNATI, OHIO

Cincinnati is in the southwest corner of Ohio. It borders closely on Indiana and Kentucky. The population is just over 300,000. We didn't have much time to explore, but they have a zoo, botanical gardens, aquarium, city market, Ohio River excursions, several museums, and the Reds baseball and Bengals football teams.
We were anxious to get to our hotel and relax for the rest of the evening. Jim had set us up at the Hampton Inn downtown. Here we were paying for our own room (birthday time was over), but he arranged a suite on the concierge floor at the everyday rate. A very nice bonus, indeed. Our room was comfortable and spacious.

We had a nice view of downtown.

And at night from J&K's room.

We checked J&K's room which was double the size of ours (as it should be), so we hung out there for our visiting time.

The hotel was located in the former Cincinnati Enquirer headquarters. That newspaper was established in 1841 and this 14-story building was completed in 1926. It is also depicted as the home of radio station WKRP in the WKRP Cincinnati TV series (1978-1982), although it was referred to as the Osgood R. Flimm Building. That show was a favorite in our family.

The entrance is spectacular. Bronze decoration everywhere including the six elevator doors and mail drop. Floors are black and white marble. Just lovely.

Nice gluteus maximus, but looks a little risky working around all that machinery in the nude!

Animal sculptures are embedded in the stone decoration.

A beautiful old safe stands in the lobby.

Outside the city was colorful, even in the rain.

After walking around a bit, we chose Midici Neapolitan for dinner.

They had two gorgeous gold pizza ovens in the see-for-yourself kitchen.

Loved the pizza (artichokes, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella) and spaghetti 'n' meatballs.

 

The next morning breakfast was in the gathering room.

Mike's oatmeal was hearty and delish!

Some famous Cincinnatians are: Rosemary and Nick Clooney (but not George), astronaut and first moon-walker Neil Armstrong, Sarah Jessica Parker, author Harriet Beecher Stowe, General and President Ulysses S. Grant, Doris Day, Peter Frampton, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Springer, Ted Turner, and cowboy Roy Rogers. Also, the "Mayberry" map behind Andy Griffith's desk on much of the Andy of Mayberry TV series (1960-1968) is actually a map of Cincinnati.

Four States Fall 2018 - 21 - EnterTRAINment (4)

The sidewalk signs go from the 1940-50s to the 70s. Not sure what happened to the 60s. For various reasons, I can't remember much about that decade either!!! This was, however, my favorite era of the exhibit. I'm a city gal and much of the scenery in this section was cityscapes.

Many of the structures throughout the total experience are based on photos of actual structures. Here is the Seattle, Washington tower (where we lunched many years ago).

Bridge entrance to downtown.

Night time with lots of glowing high-rises.

A variety of intimate scenarios behind windows. All the balconies of the 13-story building behind the stores had patio furniture.That's like over 90 balconies!!!

There was even a dog park, one cat included (yellow under the tree).

Ground-level commuter train entrances and an underground entrance to the subway (physically shown below "street" level) were showcased.

 

A modern railway control tower and yard.

After that huge urban display, there were a few more rural scenes. Here's a hot air balloon that rose up and down.

Backyard scene with above ground pool, laundry, and Weber barbeque.

All decorated for Halloween (this was October, after all).

And last but not least a train decorated with some artful graffiti.

Throughout there were bits of trivia. Here is a front page newspaper article (on right) announcing the opening of the Junction in the Cincinnati Equirer.

And a list of famous model railroaders.

Back in the lobby area was a fantastic gift and hobby store filled with railroading paraphernalia.

This set is all about landscape molds used for set decor.

Several more attractions are available here. Buy a separate backstage pass to look behind the scenes of the train operation or wander through the fun house with mirror maze, clown college, and more.

It would take forever to spy out every fascinating detail of this amazing amusement. Guess that means another trip in the future, but that was all the "entertainment" we could handle for one day, so off to downtown Cincinnati for the evening.

Four States Fall 2018 - 20 - EnterTRAINment (3)

Continuing in this section is a Middle Period rail yard and a working re-creation of the Cincinnati Coney Island amusement park. Although the origin of this park dates back to 1867, this replica is based on the 1965 era.

Here's another view. Notice the working aerial gondola ride.
Here is a portion of the working model of the famous Shooting Star roller coaster.

A working 4-foot high ferris wheel with roller coaster in the background. White post in center is part of the gondola ride.

The above features are surround by other rides and attractions in use at that time.

On the other side of the walkway is the working rail yard. You may be familiar with a round house. Train engines and cars are moved onto a rotating table as they come into the work area. Then they are swiveled into the right direction to go into the work house. This offers maximum flexibility in moving heavy train cars in and out of the proper location as work is needed. Mike and I have seen a few of these in person. Impressive!

Another work area with trains zipping by.

A more modern train loading station (to the right). Huge cranes lift whole containers from big rigs onto a flatbed rail cars for long distance cargo hauling.

This is one style of a funicular train. They are used in steep vertical situations. A cable attached under the car draws it up or lets it down in a controlled drop. Mike and I rode one of these in Pittsburgh, and my mom and I rode a much longer track in Hong Kong. Google it for more info.

Also, three storage tanks with 1,800 gallons of water supply the waterfall (in the 1860s section) and river features throughout the exhibit.