Cincinnati, Ohio 1908

Fifth Street, Cincinnati, OH. Another great, well preserved postcard over 100 years old. This one was sent in 1908!

Superman- Metropolis IL

Not far from Paducah is Metropolis IL! I finally made it there!

First off, this is a cool town. They play up the Superman connections a lot! They have a festival each year, and several related attractions!

The giant statue has become iconic on its own, and the town has now added a smaller, life sized statue of Noel Neill as Lois Lane just a couple of blocks away.

There are Superman, and other super hero, references everywhere. Personally, I thought "Thor's Gym" was pretty cool.

Union Terminal, Cincinnati, Ohio

Big John- Metropolis IL

Visitors to this blog know that I love the strange and the unusual. I saw this guy in Metropolis IL, not too far from the Super-Man statue!

Random Thoughts On Friday

I love small cozy local type coffee shops. I really love them. Check out the many reviews in the past I have done on them.

BUT, I have to admit something else too- I love Starbucks.

I know, they are a chain, and have very little to do with Kentucky- but man do they put out a great product. And, they are doing some things that a lot of independent guys are neglecting.

First, I think just about every Starbucks opens at around 5:30 and they close around 11. These are the times I need coffee the most! There is one independent coffee shop I like that closes at 7!

Here is something else Starbucks has going for it. The staff is friendly. Really friendly. I have spent a lot of time at Starbucks here in Lexington, and they have good people working there. I stop at the one on Richmond Rd. frequently. I love the staff there.

I do like to stop at the local places when we travel, but again, Starbuck's is consistently good. We went to the South Bend Chocolate Company's Chocolate Cafe in Indianapolis recently and had a bad experience (overcharged, rude service, emailed the manager, they could have cared less). We walked around the block and saw a Starbucks. We all agreed that we should have gone to Starbucks in the first place.

I do feel a little sad when I see a chain coffee place come in to an area where they have a nice local beverage place. I do want to see the locals survive, but they have to compete. I have to tip my hat to Starbucks for upping the standards- and for making a good cup of coffee.

United States Post Office and Federal Building Cincinnati, Ohio

Random Photos- Paducah, KY

Haunted Caves

The VERY good people at Bearport Publishing recently put out a great book for kids about haunted caves!

Check it out if you have a moment. The book is very well done, and interesting. I like the layout and the photos!

As I flipped through this book, I remembered when I was in school, and how exciting it was to find a book like this in the library. I loved tropical fish, caves, baseball, art and other topics. I loved how books back then were more general.

As you got older, books became so much more specific. These days, I might read a book about an event that happened at a cave. I get very excited when I find a biography on an obscure baseball player.

When you are young a general book about a topic of interest is just perfect.

I must disclose that I do have a couple of photo credits in this one, and I say that proudly.

So, check this one out!!

http://www.bearportpublishing.com/index.cfm

Owensboro Motel

Sent in 1953. This card advertises the Owensboro Motel at 1420 Triplett St.

The postcard mentions that it is owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Dewey A. Stubblefield.

"As Modern As Tomorrow" the card brags.

Steubenville, Ohio from West Virginia

Sent in 1942, the back of this postcard describes the picture, "Steubenville, located in Jefferson County, is in the eastern part of Ohio on the Ohio River, 42 miles by highway southwest of Pittsburgh. 150 miles north by east of Columbus. 120 miles southeast of Cleveland, 24 miles north of Wheeling and 60 miles south of Youngstown."

I think the world of this little town. There is something mysterious about it. Check your history books, there are a lot of interesting people that have been through here.

LeVeque-Lincoln Tower, Columbus Ohio

The bottom postcard reads on the back-

"The new Ohio State Office Building is located on the Scioto River front and harmonizes with the public buildings comprising the Civic Center Group. Seventeen different departments of the State Government together with the State Library are located in this building. It is directly opposite the 45 story Le Veque-Lincoln Tower also shown on this card."

The LeVeque Tower is still gorgeous. I have taken photos of it many times myself.

Netherland Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, OH

The back of this postcard reads:

800 Rooms.
85,000 Square Feet Ground Area.
1,383,000 Square Feet Floor Area.
18,000,000 Cubic Feet
48 Stories, 574 Feet in Height.
Office Building, Hotel, Garage, Department Stores, Retail Shops, Restaurants, etc. A City within a city.

Postmarked from Newport in 1943!

Random Thoughts On Friday

The weather is simply perfect here right now, but- it has been a bad last few weeks for the area.

Some bad things went down near my old home area of Cleveland Ohio. I am very familiar with the neighboring city of Chardon Ohio.

Some of those little towns east of Cleveland are very comfortable. Amish groups are peppered through there, and it is pleasant. I wouldn't use a Mayberry comparison, but I would say Rockwellian. Cozy.

It is painful hearing about things like that happening. Anyway, those are nice areas, and Chardon is worthy of being known for something other than a violent act.

And just recently, we have had some extreme weather in Kentucky. A couple of close communities have been pretty much wiped out.

Local law enforcement has done a great job of taking control of the situations. There have been announcements on the radio about the needs of the communities. I did hear that solicitation of donations WILL NOT be requested by cold calls.

Also, one area mentioned at one point that they did not have a place to store donated items, and that monetary donations through appropriate groups would be the most appreciated form of help.

I heard one call in show where a local vendor was selling items- suggesting that the items could be donated to people in the affected areas. BOO!!!

Otherwise, I have been proud of how locals have handled things.

Another item that the Lexington Herald-Leader has mentioned recently- the very pathetic British tourism web site for Kentucky that featured the game "Roadkill Bingo".

I won't go on about that too much, as the paper has done a great job of exposing it, but go to their site to read more. Here is a link to the various articles about it:

http://www.kentucky.com/search_results?q=roadkill+bingo

Old Talbott Tavern- Bardstown

Bardstown is a VERY interesting area. I find myself there a lot these days. And.... how can I say this politely..... Well, the town is not exactly a destination for "foodies".

I have been to several restaurants in the area, and I have determined that there is only one that I really like.

I like going to Talbott Tavern simply because I like history and I like cool old places. It was built in 1779!

If someone from outside of Kentucky wanted to eat somewhere authentically Kentuckian, I can think of a very few other places I would want to take them (Keeneland and Patti's Place would share the list with this location).

I used to travel a lot between Owensboro and Lexington, and I would meet an old college buddy from the area here for dinner. We always had fun. The place feels like it hasn't changed much since the late 1700s.

Oh, they have burgoo! AND, they get their burgoo right! I have had it at some other establishments NOT in Owensboro and they don't know what they are doing. In fact, I think you have to eat burgoo in Owensboro for it to taste right. I can honestly give Old Talbott Tavern this- they have the best burgoo outside of Owensboro.

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is a classic structure of marble, completed in 1916 at the cost of $1,250,000. It is surrounded by the Fine Arts Gardens. It is one of the beauty spots of Cleveland.

An ironic side note about this postcard, I recently bought a reprint of it at the Cleveland Museum of Art for 50 cents more than what I paid for the original!

Cincinnati Commandos at the Cincinnati Gardens

Cincinnati is the closest area to the top part of Kentucky that has an indoor football team this year. Northern Kentucky had the River Monsters playing last year, but it seems they have folded.

So, this past weekend I drove north to catch the Commandos! This team has been around since 2010 and they have a pretty good following in the area.

This was my first visit to the very historic Cincinnati Gardens, and I must say that I really like this venue. It is old but well maintained. It does feel its age, but it still feels like it has been cared for and respected.

The venue had some very nice framed displays showing tickets and posters from the many legendary acts that have been there. I was impressed seeing a ticket stub from a Jimi Hendrix show. Other notable concerts include Elvis and the Beatles.

I have to give some credit to the "Commando Cuties." The dance team had over a dozen members AND they obviously practiced their routines. I have been to many other sporting events where the dance team did not practice together at all. The girls in this group worked hard on a quality half time show, and on entertaining during the game.

The Commandos looked good, and outplayed the Johnstown Generals. The pace and action of indoor football is a lot of fun, especially in person. Tickets were as cheap as $10, and concessions and shirts were reasonable too.

Pikeville has a team (the Drillers) in the same league and Huntington WV has their team, the Hammer, so there are some other teams to catch close by.

http://cincinnaticommandos.com/

Heaven Hills

We drove to Heaven Hills Distillery on a very rainy day. In fact, there were some major issues with the weather while we were there, and they were unable to do their full tour. We were still able to look around their museum area and we got to see a movie on bourbon. And, of course, they were still doing tastings.

Fort Knox

Sheraton-Gibson Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio

"Cincinnati's Largest... Famous for Friendliness Located in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, on Historic Fountain Square. 1000 rooms with bath, 900 air-conditioned, 700 with TV and all with radio. All restaurants, meeting rooms, barber shop, bowling lanes and other public rooms completely air-conditioned."

The Incredible Hulk

So, can you guess where in Owensboro this bigger than life statue of the Incredible Hulk is?

He is in Trader Bakers, which is still set up very similarly to the old Consumer's Mall, which used to be in the same space.

UK Wildcats 2012 Season