State #4 Ohio

Today we headed over the Ohio River into Cincinnati.

Our destination was the William Howard Taft Historic Site.

The boys completed the Jr. Ranger program.

Trevor and I were blown away with Taft’s life of continual civil service. The Rangers were super friendly and knowledgeable. The house, his childhood home, itself wasn’t as cool as some of the other homes we had visited since most items were replicas as opposed to actual Taft pieces but the information provided was fascinating. Besides being the 27th President, I had no idea that he held so many different public offices before and after being president. The one that really surprised me was that he served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after his presidency. A position he dearly desired and had turned down multiple times earlier in his career. He was even quoted as saying that after being on the Supreme Court for two years that he barley even remembered holding the office of the presidency.

We also saw this sweet little bunny outside the house.

After the museum, we had a picnic at a city skate park. Trev watched the boys at the park while I made my first trip to the laundromat.

I tried stuffing our clothes into a smaller washer ($2.75/load) but it wouldn’t fit so I moved up to the next size machine ($3.50/load). I’m glad it fit because the next size was $6.50 a load. Then off to the dryer for a quarter for each 4 minutes of heat. It took $1 on low and fifty-cents on medium to dry it all. I was worried about how hot the machines would get as I had a mixed load of fabrics so I started low. I only lost one sock in the process. Of course, it was one of Tuck’s socks so who knows if I even had the sock in the first place. So all in all not too bad. Sorry, I don’t have a funny or embarrassing story about detergent pouring out or shrinking all our clothes or turning them all pink but I’m sure those stories will come.

The boys had a good time at the skate park even though they had no wheels. They were practicing their American Ninja Warrior skills. “Beat that wall!!”

Tonight we tried Cincinnati’s signature dish, Skyline Chili.

Although, I wasn’t in the mood for spaghetti topped with chili (containing cinnamon and chocolate) and covered with a mound of cheddar cheese but as the saying goes- when in Rome. So when in Cincinnati…

Tuck, who loves spaghetti, originally said no to the idea of trying it until he heard there was chocolate in it. In his head I’m sure he was thinking it will taste like a candy bar sitting on top of noodles but in reality the chocolate just adds a little sweetness to cut through the savory sauce or so I’m told. I’ll let the little guy figure that one out on his own.

The deal was that we would order one bowl and then each of us would take a bite but you couldn’t say whether you liked it or not or make any faces until everyone tried it. That worked pretty well until we got to Tuck. He couldn’t resist making a face. You’ll probably need two chances to guess the one member of the family who liked it.