West Virginia detour

We decided to drive home by way of West Virginia. We stopped in Charleston because, well, it's the capital and we figured it would be the only time we'd end up near Charleston. We took a quick look at the Capitol and then found a park for a picnic lunch before making the final stretch home. There was a river at the park and the kids ended up soaked, again. 

Turtle discovery.

Cincinnati by night.

We headed back downtown in the evening to explore the river walk and let the kids play in the fountains. They had these fun park benches that were actually swings and the kids loved playing in the fountains. A Cincinnati Reds game was happening right behind us and fireworks started going off when they scored a home run. Oliver completely freaked out. We finally got him calmed down and they scored another home run. We were sure that would be the last and tried to convince Oliver, but they scored TWO MORE home runs. It was a stressful night for poor Oliver. 

We returned to our hotel soaking wet, again.

 You can see how close the stadium was in the background.

Elsa's skirt got so heavy once it was soaking wet that it wouldn't stay on. She had no problem running around in her underwear.

Cincinnati by day.

We started our visit in Cincinnati by exploring the downtown area a bit. We drove to the other side of the river (which is actually Kentucky) and paid a visit to Tom + Chee, home of the grilled cheese donut! The grilled cheese sandwiches were really good. Lots of interesting options. And the grilled cheese donuts were insane, but really yummy. We tried three kinds: strawberry lemonade (strawberries, lemon mascarpone, mozzarella), the king (caramelized bananas, peanut butter mascarpone, mozzarella), and s'more (chocolate, marshmallow mascarpone, graham cracker).

Our next stop was the Loveland Castle, Chateau Laroche, built by "Sir" Harry Andrews. For over fifty years, Andrews worked on his castle project. He pulled stones from the nearby river, and when that supply was exhausted, molded bricks with cement and quart milk cartons. When Andrews died in 1981 he willed the castle to his Boy Scout troop the Knights of the Golden Trail. "Knights" still guard the castle. It was definitely a quirky little place but the kids loved exploring a "real" castle. Oliver was actually freaked out by all of the knight's armor inside.

Our next stop was the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park. The park is quite large so they have "art carts" you can rent and drive around. The kids loved riding around in the cart. We had the whole park to ourselves and had fun finding all of the different sculptures around the park.