Day 3: Toto I’m not in Saugus anymore

Day 3 and I was up bright and early and onto Cincinnati. I planned on stopping for breakfast at a place called SuperChef’s on the recommendation of one of my work friends. About an hour away from my destination and I decided to check to see what the hours were. The hours were: Not open on Mondays. Sufficed to say I continued right on through to Cincinnati.

Seeing as I was up and out by 6:30am I made it to Cincy by about 11 and since Check in wasn’t until 4pm I went over to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (2nd Oldest Zoo in the country) to see Harambe. Oh oh I mean to see the animals that were still alive.

I must say, I was impressed. The variety of animals was remarkable. Everything from snow leopards to red pandas to camels to polar bears. I strolled along snapping picture after picture. Still familiarizing myself with my camera and just enjoying the beautiful Cincinnati day. As time passed I continued looking at the vast map and mentally crossing off the animals I had seen. Realizing that I was pretty sure I had seen everything I wanted to see, I headed back toward the car. My feet thanked me as it was now 4 o’clock and I had been walking around for about 4 hours.

I got back to the car and decided 4 o’clock was probably a good time to have my first meal of the day. I was surprised that I wasn’t completely famished seeing as up until that point my total sustenance intake for the day consisted of a single bottle of water. Choosing to not even begin to question it I drove over to a well regarded restaurant called Camp Washington Chili and ordered a pint of 5 way chili. In Cincinnati, and perhaps all of Ohio I’m not really sure, a 5 way chili is made up of chili, spaghetti, beans, cheese, and onions. And my word was it delectable. Being my first meal of the day probably did make it even better. I know, not because I timed myself but because I happened to take a Snapchat before and after I was done, that I ate that pint of chili cheesey spaghetti-y? goodness in about 12 minutes. Had the place not been a 15 minute drive away I would have went and got another pint immediately.

After eating and relaxing for a bit I decided to go out for a walk and check out the surroundings a bit. I had done the same thing in Pittsburgh so I figured what was the harm in checking out the area a bit. This is when I realized that Cincinnati…is not like Pittsburgh. Now driving into Cincy I could already tell it was different than Pittsburgh. Aesthetically it was more similar to Boston. Narrower streets, more traffic etc etc. However, after going out for a walk the best description I can come up with for Cincinnati is to say think of a rougher version of Boston and you’ll pretty much have it. In the 20 minutes or so I was out for a walk I was approached by people asking me for money about 5 times. As I walked by groups of people I felt nothing but eyes following me. It was an uneasy feeling to say the least. I immediately realized that this was not a place where I was going to be out after dark taking nice scenic pictures. I got some raspberry and mango sorbet and headed back to my room realizing that I was not in Saugus anymore, or even Boston anymore. Yet another lesson learned early on in this journey.