Road Trip - Part One - Cincinnati Fireworks

It's been awhile since I've posted, but for good reason. The hubs and I went on a road trip to visit those we love, fill our tums with unique Southern fare, see the sights, and finally meet a few internet buds in person. We had a BLAST. We wish we could make a living traveling all over, eating everything within nabbing distance. (Did you hear me, Ford? When will we get to be your traveling journalists???)

*ahem*

Anyway, our first stop was Cincinnati. It's a half-way point between MI and TN, and our good friends Tye and Andrea live there. We stayed in their beautiful American Foursquare pad, snuggled with Dex (the pup I trained for them a few months back -- he's getting so big!) and got to see the Labor Day fireworks on the river.

Holy cow was that exciting! Best fireworks show I've ever seen and quite possibly one of the coolest experiences of my life. Tye and Andrea played a show earlier that day so they got these special VIP bracelets. Once we put them on, we obtained magical front row seats to the fireworks, right at the edge of the river. The VIP section was roped off with security guards posted all day, letting in only the few magical bracelet wearers like us.

There's only a handful of chairs set up there, and we were right in the center of thousands upon thousands of folks who'd swarmed the Ohio and Kentucky sides of the river, camping out all day long just to see the show at 9pm. See what looks like confetti along the riverbank? Those are people, people.

Before the show, we snagged a spot further up the bank, spread out a blanket, ate some dinner, and played a little Gin Rummy. You can see the show from up here too, but it's not as spectacular as the magical bracelet wearing VIP section.

Waiting all day for the show? It's worth it. Sitting as close as we were to the barge between the two bridges, the fireworks form a dome all around you. There were magical fireworks too, like something right out of Harry Potter. Magical floating jellyfish parachutes that let down strands of sparkling lights; magical globes that fell to the water and bobbed, only to light up and shoot off magical fireworks of their own; and more. There were a few times I got so caught up in the spectacle and was so confused by all the lights and thudding in my ears and chest that I thought I'd died.

Died.

Here's a little video montage of the show. If you ever get a chance to visit Cincy on Labor Day weekend, don't miss the fireworks!