Family, Food, and Fortune

Family: Over Father's Day weekend, we had our first Cox family reunion. My grandpa and two of his brothers started a family of 33. (I think that's right and I don't really want to count) My grandpa's gang accounted for 18 of those family members. The rest of the Cox family is from northern Ohio, so we all met for the weekend at a Kentucky State Park. No, we did not camp. I do not camp. I like air conditioning and showers daily. Anyway, I was really glad to see my extended family that I haven't seen in about 11 years. 4 of those family members I have never met before so it was fun getting to spend time with them also.

Sunday, my family packed back up and went to Cincinnati. We lived there from the time I was in kindergarden til 3rd grade. I really liked living there and Cincinnati has a lot of fun things to do for families. They have a 25 mile bike and walking trail that goes around the city and it is flat. That's something we do not have in Birmingham. They paved over a railroad line so that helps with the flatness. Steal an idea Alabama!

We also went to Union Terminal. This was one of my favorite places to go when we lived there. It's an old train terminal from the 1930s that they turned into a museum. It still looks like it's from the 1930s also. The ceiling is domed shaped and has beautiful murals on the walls.You can stand on one side of the lobby and whisper and a person at the other side can hear you because the sound travels. If you could see how wide the entry was, this might be more exciting. One side is a natural history museum and the other side is a history of Cincinnati. We only visited the natural history side and some of the exhibits haven't changed since 1993.

King's Island is the 6 Flags of Cincinnati. My brothers and I had a great time riding the rides and it was surprising what a little dare devil Will has become. I wish you could've seen the pictures while we were on the ride. I had my mouth open screaming, Will's head was down, and Ben looked wind blown.

Food: The first thing we did when we got there was go to Gold Star Chili. There's nothing like it anywhere. Chili isn't really the right word to describe it though. You can order it on spaghetti or on, my favorite, little coney hot dogs. They put the chili on the coney and then cover it with shredded cheese. Mmm...Yum. The next stop we made was Grater's Ice Cream. This is the best ice cream that I've ever had. They have a flavor called Black Raspberry Chip. They should really call it Black Raspberry with huge pieces of chocolate chunks. It's so good they've shipped it to the west coast, and my family found out it cost 80 dollars to have 6 pints shipped in dry ice to your house. It's worth every penny.

Montgomery Inn is famous for their Ribs. I am not a fan of ribs but they supposedly give Dreamland a run for their money. I can tell you that they have Saratoga potato chips that you dip in the barbecue sauce and they are wonderful.

United Dairy Farmers makes the best milkshakes and malts.

So, basically my family went to Ohio to eat and I think I'm still full.

Fortune: I got paid. Enough said.