Florence, KY, for those that have never been, sits at the border of Ohio and Kentucky; a 20 minute bus gets you to downtown Cincinnati.
Having only been to downtown Cincinnati when I was younger, I wanted to make sure to check it out before heading to Nashville. Luck had it that one of the T.A.N.K. (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, but TANK sounds way more badass) bus stops was right next to the Planet Fitness I stayed at. For $1.50, I had the luxury of not worrying about finding parking for Vanah in downtown Cincinnati. For those that have never driven a stick shift, especially one without modern features like rear view backup cameras, parallel parking Vanah is like passing a final exam hungover: it can be done, but you’re sweating and one move too quickly in either direction could result in (throwing up) disaster.
The bus dropped me off in the center of downtown at 7:30 am. On the bus ride over, I searched for breakfast food in downtown and found Maplewood Kitchen and Bar had phenomenal Yelp reviews. Their Avocado Benedict, fancy for poached eggs and toast, lived up to the hype and did not disappoint.
With a full stomach, I spent the morning riding Bird and Lime scooters around town (thank you, people of the internet, for discount codes for free rides) because after all, if you've never rode an electric scooter, do you even millennial? (For real though, if you've never done it, they're an absolute blast and I'll hook you up with a free ride: Free Lime Ride or Free Bird Ride). Can confirm, however, that electric scooters don’t do well on steep inclines. You better believe I was hand walking the 30 pound scooter from the bottom to hilltop of Devou Park (who said I had a dad bod?!). The view was well worth it:
Here are some more pictures of my time spent perusing Cincinnati:
Feeling that I saw everything I wanted to in downtown, I took a bus back to Florence and headed for Nashville around 1 pm.
With a couple stops for gas and Subway for lunch (thank you to a handful of people for the Subway gift cards, they’ve been a huge help!) I made it to Nashville around 7 pm. Under normal circumstances, it should take about 4 hours to make that drive. However, nothing is normal about driving a 30 year old car with 90 horsepower (a typical Honda CR-V has about 184 H.P.) through Kentucky's rolling mountains.
Finally at Clay and Madi’s house, I set my stuff in the spare bedroom, enjoyed central air conditioning for a moment, and went to grab dinner at Hugh Baby’s (if that ain’t the most fitting name for a Tennessee burger joint) to catch up on life, work and being a millennial.
With Clay and Madi having adult jobs, we did some rearranging of cars so that Vanah wasn’t in the way for getting to work (not foreshadowing disaster or anything here) and Day 4 came to an end with a phone call to my parents to let them know I was in Nashville, safe, sound and with A/C blowing on my face.
It’s the little things in life that make the difference.
Downtown Nashville tomorrow!
Read yesterday’s post here.
Be sure to follow @TheRealDadBook on Facebook and Instagram to hear more stories and see pictures during my 250 day trip across all 50 states. To learn more about The Dad Book, head on over to www.TheRealDadBook.com/about. If you’re looking to get in contact with me, shoot an email to Nate@TheRealDadBook.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. See you on the road!