Monday, September 29, 2008

My Beautiful City

When my sweetie and I first started dating back when we were 16 years old we used to go to a park here in Cincy called Mt. Echo park. It has these beautiful sweeping views of our city. I'll get back to that in a moment but for anyone who thinks of Cincinnati as somewhere in the middle of the country let me give you a geography lesson. Cincinnati sits on the Ohio River in Southwest Ohio. Kentucky is directly across from us and Indiana is a stone's throw to the west of us. We sit on a bunch of hills, which is beautiful but makes for frightful driving when it snows. Okay, back to the park. This particular park sits on one of those big hills and it really does have great views of Kentucky and downtown and we pass it every time we go into downtown or Kentucky but we haven't stopped by in years. Mostly because we are always in a hurry coming and going and the neighborhood surrounding this park is not the best anymore. Sad but true...........Click on the photo above and try to find the big Cincinnati sign spelled out.
So Friday night after we went to see Fireproof we stopped at the park on our way home. It was a beautiful Autumn evening and it brought back memories of our first dates. Driving in my sweetie's orange Volkswagen bug and swinging on the swings there. We used to go there when it was dark but I don't think I would do that now. I remember my sweetie telling me about his family's fruit and vegetable business while we were swinging on the swings and telling me it was downtown etc.... and I being 16 years old thought it was a fruit and vegetable stand that they sold produce at not even knowing that there was a bunch of produce warehouses in a place they called the "bottoms" downtown. Interesting cast of characters that worked in the "bottoms", mostly Italian men who talked in a way that I as a 16 year old girl never heard before. But my sweetie and his brothers have great stories of these old guys who worked with them and honestly those old Italian guys treated me very nice.

So many memories are set here in my hometown. I can't imagine living anywhere else, no not even the beach for all I complain about the winter. Okay, maybe I could live at the beach from January to the end of March. But in the end my heart and family are here in this little corner of the world sitting next to the Ohio River with beautiful Kentucky across the water and Indiana just a stone's throw to the west.




7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We lived in Northern Kentucky, right across the river, for about 4 years. I loved it there. Dom worked in Cincinnati and I went to nursing school there. I loved going downtown - I thought Fountain Square was so pretty.

We watched an old rerun of WKRP last night - it was fun seeing the town again.

Is Izzy Kadetz still in business?

judy said...

Hi Joan,

Isn't that a beautiful setting for a wedding? My friend, Deb's daughter got married there one year ago and it was the most beautiful wedding. I did not even know that this place was up in Mt. Echo and I've lived here all my life. I took a nice picture of the city from that same place that you took the first shot and was truly amazed at how clear it turned out.

Judy

Anonymous said...

I haven't been to Mt. Echo in years. It really does have beautiful views of the city! Fun!

A Bite of Country Cupcakes said...

Looks lovely...
And hearing the reminising that it brings outin you is just lovely!
Beautiful views

Brenda said...

Sweet 16 memories, love em!

Beautiful views in your city too Miz Joan.

I found the sign!

Donna said...

I love you Cincinnati area! What a terrific place to live!

Brit. (lille meg) said...

Yes, you really have a beautiful city!