UMTravels

We planned this trip months ago. The plan was fly to Chicago, spend the night, get on a train, spend the night in Cincinnati, get picked up in Kentucky by The Colonels for a couple of days in Kentucky.

Got to Chicago, oddly, we both had Chicago Transit Authority cards with money on them. Don’t we look great on the train?

We are headed to the world-class Travelodge Chicago in the Loop Neighborhood. TONS of college in the neighborhood, and inexpensive by downtown Chicago standards. They had a room ready for us, which after a long flight.

Not modern, but clean. This is the “deluxe” version of the two-bed. Good view of the city.

We were hungry, so I chose Devil Dawgs, thinking I’d eaten there on a previous trip. I hadn’t.

Chicago dog for Rache, Polish Chicago for me.

It was nap time after!

There was a wonderful feature of the hotel, no longer in use…trash chute. That should tell you the age of the building.

Rache ordered deep dish pizza in from Mainatis, delivery by someone’s grandfather.

WAY too much food for two people! Because of the tomatoes sauce (even with fresh wine-ripened tomatoes, I still had to take three antacids.

Here is where the story diverges from what the “plan” was.

We were planning on travelling this way to Cincinnati – in a private train car in swivel lounge seats:

Our seats were to be the furthest back in this section. I like the intimacy, rather than the seats in the bubble dome which were $120 more each, and you are sitting face-to-face with strangers.

Instead, here were our seats on the way to Cincinnati:

This is why you should always have a stash of miles to use if your travel plans change unexpectedly.

There were some amusing things in the Chicago Airport, like a Cannabis Disposal Bin if you forgot you had pot with you:

And a lounge that we both had access to with our Alaska Lounge membership:

With a VERY nice bathroom!

Hello Cincinnati – and an airport in another state, and now Uber/Lyft drivers – unless you book a Lux and it’s sitting in a lot waiting for you (after finding the lot with seriously BAD signage). I got the feeling that there was a cabal about airport service, but I also didn’t want to rent a car for one day and pay to park it downtown (which turned out to be $39 a night).

We got to our hotel: The 21^st C Museum Hotel Cincinnati, now part of the Accor chain. I’ve stayed at the one in Kansas City as well. Not inexpensive, but worth the money.

I’ll post in the next couple of days a review of the hotel, which was STUNNING, as was the meal. I’ll try and update the link to the hotel post HERE.

The Colonels picked us up the next morning for a couple of days in Kentucky at Frog Hollow Farm, their 5-acre estate outside of Richmond. Food is king here:

First night’s dinner:

And then there was the dinner party the next night for neighbors and Rache and I’s mutual friend Barb from Lexington, just up the road a bit:

And because they have cats – which I am allergic to, a couple of cute cat pictures. Cat in a box, cat standing guard over the stairway:

I brought The Colonels a canvas print – I had frames shipped to them because I couldn’t get them at home.

Didn’t realize the Mr. Colonel was a sci-fi fan – I brought this one because it had a frog in it. I’m leaving the other three frames and I’ll ship him more images for them for his unplanned “sci-fi bathroom”.

Friday, they dropped us back at the Cincinnati Airport where we had both an unforgettable and corporate complaint snack before the plane.

Only when I blew up the photo did I see actual evidence of mask violations by the staff – days after I filed a complaint on the server and the bartender. I was surprised at the quick response to my complaint, so I’ll give them that much. And on the food side, the parmesan tots were overcooked to the point that they were all crunch. Race said the wings were mid-range, but he liked the cornmeal breading. The joys of covid-related limited menus and staff issues.

I’ll post the hotel review in the next couple of days.

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