Friday October 1 to Sunday October 3 (Cincinnati)

Friday

The weather was fine but cooler and very windy. We departed for Cincinnati about 1.30 pm and arrived at Deena and Mike's place about 6 pm. This was good going considering we stopped for coffee, then food and finally, for gas at Dayton. Lisa also had to contend with the wind which was very noticeable on occasions. We also experienced some periods of slow traffic and, at one point, we were actually stopping and starting.

We went to the final dress fitting for Deena and it took rather longer than anticipated as there were quite a few things that need to be fixed, mostly small items although there is one major. Again, photos will be posted after the wedding although I can post the one I took of mother and daughter before the fitting.

By the time we met Mike, who had not accompanied us, at the restaurant it was rather late, lol! Back at base, I gave them their wedding gift from me, a cool photo I took of Mt Cook (NZ highest mountain) reflected in Lake Pukaki. 

I was so lucky to be there on a day with perfect weather. It was taken in 2012 when I was touring the South Island with a friend from Scotland. I had the photo framed in native NZ Rimu.

It was quite quite late by the time I set my air bed up and it was straight to bed. Milo decided to share my bed with me and spent most of the night with me.



Saturday
After a lazy morning we headed off out for Lisa and Deena to do some necessary shopping etc. Today the weather was very different, cold and wet, it rained most of the day. We started by having brunch at Echo, a cafe not too far from Deena's place. It was obviously a popular place judging by the number of people in there as well as the queue. After a tasty brunch I grabbed a coffee to go from another place, Awakening, and we headed into the Kenwood Town Center Mall via a couple of other places. It is huge!! I was dropped off as the others were going to a place opposite. I found an Apple Store inside and asked a question I needed answered re the Mini IPad 4 with the Apple Sim card.

I then wandered round and finally decided it was time for a Starbucks. Eventually I caught up with Lisa and Deena, they had accomplished almost everything they needed to.

We then headed in to the Cheesecake Factory for a drink and ended up having dinner there. I took a serving of Cherry Cheesecake, my favourite, home with me. We stopped at a Graeter's Ice Cream store and took some of that home with us. It is locally made using the original method. From their web site:
Graeter’s Ice Cream produces craft ice cream and gelato lines using a small batch, artisanal method of production dating back over a century. Graeter’s has won the hearts of ice cream enthusiasts across the country as well as the respect of the nation’s most influential foodies. The Cincinnati-based company remains family owned and operated and continues to handcraft ice cream 2½ gallons at a time. Today, Graeter’s has 40 retail stores and ship over 300,000 pints annually for online mail order sales. Graeter’s can also be found in more than 6,000 grocery stores in 46 states.


So the ice cream was dessert and the cheesecake would be breakfast, lol!

Milo was investigating various things in the room I was i so I managed a few photos.


Sunday
After yesterday;s weather, today was vastly different sunny and much warmer. It as not quite such a lazy start to the day as we needed to return to Archbold. 

There was time for a cup of tea with my cheesecake as well as to take a few photos of Mia.

I let the airbed down but it was going to stay in case it might be needed for visitors for the wedding.

We headed off just after 11 am and we had a good run home. Again, we stopped for coffee, gas and a restroom. The wind was not so noticeable today thank goodness and traffic was fairly light. As yet, there is not too much evidence of fall colours on the trees.

Back home and Harry had been busy tidying up the outside ready for winter! he had also found time to get the bikes down and after unpacking my backpack I went for a ride for about half an hour.