Day Trip to Cincinnati

A couple weeks ago, we decided to plan a day trip to Cincinnati.  Todd & I both have friends that live down there and since we weren't going to do a bigger trip for Todd's birthday this year, I wanted to at least go somewhere relatively close that we could bring Lucy....and what better place than visiting a brewery in Cincinnati!  

 

Of course, no trip to Cincinnati is complete without a stop at Ikea, which was our first destination once we arrived in the late morning on Saturday.  We didn't really have anything in mind that we were going for, except some picture frames, so we spent a little bit of time just wandering around and checking out all the displays.  We're hoping to redo my closet soon (Todd's suggestion, not mine!) so we were looking at options there. It was pretty crowded, which isn't surprising for a Saturday, and I think we made it in and out of there in just over an hour.

 

Welcome to Ikea!

 

Lucy enjoyed people watching

Our random bag of stuff we bought

After Ikea, we made our way over to Hyde Park to have lunch at Cock & Bull Public House.  The food was pretty good, especially our pretzel sticks that we had as an appetizer, and Lucy seemed to enjoy her grilled cheese.  

I really liked the look of the restaurant from the outside

Todd couldn't resist a taster tray of local beers

 

Once we finished lunch, we drove about 10 minutes away and arrived at MadTree Brewing, which was our real reason for the trip.  We met up with several of our friends there, who ironically, all already happened to know each other.  Todd, Lucy, and I were the last ones to arrive and I guess when my friends showed up, they started talking to Todd's friend (because they already knew each other) and said they were both meeting some friends from Columbus.  Turns out, they were both meeting us!  It was really weird and it just goes to show what a small world it really is!  We got there just in time to grab a beer and then catch the start of the 3:00 PM brewery tour.  I felt so bad for Lucy since she had been cooped up all day in her car seat, shopping cart, and highchair.  She was really antsy and the tour was really laid back so we were able to let her run around for a bit.  

 

MadTree Brewing

 

Inside the cooler

Lucy was fascinated by all the beer cans

Typical brewery pic

Family photo while on the brewery tour...and I hate giving Lucy her pacifier other than when she's sleeping but it's a good way to control her noise level/volume especially when we're on a tour!

The tour was pretty short, a little less than a half hour, so we spent about another hour to hour & a half trying some beers and catching up with friends we hadn't seen since before Lucy was born.  Despite the relatively short visit, it was really great afternoon and we left around 5:00 PM to head back to Columbus so Todd could watch the Ohio State football game.  Like Columbus, Cincinnati seems to have a lot of smaller craft breweries popping up so we will definitely be back soon to see our friends and drink more beers!

Hanging out with Colleen, one of my former UD cross country teammates, and Kelly, one of my former roommates at UD