Sunday in Kentucky

Brrrr...it's cold! The temperatures have been in the teens, and that's in Fahrenheit, not Celsius. And it's not just cold--there are threats of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow for the night between Sunday and Monday. And I have a flight out from the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Airport on Monday morning at 7:00.

Deciding to spend the night at an airport hotel was one of the smartest decisions I have made recently.  It was gray all morning Sunday morning. And did I mention cold? We ventured out after Sunday Morning on CBS to do a quick errand, then back home to tie up the loose ends before leaving at around noontime for the airport hotel. We had planned to have an afternoon out in downtown Cincinnati, but not much attracted us when we set out, and the local news had advised us that the freezing rain would start at 1:00 PM.

Sure enough, we needed the windshield wipers sporadically as we rounded Cincinnati to the north and west on interstate 275.  Then Gladys the GPS lady sent us off 275 and down 75 south through city center, but still we weren't tempted to stop. We crossed the bridge over the Ohio River and reached the hotel in northern Kentucky at 2:00, and were allowed to check in early. We deposited our provisions in our room, noted the fridge and microwave with appreciation, and asked directions to "beautiful, downtown Erlanger." No problem, the desk clerk said without missing a beat, just go two exits west and you will come to the Crestview mall.

We had a pleasant two hours at Crestview. First we found Abuelos, an upscale "Taste of Mexico" restaurant, where we enjoyed a light lunch of spinach-stuffed mushrooms and bacon-wrapped shrimp from the tapas and small bites menu. That plus the thin tortilla chips was sufficient for a late lunch. Then we spied Joseph Beth, a bookstore we knew from Cincinnati, and spent a rapturous hour browsing books and its selection of carefully chosen jewelry, ceramics, accessories, and other lovely objects to look at and hold. This Joseph Beth, appropriately, has a section devoted to Kentucky authors and artifacts, as well as one to Cincinnati, and I particularly enjoyed perusing that.

We intended to move on to explore the rest of the shopping area, but by this time the raindrops were freezing even more, and this is an outdoor mall. We bundled up, found our way back to the car, and drove the two exits back to the hotel., and burrowed in to enjoy TV, the Internet, books, and the wine and cheese we had brought with us. And ordered a wake-up call at 4:30.