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Ohio Halloween trip, 5 of 9
Oct. 31st, 2023 11:59 pmTUESDAY (Halloween)
I woke up about 6:30 to pee, went back to sleep and got up with my alarm at 7:15. We were downstairs for breakfast by 8:30. The three bears I saw at the front desk last night were all there: tall bear was in black and gray, with long pants due to the cold weather, while the other two were in khaki Carhartt bibs over neon yellow hoodies.
We planned a visit to Loveland Castle since Colleen had been to a wine tasting there. Since they didn't open till 11, after breakfast we returned to the room. I was going to prepare to work out, but Gary dozed off with the TV going, so at ten I set an alarm for eleven and joined him. After the alarm went off, I dressed for the pool and headed downstairs. Gary arrived as I was resting between sets of laps: I'd done ten and was about to do ten more. We left the pool around 12:30 PM and returned to the room briefly so I could change out of my wet trunks and we could get our jackets.
I plotted a course for a Potbelly sandwich shop on the way to Loveland Castle, but had to backtrack when we realized we were low on fuel. The front pump was having difficulty with my debit card and I asked the cashier about it. He told me to back up and use the other pump, which worked much better. Once I got the vehicle refueled, we drove east on Sharon Road to avoid the awkward merge onto I-75 north, instead using Mosteller Road to reach I-275 to I-71. When we arrived at the restaurant and made our way to the counter to order, the young lady who took our order exclaimed, "I *love* that shirt!", referring to my Killer Bob zombie T-shirt I'd worn for the occasion. Gary had a meatball sub and I had A Wreck with everything except mayonnaise. The sandwich was very good and I more felt than tasted the hot peppers.
After lunch we drove to the castle, which again involved a steep and windy descent into the Little Miami River valley. We paid the fellow with the reddish pointy beard in the admission booth and proceeded into the castle proper, where we were greeted by a nice lady and given a quick briefing on the history of the castle and the logistics of moving around the space, as the stairs up to the next level were impassable in the down direction, the level above that (a roof deck) was closed for maintenance, and the dungeon was only accessible from outside. We spent a little over an hour exploring the castle and gardens and another 20 minutes watching videos of the fascinating history of both the castle and the man who built it. Harry Andrews was an architect and historian who nearly died of meningitis while stationed at Camp Dix in New Jersey in 1918 before shipping out to serve in France for World War I. It was there that he studied medieval architecture and got many ideas on how to build the castle. He began construction in 1932 and kept at it until his death at age 91 in 1981. As we left the castle, I needed to pee so I used the porta-potty at the opposite end of the parking lot. That settled, we returned the way we came (ascending that same steep and winding road) and made our way directly from the castle to Erin's house for the Halloween party.
I showed Colleen some of the pictures from the castle and also from the Columbus trip, while Erin's younger children played with Rab and Erin made white bean chicken chili for dinner. As dinner was served, Kate and her younger kids arrived. For dessert there was carrot cake; both dinner and dessert were delicious. After dinner there was a flurry of activity as the kids took their turn in the bathroom and donned their costumes. Erin, Jay, and Kate escorted the kids around the neighborhood, while Colleen, Rab, Gary and I hung out in the garage waiting for the other trick-or-treaters to arrive, and either handing out candy or, later, instructing them to help themselves. Early on, there were quite a few big daddy bears accompanying their kids, including one particularly nice-looking dad in a camouflage hoodie who left a message for Jay. "No" was silently mouthed between Gary and me a lot this evening. Meanwhile, a steady stream of Halloween-themed music played on the radio. I particularly noticed a parody of Abba's "Dancing Queen" with Halloween lyrics set to that tune, and a Halloween version of "Baby Shark". Kate had procured a pediatric wheelchair for Brynn, as there was a lot of walking and although she was fine leaving the house, she tires easily and is too big to carry. Sure enough, when the kids and their parents returned, Brynn in her Elsa dress was seated in the wheelchair. There were at least a hundred trick-or-treaters according to Gary's rough count. One child was dressed as the red figure from "Among Us", an online game our friend Alan plays regularly, in a costume inflated from inside; another had a black block on their head representing Minecraft. One teenage dude in pretty good drag said "I'm pizzazzing!" Once the volume of people subsided, Kate brought out the jalapeño popper dip and the skeleton head cheese ball and we noshed a bit. When the streets reopened, Chris, Kate's ex, arrived to pick up the kids.
About 8:30 we made arrangements to meet Colleen for dinner the next day, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the hotel. Along the way I fell into an uncontrollable coughing fit, which only subsided once we got into the room and I'd had something to drink. We arrived about 9:15 and I had a text conversation with my cousin James, who suggested we meet up with him and Shib for dinner on Thursday. This suits us well, as we plan to attend the Cyclones' "Shut Out Hate" hockey game Friday. Gary tuned in the World Series game, in which Texas had a seemingly insurmountable lead (10-1) over Arizona in the fourth inning so he switched to a hockey game between Toronto and Los Angeles in Toronto. That game ended with LA winning 4-1. After the conclusion of the hockey game, we returned to the World Series game and watched its conclusion, which surprisingly wasn't entirely lopsided: 11-7 Texas. I then prepared for bed around 11:30.
I woke up about 6:30 to pee, went back to sleep and got up with my alarm at 7:15. We were downstairs for breakfast by 8:30. The three bears I saw at the front desk last night were all there: tall bear was in black and gray, with long pants due to the cold weather, while the other two were in khaki Carhartt bibs over neon yellow hoodies.
We planned a visit to Loveland Castle since Colleen had been to a wine tasting there. Since they didn't open till 11, after breakfast we returned to the room. I was going to prepare to work out, but Gary dozed off with the TV going, so at ten I set an alarm for eleven and joined him. After the alarm went off, I dressed for the pool and headed downstairs. Gary arrived as I was resting between sets of laps: I'd done ten and was about to do ten more. We left the pool around 12:30 PM and returned to the room briefly so I could change out of my wet trunks and we could get our jackets.
I plotted a course for a Potbelly sandwich shop on the way to Loveland Castle, but had to backtrack when we realized we were low on fuel. The front pump was having difficulty with my debit card and I asked the cashier about it. He told me to back up and use the other pump, which worked much better. Once I got the vehicle refueled, we drove east on Sharon Road to avoid the awkward merge onto I-75 north, instead using Mosteller Road to reach I-275 to I-71. When we arrived at the restaurant and made our way to the counter to order, the young lady who took our order exclaimed, "I *love* that shirt!", referring to my Killer Bob zombie T-shirt I'd worn for the occasion. Gary had a meatball sub and I had A Wreck with everything except mayonnaise. The sandwich was very good and I more felt than tasted the hot peppers.
After lunch we drove to the castle, which again involved a steep and windy descent into the Little Miami River valley. We paid the fellow with the reddish pointy beard in the admission booth and proceeded into the castle proper, where we were greeted by a nice lady and given a quick briefing on the history of the castle and the logistics of moving around the space, as the stairs up to the next level were impassable in the down direction, the level above that (a roof deck) was closed for maintenance, and the dungeon was only accessible from outside. We spent a little over an hour exploring the castle and gardens and another 20 minutes watching videos of the fascinating history of both the castle and the man who built it. Harry Andrews was an architect and historian who nearly died of meningitis while stationed at Camp Dix in New Jersey in 1918 before shipping out to serve in France for World War I. It was there that he studied medieval architecture and got many ideas on how to build the castle. He began construction in 1932 and kept at it until his death at age 91 in 1981. As we left the castle, I needed to pee so I used the porta-potty at the opposite end of the parking lot. That settled, we returned the way we came (ascending that same steep and winding road) and made our way directly from the castle to Erin's house for the Halloween party.
I showed Colleen some of the pictures from the castle and also from the Columbus trip, while Erin's younger children played with Rab and Erin made white bean chicken chili for dinner. As dinner was served, Kate and her younger kids arrived. For dessert there was carrot cake; both dinner and dessert were delicious. After dinner there was a flurry of activity as the kids took their turn in the bathroom and donned their costumes. Erin, Jay, and Kate escorted the kids around the neighborhood, while Colleen, Rab, Gary and I hung out in the garage waiting for the other trick-or-treaters to arrive, and either handing out candy or, later, instructing them to help themselves. Early on, there were quite a few big daddy bears accompanying their kids, including one particularly nice-looking dad in a camouflage hoodie who left a message for Jay. "No" was silently mouthed between Gary and me a lot this evening. Meanwhile, a steady stream of Halloween-themed music played on the radio. I particularly noticed a parody of Abba's "Dancing Queen" with Halloween lyrics set to that tune, and a Halloween version of "Baby Shark". Kate had procured a pediatric wheelchair for Brynn, as there was a lot of walking and although she was fine leaving the house, she tires easily and is too big to carry. Sure enough, when the kids and their parents returned, Brynn in her Elsa dress was seated in the wheelchair. There were at least a hundred trick-or-treaters according to Gary's rough count. One child was dressed as the red figure from "Among Us", an online game our friend Alan plays regularly, in a costume inflated from inside; another had a black block on their head representing Minecraft. One teenage dude in pretty good drag said "I'm pizzazzing!" Once the volume of people subsided, Kate brought out the jalapeño popper dip and the skeleton head cheese ball and we noshed a bit. When the streets reopened, Chris, Kate's ex, arrived to pick up the kids.
About 8:30 we made arrangements to meet Colleen for dinner the next day, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the hotel. Along the way I fell into an uncontrollable coughing fit, which only subsided once we got into the room and I'd had something to drink. We arrived about 9:15 and I had a text conversation with my cousin James, who suggested we meet up with him and Shib for dinner on Thursday. This suits us well, as we plan to attend the Cyclones' "Shut Out Hate" hockey game Friday. Gary tuned in the World Series game, in which Texas had a seemingly insurmountable lead (10-1) over Arizona in the fourth inning so he switched to a hockey game between Toronto and Los Angeles in Toronto. That game ended with LA winning 4-1. After the conclusion of the hockey game, we returned to the World Series game and watched its conclusion, which surprisingly wasn't entirely lopsided: 11-7 Texas. I then prepared for bed around 11:30.