Mt. Adams

Last weekend we took advantage of a pleasant fall evening to trek up to Mt. Adams, which overlooks downtown Cincinnati. The streets of Mt. Adams are steep and narrow, many really only wide enough for one car. One must creep slowly and carefully to avoid parked cars and night-life-loving pedestrians. It's a fun place at night - colorful lights, throngs of people having fun, and great views at every turn. We parked near the old Rookwood restaurant (now named Porkopolis Tavern, which does it no justice) and found our way to a wonderful overlook that gave a panoramic view of downtown Cincinnati, the river, and on across to the Kentucky side.

Chris used his tripod and got some great pictures ~ however, my little Fuji doesn't nearly do the job in showing how colorful the view was. I need to get him to start a blog to share his pictures and his perspective - it can be quite different than mine.

We left the overlook and hiked up many many steps to (what we thought was) the Church of the Immaculata. Well, it turns out we were just climbing up to the Monastery apartments, high atop one of the many hills...so we kept on going until we came to the bar area, near the "Monk Whose Cup Runneth Over" statue at the corner of Pavilion and St. Gregory Sts. Evidently this bronze statue was created to honor the wine-making heritage of Mt. Adams (which I knew nothing about until I looked it up)... for a brief period in the early 1800's, Mt. Adams was well known for its wines. Go figure.

We continued on, making our way downhill past old rowhouses, most now renovated and beautiful, occupied by those who love the lifestyle in Mt. Adams. This particular group of homes had an almost haunted feel to them .....

We finally found our way to Holy Cross - Immaculata Church on Guido St. and of course that involved climbing yet another set of steps (huff, puff, pause, gasp, continue on to the next set ...). It sits atop one of the highest points in Cincinnati, overlooking the river. There was a misty full moon, and the view was wonderful.

We worked our way back to the car, making a false turn or two ... should have left a trail of crumbs to follow. It was a great to be out walking around, enjoying the scene in Mt. Adams, but I must say I loved getting home to a nice soft bed! Little did I know that that evening was just a warm-up for our adventure in Kentucky the next day...