Cincinnati was a repeat destination for us. Since we had only stayed a week on our first pass thru town and loved it, we were eager to return for a long visit. While we didn’t explicitly plan it, Cincinnati was also close to Dayton where the eclipse would be in full totality during our stay (thankfully we booked early!)
Despite the fact the calendar said it was April, the weather delivered pretty much every season in the two weeks we were there. As we try to follow the warm weather, this was a monumental failure. We weren’t aware that Cincinnati had tornadoes until our weather alert apps started to inform us that yes, there are real tornadoes and it might be time to think about not being in one. Most RV parks have a solid structure such as a bathroom or laundry room that serves as a place to take cover but this park lacked any option to follow the yellow brick road to safety. Thankfully, no tornadoes touched down in the storms, which helped us to channel gratitude as hail and snow flurries arrived in the following days.
One of the things we didn’t get to on our first visit was the Cincinnati Zoo, home of Fiona the hippo. Fiona is a beloved local celebrity and hippo influencer on Instagram since her pre-mature birth in 2017. Not to fat shame, but Fiona is a big girl at 2,036 pounds. It’s easy to forget how damn big hippos are until there’s one standing nearby holding their mouth open for a chunk of watermelon. The Zoo is small but well organized. Also, it would be good to remember that when Brian says it’s time to move off a bench it might be because a snake is being removed from a cooler.
We intended to spend three weeks at our scenic campground on the river but the universe had other plans. While discussing the tornado threat with our neighbor he offhandedly mentioned that the tornadoes weren’t much of a threat but the rising Ohio River would be. To be clear, a flood while we’re camped at any park would be bad. Being carried away by a rushing river though would be a whole new level of suck. Suddenly we had a new, unanticipated activity, monitoring the river height on the National Weather Service website. Because our site was a higher elevation than the park entrance, once the water hit 48′ feet we would essentially be on an island with no way out. When the water hit 52′ the water would be at our tires and the only thing left to do would be recreate our own version of the movie Titanic. Turns out the RV park was also monitoring the same levels because the next day red signs were taped to everyone’s door saying the time to leave was coming and once the levels hit the dreaded 52′ both power and sewer would be cut within the park. Adding to this stress was a certain much hyped solar event in Ohio that meant all campgrounds in the area were capacity, as was the campground in our next destination.
The timeline suggested we’d need to be out by lunchtime the next day. We decided at 5 pm to go after working all day and drive that night. We packed in a record 2 hours and left at 7 PM. The next morning the water had already hit 48′ before 9AM, making our decision to leave a very wise one.
Where We Stayed: Tucker’s Landing RV Park. A “self serve” park with no cute camp store or amenities and mostly full timers. It lacked the extras, but the staff were friendly and the views out our front window of the Ohio River were pure magic (until they weren’t). No dog park but the rarely used soccer field in front of the campground provided plenty of space for a free range Beezer to practice her agility and frisbee skills.
Where We Ate:
Incline Public House – great views, learned about the history of inclines in Cincinnati
Oriental Wok
Skyline Chili – a milder and sweeter chili than Texas style and yes, we ate it on spaghetti like a local
Tickle Pickle – cool burger joint where menu items are named after rock stars