My first day

I woke up early to drive my first load of stuff to my new home in Cincinnati. After ploping a few loads into my car the sky darkened and the sky flashed purple and green; then it began to pour. I stopped dragging loads into my car in order to stay dry and put on the local news to see how long it was supposed to rain. Before I could find out, the electricity flickered and went off. I waited for a while to see if the rain would stop, but Michigan was inconsolible for losing Todd and me this weekend. I put a mixing bowl on my head, grabed a load of stuff, and dodged the lightning, and drove away from the state of Michigan. (The mixing bowl didn't fit in the box and I wanted to bring it...plus it was keeping me dry.)

I passed all the landmarks one would expect to see driving through the heartland of America...flag city, USA; Neil Armstrong museum; Giant plastic neon colored palm trees; Giant plastic Jesus statue with Las Vegas style fountains; worlds largest flea market; 32 Waffle Houses; and the American Bicycle Museum. I arrived on Main Street at 2:00 and stepped out into the stifling heat. Today was 95 degrees with the heat index of 105! Ouch! Todd and I trudged up the 71 steps to get to the apartment with our arms full and collapsed on the chairs. I was an hour before we got the energy to go down for another load.

The apartment is absolutely lovely; I will post pictures as soon as I have them. The walls are the colors of cantelope and honeydew melon. The view is as wonderful as I remembered, with the lush, rolling green hills in the background and the orange brick of the 100 year old buildings surrounding us. The window in front of the dresser gives the perfect view of the Cincinnati music hall - which looks like a European Cathedral.

We went grocery shopping at a Kroger in Kentucky, as it is the closest grocery store. We saw our first Kentucky mullett unloading a pick-up truck (so cliched, yet true). The grocery store was full of mutants, not unlike the South Cedar street Kroger, so we felt right at home. We saw a real Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food joint and laughed at the irony. After driving back to Ohio and unloading our groceries we gathered our strength to walk up the stairs to