More Holiday Traditions – Trains

Although it was only about 40 degrees, it was a nice Saturday with sunshine. This afternoon we went to see the Duke Energy train display.

Since 1946, more than nine million people have visited Duke Energy’s lobby at Fourth and Main streets to see one of the world’s largest model train displays.

The theme of this year’s display is Fantasy Forest. The centerpiece is a multi-colored forest of brightly lit trees. Surrounding the trees are children’s toys of all sorts and sizes and whimsical elves. The trains wind around magical villages with miniature cars, building and people.

I vividly remember visiting the trains as a little girl, and today I accompanied my youngest son, along with two of my grandchildren, to experience another year of wonder spying this marvelous display.

The Holiday Model Train Display has truly become an annual Cincinnati tradition for my familiy.

Dig This!

Not much to do…Why not go hunting for fossils…

It was a gorgeous day with deep blue skies and mild temperatures. It was a leisurely kind of Sunday yet, we wanted something to do. Next thing I knew, we were at Trammel Fossil Park in Sharonville.

Katie, Michael, Rachel, and Brandon sprang out of the car to check out the place.

This fossil park is a place where schools and avid fossil hunters come and explore. Trammel Fossil Park is unique because there are very few places to dig for fossils in the Cincinnati area that are safe and accessible. Since the plot of Trammel Fossil Park has never been disturbed, there is a plethora of fossils in very good condition. Schools as far as New York have come to Trammel Fossil Park for exploration.

So off everyone headed with their digging tools in hand… with eyes peeled, they collected many interesting rocks to take home and clean up.

I think we all would have liked to have found a T-Rex tooth or a something comparable, but the vast majority of fossils we found were less than one inch in size. Most of the fossils were pieces of crinoids, trilobites, brachiopods, bryozoans, gastropods, and horn coral.

Some rocks were plain and uninteresting while others looked like the ocean floor teaming with life. It was fun to chip away at dirt/clay/rock to find some sort of treasure inside. There’s something about digging in dirt that brings out the kid in you.












Brandon said he found a mustache fossil!

Hot August

We have been hot in Northern Kentucky for about a month now. Temperatures have hovered in the mid to upper 90’s and have even crossed the scorching line of 100 degrees a few times. Humidity has been unbearable too, so that has only added to our “heat index” numbers.

In late August, hot is just plain uncomfortable. Hot makes you sweat. Hot makes you cranky. Hot is the topic on everyone’s lips, and brows. Being hot makes you crave cool things; ice water, iced tea, ice cream and ……for real relief, Long Island Iced Tea.

Hot is typically something that you want in the middle of January or perhaps on your enchilada. Everyone would like to look “hot” occasionally. And, if you are at a casino, you hope your luck to be “hot”.

The reality is that it is not January and I am not looking so “hot”. And, the only luck I want is for the weather to cool down to more seasonal temperatures.

In the meantime, I might be ordering that Long Island Iced Tea, just to cool down.