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About the Header Image: Idlebrook Wendy Darling Evensen "Wendy" one of our four Labrador Retrievers.

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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Cruising Up the River - Part 1 of 3

Good morning,

Whenever we are home in Cincinnati we make a point to take a riverboat cruise on the Ohio River.

My Honey and I took our daughter for the evening dinner cruise and had a lovely, relaxing evening on the river aboard the Belle of Cincinnati.  Today I'm featuring the first of 3 sets of images:  Cruising Up the River.
We arrived at the Newport Landing in Newport, Kentucky, across the river from downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, just before the 6 PM boarding time...
...and were glad we had left our guns at home.
We boarded the Belle of Cincinnati after walking through the terminal to pick up our tickets.  We got a kick out of the fact that the Captain and the Chief Engineer were at the gangway to take tickets.

We were so close that I wasn't able to get a very comprehensive image of the boat itself.  There is a very pretty picture of the Belle of Cincinnati on the BB Riverboats web site.
When seated at our dinner table I looked up from setting my camera and saw My Honey aiming his camera at me.  We have plenty of pictures of each other taking pictures of each other taking pictures....  It's fun to share hobbies.  ;)

I didn't take any pictures of the buffet line, but I'll describe it.  It was basic including baked chicken (pretty good),  beef (over cooked for my taste), pasta (I didn't try it so can't comment), tossed salad (very fresh and tasty), green beans (very salty), mashed potatoes (more butter and salt than I needed, but tasty), and excellent cheesecake for dessert.  Most of it could be considered comfort food.  There was plenty of it and people heaped their plates, some more than once.
After we ate, My Honey and I headed for Deck 4, the top deck, where we had a great spot to capture images.  The above image is of the back of the wheelhouse located forward on the top deck.  Most of the other passengers were still eating so we had this deck almost to ourselves.
Looking over the starboard side we saw the green rolling hills of Kentucky.
We passed a smaller tour boat company.  All of their boats were tied up and there were no people in sight. It was the middle of the week, though, so perhaps business will be better on the weekend.
The Ohio River has been high recently due to heavy rains.  You can see this huge piece of riverbank ready to erode and fall into the river.  To get size perspective, that is a lone male Mallard Duck in the water.
In this picture she didn't see me with camera in hand, but here is our daughter arriving on deck 4 to join us.
We passed the entrance to one of the larger Marinas in the area. You can only see a very small part of it here through the entrance to the main part of the river.  Generally, there is a great deal of pleasure craft traffic out enjoying such a pretty evening.  Again, since this was in the middle of the week, very few pleasure craft were out on the river.
On the way down to deck 2 to stand on the forward part of the boat to take pictures we passed the bell of the Belle of Cincinnati.
We continued up the river on this beautiful evening.

You are invited to stop back tomorrow for Part 2:  Cruising Down the River and more images of this beautiful trip on the Ohio River.

Very best,
Lois

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6 comments:

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Lois, sometimes the most fun cruises are close to home! This riverboat one is very "tame" comapred to your recent travels, but lovely and what a great day you had. Buffet foods aren't always great and comfort food is definitely what lots of folks prefer - some of it I like, not all. Like you, we would rate the food since Grenville and I both enjoy cooking. Glad you had such a fun experience after the recent parking lot incident.

Anonymous said...

Oh Goody, another trip down the great Ohio River! That boat was docked here in Charleston for many, many years during our River Boat Days - now suspended for what ever political reasons. We would have paddle boat races etc. Lots of fun. Good seeing her again. I've taken several rides on her down our river...I'll be ready tomorrow!! ...debbie

Elaine said...

That looks like a nice relaxing way to spend the evening, with lots of nice views along the river. Buffet food always leaves you feeling it could have been a bit better, and they do seem to go heavy on the comfort food, but it sounds like yours wasn't too bad. I look forward to seeing more of the river.

~*~ saskia ~*~ said...

How beautiful Ohio is! Come on, show us more :)

Hope you're week is lovely so far, Lois. xxx

Wanda..... said...

For our Senior Prom, we took a riverboat down the Ohio River, but that was sooo many years ago!

Lois Evensen said...

Good morning,

Yes, this was a wonderful cruise. The nice part is that it is in the late afternoon and evening so we get quite a variety of pictures in different light settings.

Part 2 in my little mini-series is cruising back down the river, then part 3 will be the sunset images of the downtown Cincinnati skyline. This cruise is all so very relaxing and close to the roots of how Cincinnati came to be on the banks of the Ohio River.

For those who aren't aware of exactly where these images were taken, this is where Eliza of Uncle Tom's Cabin crossed the Ohio River. There was no Army Corps of Engineers to construct dams to raise the river level then so the Ohio was a much lower/smaller river. The family home (now museum) of author Harriet Beecher Stowe is just blocks from our home.

Thank you, everyone, for stopping by.

Very best,
Lois