Life in FNQ - Matto & Jess: Holidays

Slowly making our way through the holiday photos! Today's episode finds us staying in Cincinnati with Warren and Angie. If we thought that New York was cold, then we were in for a rude shock in Ohio! Most days we'd wake up to an outside temp of between -10 and -20 Celsius. Especially considering that a week before we had been in 35-degree tropical Cairns summer days!

We had a blast in the week we stayed with Warren and Ange - can't thank them enough for putting us up and for taking the week to show us around. The end of the week came around far too quickly, unfortunately, even though we did pack as much in there as we could.Still - that's as good a reason to go back in a couple of years as I've ever heard!

We had hoped to see some snow, and weren't disappointed - there was some ripper snow storms that came through! Unfortunately the down side of that was that we were stuck at home for a couple of days, and a lot of people had their power cut - luckily we escaped all that. Having never seen snow before, both Jess and I were excited to get out and play around in it. After the second day of shovelling off the driveway though, I think I've had my fill of snow!

As you'll see from the photos, whilst we were there we:
* Hung out in their basement which Warren had converted from a bare, concrete box to a multipurpose rec room complete with bar fridge and fireplace, playing airhockey, guitar hero a Simpons game;

* Drove 4hrs down to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. Was wonderful to see the history of the car and see all the collectable cars that are on loan to the museum. Unfortunately their gift shop could use some work, as I don't think any of us could find something worth buying!

* Had some Chilli for lunch at Skyline Chilli - a local Cincinnati institution. We had a three-way each, and a brace of Chilli Coneys (like a small hotdog). Was very tasty!

* Sledded down the hill out the back of Warren & Angie's place on some cardboard and a sheet of plastic. The day after, we actually had proper sleds to use! The rosebushes and concrete culvert at the bottom of the hill proved interesting though!

* Explored around Angie's Dad's barns, and his collection of restored cars. Had a ride in Warren's mustang out in the snow to get some gas!

* Walked around a local park in the snow, and watched the kids sledding in a big natural bowl - hilarious chaos!

* Walked along the river in downtown Cincinnati, and across the river to Newport for lunch. As we were walking along the river, a fine day turned to a light dusting of snow - magical!

* Played with the cats

* Visited the local Harley dealer (Aces and Eights HD) and marvelled at the price of brand new bikes. $10k for a brand new Buell - where do I sign up???!!!

* Visited the local GM dealership for a warranty repair to Warren's truck. Marvelled at the price of the second hand Dodge RAM SRT10 in their yard - $24k! Where do I sign up???!!!

And heaps more that I won't bore you with. Suffice to say, we had a ball. Was great to see both Warren and Angie again, and they went out of their way to make us welcome. Easily the best week of the entire holiday for me. Would love to go back, but maybe a direct from from AUS to the US next time!

Thanks again to Warren and Angie for putting us up, running us to and from airports at ridiculous times in the morning, and just generally having us there. We had a blast. Hope you enjoyed it too!

Here's the photos: