Cincinnati, one of the worst cities for women?!!!

by Jamie Rhein on

Iva’s post about the best cities for women caught my attention since Cincinnati was listed as one of the three worst. I wonder if Self magazine gathered the statistics that led to this list before Ohio’s smoking ban? The reason Cincinnati ended up at the bottom is because of the high number of women who smoke here. Since smoking is not allowed in restaurants or bars in Ohio I wonder where women are doing all the smoking? Next time I go, I’m going to have to pay more attention to see if they are gathered on sidewalks and huddled in doorways puffing away.

Since I don’t smoke, I find Cincinnati one of the better cities to visit. I think it’s Ohio’s prettiest. Winston Churchill even sang Cincinnati praises once. If you feel inclined to smoke and need a distraction, here are three places I’d go to spur you on to a healthier life.

#1. Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park. The flowers and plants here will keep your senses occupied. As it happens, today is the conservatory’s 75th birthday. You can’t smoke, but you can eat cake.

#2. Union Terminal. This art deco train station is fabulous and now mostly a museum center. This year is also its 75th. Head to Bodies, The Exhibition to see what smoking does to you. This is a version of the exhibit where specially preserved real bodies and cross-sections of real bodies are on display. I saw a version of this in Cleveland. Sort of unnerving, but great.

#3 Pendleton Pilates at the Over-the-Rhine location. This studio is not in its 75th year, BUT it has a following of performers. Cirque du Soleil, Chicago and Rent cast members come here when they are in town. Pendleton Pilates owner Stacy Sims credits Pilates with her own kick the smoking habit. You can drop in for some of the classes.

Ohio’s got you covered when it comes to presidents’ houses

by Jamie Rhein on

Ohio has the nickname “Mother of Presidents” because eight U.S. presidents were elected from here. Seven of the eight were born in this state.

Although the site of Rutherford B. Hayes’ birthplace in Delaware (about 30 minutes from Columbus) is no longer there (I think there’s a gas station on the site), there are other presidents’ houses and landmarks still standing. A tour of all of them covers a lot of ground.

Ulysses S. Grant’s birthplace in Mt. Pleasant is now a museum run by the Ohio Historical Society. Although it’s open only certain times of the year, this is a lovely place on the Ohio River west of Cincinnati. You can also see the school house where Grant attended in a nearby town.

James A. Garfield’s house in Mentor in the northern part of Ohio is a National Historic Site. Although it is open year-round, there are seasonal hours.

Benjamin Harrison was born on a farm near Cincinnati, although, there is not a landmark. To visit his house, head to Indianapolis. He may of been born in Ohio, but Indiana became home.

William McKinley has a mega tribute in Niles, his birthplace. Along with the site where he was born there is a memorial, a museum, a research center and a library. McKinley’s honor comes partly because he was a respected governor of the state as well.

William H. Taft’s elegant home is in Cincinnati. This house, now an National Historic Site, also has an education research center.

Warren G. Harding’s former home in Marion is part of the Ohio Historical Society. Most of the furnishings belonged to Harding and his wife. The hours are seasonal. Harding is also buried in Marion about one hour from Columbus heading north.

William Henry Harrison wasn’t born in Ohio. Even though he was born in Virginia, he moved to Ohio and was elected president from his home in North Bend not far from Cincinnati. The house isn’t there, but Harrison is buried in North Bend. His tomb is part of the Ohio Historical Society’s properties.

(see Ohio Presidents)

Greyhound bus line expands its priority boarding system

by Jamie Rhein on

Back in November, Catherine wrote a post about Greyhound’s $5 extra per ticket priority boarding, seat assignment system. After a month of trying it out, the system must be working well because it was expanded in December to include a large portion of Greyhound’s departure cities. (see news release) Not all trips from the departure cities are elibible for priority boarding, however.

The main purpose, I think, from the passenger’s perspective is to help allieviate the stress of wondering if you’ll get a seat on the bus at all, or have to wait for another. Also, you have more likely a chance to get your choice of either an aisle or window seat. Since the system lets you pick your actual seat, say goodbye to the risk of getting stuck next to the bathroom. If traveling with kids, it helps guarantee that you’re not going to need to ask a passenger if he or she would move so you can sit with your child.

Less stress means you’ll be more likely to take the bus which can be a real economic deal. For the bus company, $5 for a passenger isn’t all that much, but put all those $5 together and you have a money boost.

However, as Catherine pointed out, you can’t get the priority boarding over the Internet. It’s only available at the bus station which does mean waiting in line at some point unless you head to the bus station during a non-busy time. If you happen to live in or near a town or city with a Greyhound station, you can go 30 days in advance or less to purchase the priority boarding. If you want to take your chances, you can purchase priority boarding 20 minutes before your trip.

In order for your priority seating to be honored, you need to be at the gate 20 minutes before your departure time.

If the bus station is as packed as it was when my dad attempted to take the bus from Columbus to Cincinnati, having priority boarding would have assured him a seat if I had gone to the bus station a day or so earlier to get it. The day of the trip would have been too late, although he was traveling the day before Thanksgiving so bus travel was at a high. If you’re traveling in the summer, I bet it’s a similar situation.

The thing is, you can’t get priority boarding yet out of Columbus, but all buses out of Cincinnati and Cleveland have the option. Still, if there’s a smoother way out of those two cities, it should translate to an easier time in Columbus. My dad’s bus was delayed for hours in Cleveland which is why he never managed to actually take the bus.

For a list of all the available priority boarding cities, click here.

Pay phone–Cell phone: Guess which one is winning?

by Jamie Rhein on

The news is AT&T is going to dump pay phones by 2009. It’s already started. Being that I’m a bit of a Luddite, I find this alarming. Sure, as the article states, more and more people have cell phones, “even nine year-olds have a CrackBerry and Bluetooth headset attached to the dome,” but I think pay phones serve a function–perhaps not in every location, but I know people who can’t afford a cell phone or a land line phone–not consistently anyway. The people I’m talking about are the urban poor. Not all the urban poor, but some of them. They have a phone for a short time at the beginning of the month, but towards the end of the month, the minutes are gone and the service is off. I would bet that the rural poor are in the same situation. This is not because they don’t know how to manage money either. You can’t imagine.

This notion that everyone has a cell phone, even 9 year-olds, is the very reason why people buy stuff. I remember the unit on advertising techniques from my 10th grade English class. “Everyone is doing it.” To not be left in the dust of uncool, you jump on the bandwagon.

Also, there are still times when having access to a pay phone is also useful. Traveling for one. As a traveler, I’ve used a pay phone with a prepaid phone card many a time at a gas station or a fast food place to call home. I just recently bought a cell phone, but I’m the only on in my family who has one. My husband doesn’t want one–he hates talking on the phone and we’re holding out on getting one for my daughter since, to us, it seems that a cell phone for many adolescents is more of a vanity item then a necessity. Plus, teenagers just can’t leave them alone. They mess with them instead of focusing on the person they’re with or learning how to enjoy ones own company. That’s just us. (We’re coming close to caving, though. She wrote cell phone about five times on her Christmas list.) I still take a phone card with me when I hit the road. What happens if my phone doesn’t get service somewhere, or it breaks, or I loose it or the battery is dead? That’s my Ludditness talking. (Kurt Vonnegut was a Luddite too. Just read this if you don’t believe me. Seriously, don’t you feel like you are living in Welcome to the Monkey House sometimes?)

The way I see it, the loss of pay phones is another indication about how we’re moving further away from a communal existence. We can’t turn to the larger community to get our needs met, but must meet them ourselves. If you need a phone to call someone, you have to have your own. You have to have minutes. As a traveler who thrives on communal existence, I find this too bad.

When my father recently took his bus trip from Columbus to northern Kentucky for Thanksgiving, he wasn’t traveling with a cell phone. One day he may get one, but the plan for this trip was that he would call my aunt from the Florence Mall on a pay phone so she could come and pick him up once he arrived. In 2009, this plan will be obsolete, but for AT&T who is in the cell phone business, that will be a good thing. Perhaps, that’s the point. The more need a cell phone, the more we’ll buy, and that, just bothers me.

Creation Museum is paving more parking lot

by Jamie Rhein on

I am curious about the Creation Museum that’s not too far from Cincinnati in northern Kentucky. I pass by a huge billboard for it every time I head to visit my relatives who live near there. The billboard is stuck out in a field next to I-71. Most billboards between Columbus and Cincinnati are set out in fields. That’s all there is between the two cities. It’s a fairly flat and BORING ride.

The Creation Museum’s billboard is tasteful. There are silhouettes of dinosaurs on it. One might think the museum is about dinosaurs. Not exactly. It’s about the Bible and how it’s literal. Dinosaurs and humans existed at the exact same time according to the museum’s thinking. I’ve written about this museum before. It’s not a rinky dink place from all I’ve read about it. As a sociological study of human thinking, I’d find it interesting. People’s beliefs always interest me. It’s one of the reasons I like to travel.

When I went to Salt Lake City, I visited the Tabernacle on Temple Square and went on the tour that explained the history of Mormonism. I still remember how genuine and friendly the tour guide was when she led us through displays about Joseph Smith and the golden tablets found near Palmyra, New York. Every time I pass a Mormon church I look for the Angel Moroni on the top of the spire.

I’m sure at the Creation Museum people are also friendly. They must be. Crabby people don’t attract visitors, and there have been 250,000 people who have come to the museum since it’s opening in May. That’s one of the reasons there needs to be a bigger parking lot.