Time to catch up on posts. :-) On Monday, July 21st, we had the opportunity to check out some neat stuff in Cincinnati. That's a neat city!

The first thing we got to do was to ride on the "Duck Boat". It's a large amphibious vehicle that totes visitors like us on a tour of the Newport levee area and Ohio River.

Pictured below is the family we are staying with. Kymm, Cameron (on the left) and David (on the right). And I think you know my kids. :-)

We all received a gift of a quacker to support the atmosphere.
We got on the boat or what seemed more like a bus on the Kentucky side of the river, across the bridge to Cincinnati, Ohio and with a quick splash into the Ohio River. I wish I had gotten a picture of Daniel's face at that very moment. It was a look of shocked excitement. And off we went!

Notice the bit of preserved history in the background here. Steamboats were the main source of transportation through the 19th century and early 20th century. These are now used to teach history and to provide entertainment. I found the many bridges over the Ohio River to be fascinating. Each one looks different.

This is one of the towers of the John A Roebling Suspension Bridge. Locals simply call it "The Suspension Bridge". I think I would, too. :-) It was originally called the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge when it was completed in 1866 before it was renamed after the designer in 1984. It was the longest bridge in the world in it's time at 1,057 feet.

Pictured below are the more modern-day bridges. The yellow one on the left is the Dan Beard Bridge. The blue one in the center are the L&N bridges and the one on the right is the Taylor-Southgate bridge. I borrowed this pic from the internet since mine weren't nearly as good.

While on the Duck Boat, the driver took us a short way up the Licking River. It was a little more secluded from the city life with more wildlife. From Wikipedia: The Native Americans called the river Nepernine, but when Dr. Thomas Walker discovered it in 1750, he called it Frederick's River. One earlier name, Great Salt Lick Creek, makes reference to the many saline springs near the river that attracted animals to its salt licks. The origin of the present name is unclear, though possibly related to this previous name.

Among the wildlife were lots of Canadian Geese. We saw some mallards and some other waterfowl that we didn't get a chance to identify. Finally, since we were a small group, every kiddo got a shot at the wheel. Taylor already knows how to drive a boat, but she said that the turning reaction was much slower in this, likely because of the weight and length of the boat. The driver was great with Daniel. He enjoyed that.