Ode to Ohio

The sprawling farmland surrounding Lebanon, Ohio, is verdant and welcoming to the weary road vagabond.

Whizzing past farmland just 
outside Lebanon, OH

Lebanon is beautiful rural area of the state, a quiet haven less than an hour northeast of the city of Cincinnati.
GipsieGirl (that's me) got the chance to stay with the lovely family of a dear friend. Their house stands on the site of a former corn farm - now endless, verdant grassy fields just perfect for go-kart racing, growing herbs, and raising chickens. 

The hens loved the scraps from our fruit salad, especially the strawberry tops and the bits of juicy cantaloupe still left on the rinds, but sniffed down their beaks at the orange peels. Rather than clucking, these hens made a soft cooing sounds that sounded so beautiful. My friend's brother taught me to sneak up behind a chicken, gently grasp it around the wings, and pick it up. I found that chasing and hugging chickens provides endless entertainment for a city (or rather, suburbs) slicker. 

A friendly (and hungry) brood of hens

On my first evening in Ohio, the sunset was just beautiful, and I managed to snap a photograph just as a small, personal plane swooped by on its way to the little Lebanon Municipal Airport. Actually, my friends said that the plane shouldn't have flown so low, but it made for a neat image, didn't it?

Speaking of flying, I hear that you can take hot air balloon rides in Lebanon through Gentle Breeze. Their online brochure lists an option called "Private Champagne Flights." Sounds fun!

Wings over Lebanon

Later...pizza and baseball, woo hoo!

According to my friends, La Rosa's pizza is an institution in the Cincinnati area, and no wonder. Friendly service and pizza to die for. They even had gluten free options that let me pick my own toppings to go on a GF pizza crust. I chose cheese, olives, and sausage. I know that sausage is a pretty common topping, but I had never tried it before, and now I know I'll have to make it that way myself. Delish.

Afterwards, we went to a baseball game in Cincinnati. The teams playing were the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington DC Nationals. Every time the pitcher for the Cincinnati team struck out a player from Washington, the two smoke stacks that were built near the walls of the stadium (in honor of the riverboats that traversed the Ohio River) belched out flames!

One of my friends is engaged to a guy from Scotland, who, it turns out, had never been to a baseball game before. When I asked how baseball compared to cricket, he said he loved cricket, which is perfect if you want to pull your hat over your eyes and take a nap. All of the players wear perfectly-pressed white uniforms, and play very daintily so that they can still look good for afternoon tea! In contrast, baseball is, as he put it, a "sweaty sport." He loved it! But the hawker who kept yelling "COLD... beer. NUTS!" at the top of his lungs shocked him a bit.

My friend nearly got attacked by a fly ball, but was saved by her sister. You see, the first 2,000 (or was it 20,000?) people in the stadium received free Joey Votto bobbleheads. I think he was a VIP or MIP or something.

Anyway, we were watching batting practice before the game when this baseball comes hurtling towards us, right at my friend! Her sister calmly held up her boxed bobblehead and deflected the ball, which the guy in front of us caught. And he didn't give it back! But his girlfriend was with him, so I guess I don't blame  him.

Afterwards, we heard the people behind us whispering, "Did you see that? She stopped the ball with her bobblehead!"

I also attended a performance of the musical Les Miserables for the very first time, at the Aronoff Theater in Cincinatti. My friends and I went on May 1th3, the traveling production's very last performance at the Aronoff. I had never seen the musical before, with my only exposure to Les Miserables being, first, the sweet but highly abridged 1950s film starring Michael Rennie (in my opinion, a unique and charismatic actor, unfortunately somewhat forgotten now), and, second, reading the first 100 or so pages of the brilliant but lengthy tome itself in an attempt to read the whole book before seeing the musical (yeah right!).

Although I had never seen Les Miserables before (or "Les Mis," as we theater snobs affectionately call it), I have seen a fair variety of live theater performances, mainly opera, but also musicals and ballet, and I can honestly say that this struck me as the best live theater performance that I have ever attended. This re-imagined production debuted in 2010, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first show in 1985. 

http://www.lesmis.com/

The magnificent vocal talent that I witnessed - the power of Peter Lockyer's (Jean Valjean) and Andrew Varela's (Javert) voices, especially - combined with the stunning and creative special effects, created an unforgettable and poignant experience that communicated the desperation of poverty as well as the beauty of the story's theme of forgiveness and redemption. Thank goodness for waterproof mascara. Between the gorgeous voices and the heart wrenching story, I cried practically the whole way through. I even bought a Les Mis t-shirt. Since I never buy theater souvenirs, that means a lot!

What a way to end an incredible trip!