Wednesday, September 19, 2007

USS Ranger Reunion Trip for 2007 - Day Four


Today is check in day for the USS Ranger Reunion in Covington, KY.  People are coming in from near and far.  Today my friend Linda from Dayton drove down to visit with us.  We had a lovely meal in the Radisson revolving restaurant.

Tonight Carol and I decided to have a light dinner in the restaurant.  Their French Onion soup is wonderful and with a basket of multi grain rolls and butter, well, we were in heaven. 

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

USS Ranger Reunion Trip for 2007 - Day Three

Day Three dawned bright and sunny and Carol and I decided to snoop the area.  In Covington/Cincinnati they have this great shuttle system - The Southbank Shuttle.  For just a buck or two you can sit back and travel around the main sections of Covington and Cincinnati.  We figured it would be a great way to see the general area and decide where we wanted to snoop some more.


We had a late lunch with Joe and Ann in Mutter Gottes again.  After lunch Ann went shopping and Carol and I went for a walk through the neighborhood.

Tomorrow the Reunion officially starts with check in and meet and greet. It will be good to see old friends again!

Monday, September 17, 2007

USS Ranger Reunion Trip for 2007 - Day Two


Once again, as happened last year, the internet connection at the hotel was there but quite slow on my laptop, so I am posting everything after the trip.  It was one of the best trips we've ever been on!

Day Two - Monday, September 17th.

We arrived in Covington, KY and the Radisson Hotel about mid morning.  It was a great ride - we got a very early start out of Pittsburgh (and thank you again Tom-Tom - had it not been for you, we would still be driving in circles trying to find out way out of the city!)

Met up with Joe and Ann and walked over to Mutter Gottes (Old Town) for lunch at one of the German restaurants there.  The food was wonderful and it was warm enough to eat out on the front porch.  Of course we had to have a large glass of German porter with our meal. ☺

We all unpacked and settled in. 

The hotel is a round hotel - so the rooms are interesting - narrow at the door and wide out by the windows - each room has a little balcony.  Our room overlooked Covington and we thought that was nice until we met Joe and Ann for happy hour in their room before heading up to dinner in the hotel restaurant.  They had a view of Cincinnati and the Ohio River - another Wow!  Carol and I were just a bit bummed about that.

The restaurant is beautiful - it's on the top floor and revolves - so in an hour you get to see the entire landscape - including Cincinnati, the river, and Covington.  I kind of left the room view go but Carol mentioned it throughout dinner - what a nice view they had and our view kind of sucked.  ☺  During dinner Joe disappeared and came back about 20 minutes later with 2 room keys.  He had gone downstairs to the front desk and asked that our room be changed.  Boy, did we get a great view!  Thanks, Carol, for speaking up!  Even with 2 happy hours under our belt and sharing a bottle of wine at dinner, we moved our stuff to our new room in about 15 minutes! 


Cincinnati at night is dazzling and we had the view to prove it!  If you visit the Radisson Hotel website, you'll see what I mean...

Sunday, September 16, 2007

USS Ranger Reunion Trip for 2007 - Day One

All I can say is WOW!  The Chihuly installation at The Phipps was fabulous, awesome - words just cannot do it justice.  Here are some shots I took.

If you ever get the opportunity to see a Chihuly installation, please make sure you do.  The WOW factor is off the map.  They did decide to keep some pieces there permanently so head to the Phipps and feast your eyes.

We do have to thank our Tom-Tom for getting us there - we got a little lost on the campus of Carnegie Mellon and Tom-Tom got us out of there perfectly. 

Now we are settling in at the Hampton Inn for the night and will continue on to Covington, KY bright and early tomorrow!

USS Ranger Reunion Trip for 2007

Today my friend Carol and I are heading out to Pittsburgh, PA - our midway stopping point for Covington, KY where this year's USS Ranger Reunion will be held.  My dad is a former Ranger and we will be meeting him and his partner Ann there tomorrow.

We are leaving bright and early today in eager anticipation of the first stop on our trip - The Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh.  We will be seeing the Dale Chihuly installation there this afternoon and we are both so excited about it.

Happy trails!