The American Midwest: ridiculed by the rest of the country as "Flyover States," they always occupied a soft spot in my heart as the region where I grew up, from 5 years old all throughout college at University of Illinois.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a "get the biggest hyped item" kind of guy, I'm more of a "find the hidden steals that others have discarded kind of guy." Cincinnati, Ohio is one of those discarded places that I find has some real value (even though I've only been there on brief stints, staying in the city just a few hours each time). Forget the "3 Rivers City" of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati is on the corner of 3 states of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, driving over the John Roebling bridge will get you into Kentucky. It has free Sunday admissions to all of its art museums, of which they're a little small if you're comparing to the Met in New York or the National Mall but still reasonable considering the population that it's serving, and the people at the museums were.....believe it or not, friendly. MJ and I wandered out into the "event session area" of the William Howard Taft Museum of Art (yes, that Taft, the 27th president and Supreme Court justice) and had to back out when we realized we'd gone to the real place and came face to face with a museum worker who began to pull out something, presumably to give us a warning or something......only to find out he was giving us a business card to call the museum if we were interested in having a wedding there. He thought we were looking for wedding venues! How thoughtful (even though we live hundreds of miles away). Quaint is a good word for Cincinnatti....also, underrated baseball stadium, right on the Ohio River facing into the stream, well situated, huge facility: if only there had a good team.
Columbus, Indiana is one of the hidden gems of the Midwest (btw, yes Ohio is a Midwest state, although it's pushing into the east a bit if you ask me, bordering both Pennsylvania and West Virginia. NOT Columbus Ohio, which bothered me when MJ and I walked around the campus of "THE" Ohio State University, 2 days before THE big loss to Michigan. To encourage student spirit they'd crossed out all the M's on all the street signs and building signs around campus, all in an attempt to get riled up for the big game. That's like one of those "don't change underwear" or "don't step on sidewalk cracks" superstitions: it had zero effect on OSU's chances of winning, and it just felt over the top.
Columbus, Indiana, on the other hand, is a great architectural town with pieces done by Eero Saarinen, has father Eliel Saarinen, with various churches, bridges, factories, libraries, even detention centers ("The nicest looking jail in the world!" one fellow tourist on our tour exclaimed). The crowning achievement was the Miller House tour, designed by Saarinen that just had such interesting features within the house with huge glass windows and backyard that would make any kid jealous of all the space in the back. An architect's dream and masterpiece.
Something about places like Bloomington, Indiana- college towns in the middle of the Midwest (nowhere) with its own vibe and college town mystique (and Mies Van der Rohe buildings!) that makes me want to go back to college again. And Jimmy John's! Happy college students still get to experience the wonderful culinary tradition that is a Jimmy John's store, with all the classic menu items still intact.
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