Back to Beavercreek

On June 20th we made the trip back across the midwest to Ohio, taking roughly the same route as we had come except for one major detour to Philadelphia! And also accidentally as far south as Delaware (the first state) before I woke up to discover the GPS had not told Jon to take the turn off that would have led straight to Pennsylvania/Philly.

There we admired the beautiful, old buildings in the town centre, walked briskly to the Liberty Bell (photo op) and ate a Famous Philly Cheesesteak at the diner in the corner of the Reading Terminal Market (thanks to the Mancunian from Detroit who once lived in Philadelphia for pointing us in that direction!)

On our way out we stopped at a park out front of the huge art gallery with an impressive statue and ate the sweet treats we'd gotten from another stall at the market - tiramisu cheesecake and chocolate covered banana-with-strawberry-and-custard-on-biscuit-base! Philadelphia was surprisingly beautiful, the small bit we saw anyway. Even the industrial area we came in through had its charm. I really just wanted to see the slums Bill Bryson talked about.

The following day was Kings Island Day! Finally! The weather was threatening scattered thunderstorms in the Mason, OH area but we were not put off (weren't able to be really as this was our only chance to go). It was a blast! The thunderstorms never eventuated and Jon rode almost all of the big roller coasters with me (after dosing himself up on 2 kinds of motion sickness meds). We rode pretty much everything the park had to offer (except the kiddie ones, and the log ride which I will have to go back for one day!) including The Beast - the longest wooden roller coaster in the world! The attached Boomerang Bay had some great water slides too, good variety, as long as you could bear the bad, probably fake, aussie accents on the recordings while you waited in line for the Sydney Sidewinder or the Tazmanian Typhoon (yes, with a Z). The best ride of the day had to be Flight Of Fear, mostly for the surprise factor as you couldn't see the ride at all until you were hurtling along it!

Thursday we were leaving Beavercreek again, but not before a quick trip to Yellow Springs for a slice of Ha Ha Pizza and a look around town (great arty and eco shops, even a shop devoted to everything tie-dye!), back to Xenia (still no postcards, or railway bridge. Did see a great sign for a tornado shelter though, but didn't get a photo sadly) and a photo by the Beavercreek sign.

Finished packing, said goodbye to 2452 North Knoll Drive, and the three of us hit the rode again.