This past weekend was the inaugural Buckle Up Music Festival, organized by the same folks who brought Bunbury to Cincinnati, which took place for the third year last weekend. The advantage of doing these events in back to back weekends is that the stages and tents can all be easily reused. The disadvantage is that it has left me a little worn out and I only attended one day of each.  There were a couple of differences between Buckle Up and Bunbury including the primary beer sponsor (Bud Light vs. Warsteiner) as well as some vendor differences, but the setup was mostly identical.

Natalie Stovall and the Drive on Bud Light Stage

Buckle Up was primarily a country music festival. However, Saturday’s lineup was mostly dedicated to folk, bluegrass, and Americana artists, which is much more my style.  Natalie Stovall and the Drive caught my attention with an opening set medley of rock cover tunes before moving on to their original country genre, but I soon found myself on my way over to see singer-songwriter Joe Pug’s blend of folk-Americana.

Joe Pug on River Stage

The early Saturday afternoon crowd was light, but boats were already anchoring near the festival site and people were setting up blankets and chairs near the main stage to save spots for later bands. There were obvious age differences between the Bunbury and Buckle Up crowds. The youthful Bunbury crowd quickly bounces from stage to stage all day long, while many in the Buckle Up crowd seemed content to sit at a stage (maybe two) for the entire day, even if that meant time spent without listening to any live bands.

Houndmouth on Main Stage

One cool thing I saw at Buckle Up that I didn’t notice at Bunbury were the temporary tattoo schedules that Cincinnati Bell and other vendors were passing out for free. The tattoos only listed the lineups for the top three stages, but it will still a convenient way to quickly see who was playing without digging out the paper festival guide or unlocking your phone.

Schedule Tattoos

My favorite act of the day was easily The Lone Bellow’s performance on the river stage. This would be my third time seeing them play in the last year. Their 5 PM start coincided with the growing crowds, but I arrived a few minutes early to get a good spot on the floor just a row or two from the front rail. Their crowd continued to grow as their set went along and by the end the river stage seating area was near capacity. When I saw them first it seemed like 45 minutes was a full set for the band, but now with a year of touring under they belt they could have easily played for longer than the 45 minutes provided by the festival setting. I look forward to seeing them play again soon.

The Lone Bellow on River Stage

After catching some of Emmylou Harris on the main stage, I made my way back over to the river  stage for Drive By Truckers. I was hoping I could get another good spot down on the floor, but upon my arrival it was clear that the crowd had continued to grow. At this point I realized that the crowd was larger than Bunbury’s Sunday attendance.

Drive By Truckers on River Stage

After catching some of Alison Krauss and Union Station on the main stage, I again returned to the river stage this time for Old Crow Medicine Show. Unfortunately the crowd had grown so much that we were forced to watch their set from the far left side of the stage, where the sound was less than ideal. When the crowd is manageable, the river stage is a great place to catch a set, but when the crowd is too large for the contained space, the beauty of this unique  setting is lost.

Old Crow Medicine Show on River Stage

Willie Nelson closed out the night on the main stage with a massive crowd gathered on the festival lawn. I’m not sure what attendance was like on Friday or Sunday, but I would have to say based on Saturday’s crowd that the Buckle Up Music Festival will absolutely be back next year. If it does return, I hope that they again dedicate one of the days to music outside of standard country music. I know that I would do it again, but it makes buying tickets before the lineup is announced impossible.

Last month I had a dining experience that I am still dreaming about today. Ash American Fare occupies the end-cap of the East Hyde Park business block formerly occupied by Cumin. The ownership is still the same but the concept is new and features American comfort food.

Jack-Ash

My wife and I started with a couple of drinks from the libations list ($10 each). I went with the Jack-Ash, which featured Tito’s vodka, lime juice, and Crabbie’s ginger beer.  My wife went with the Traskwood, a more complex mix of Bulleit bourbon, muddled orange, brown simple sugar, orange bitters, and Lost Coast tangerine wheat beer. We both enjoyed the drinks but I doubt I would order either of them again based solely on the high price of each.

Fried Green Tomatoes

To begin our meal, we started with fried green tomatoes served with molasses souffle and whole grain mustard aioli ($11). The tomatoes  were perfectly fried and tender, while the souffle added an interesting sweetness to compliment the subtle spice of the mustard seeds. Our meal was off to a great start.

Ed Hill Chicken Roulade

For dinner I ordered the Ed Hill chicken roulade ($22). The chicken is filled  with apple and sage stuffing and served over a bed of couscous with grilled  tomato and broccoli rabe, finished with lemon thyme jus. In one word this dish was amazing! The presentation was very nice and every bite was incredibly delicious.

Vegetarian Black Bean Burger

My wife went with the vegetarian black bean burger with red pepper coulis, charred corn salsa, and roasted poblano aioli ($15). This is served with a large basket of fries and a pickle spear. Corn and black bean always go so well together, so I’m not sure why it has taken us this long to find this combination so well executed in burger form. The sauce on the burger was full of flavor and had a bit of smoky taste, which paired well with the grilled patty.

I can’t say enough great things about the food at Ash American Fare. Though we will probably save it for a special occasion, a return visit will definitely happen.

Yesterday I was treated to a special tour of Graeter’s state of the art manufacturing facility thanks to Yelp. This plant is four years old and has been optimized for nationwide distribution of the finest ice cream around.

Outside Graeter’s Manufacturing Plant

Before taking our tour, we were given hair nets and beard nets when appropriate. I was excited to wear a beard net for only the second time! You may recall my first beard net from my tour of the Frisch’s commissary.

Hair Net and Beard Net!

Those who are familiar with Graeter’s ice cream already know that one of the best parts of the ice cream are the massive chunks of chocolate in many varieties. These chunks of chocolate start out as ten pound blocks of the finest chocolate available. I believe that retail price of this chocolate is $19.95 per pound. Nothing like staring at a $200 piece of chocolate!

10 Pound Chocolate Block

The chocolate is melted and mixed with non-GMO soybean oil to achieve a better consistency for use in ice cream. The vats containing this rich chocolate mixture smelled heavenly.

Melted Chocolate

Graeter’s still a small-batch french pot process slowly creating just two gallons at a time. This creates an irresistible creaminess that cannot be achieved through modern commercial products.

Still Using French Pots

There are four pods of eight french pots. Each pod is staffed by three employees, two who work the french pots and the other who hand-packs the ice cream into containers.

Flavor of the Day: Double Chocolate Chip

The flavor of the day during our visit was double chocolate chip. Yum!

Freezing 2 Gallons

As I just mentioned, all the ice cream is hand-packed into the packaging, nearly 20,000 pints per day.

Still Hand Packing Too

One employee was kind enough to hand pack samples for our entire tour group right off the assembly line. This ice cream was almost of a soft serve consistency and was simply perfect.

Assembly Line

The new manufacturing facility does make use of machines to automate the bookends of the manufacturing process, while still allowing the ice cream to be made by hand in small batches.

Packaging Line

After viewing the entire production line, we took a quick tour of the warehouse, which can reach temperatures of negative forty! It literally took minutes for my body to recover from just a quick visit to this massive storage room.

Warehouse

After our tour was over we were treated for a few more samples, including two varieties of the new gelato line, the most authentically made gelato in North America. I really enjoyed the caramel  truffle variety and will have to check for that in stores.

Handcrafting Irresistible Ice Cream Since 1870

Unfortunately public tours are not currently offered. But I have some news that should make up for that. In celebration of national ice cream day, you can get any single scoop cone on Sunday for $1.44, commemorating Graeter’s 144 years. This offer is valid at any retail location and for any flavor.

A few weeks back I took my family on BB Riverboats‘ Pirates of the Ohio Cruise  on board the Belle of Cincinnati. The cruise on the Ohio River departs from Newport, Kentucky and lasts for one and a half hours.

Belle of Cincinnati

All  kids pick up their free pirate hat, eye patch, and treasure map before boarding.

Pirate Selfie

The treasure map is filled out during the cruise using clues from the sightseeing tour. My kids are a little too young for this, but that didn’t stop me from participating in the fun.

Downtown View

During the cruise there are a variety of pirate games for the kids to participate in. There is a limbo, sword fighting, water pistol fight (followed by swabbing the deck), and then everyone gets to walk the plank to find treasure at the end.

Swab The Deck

This was our first time cruising with BB Riverboats but it will certainly not be the last.

Walk The Plank

The  Pirates of the Ohio Cruise is offered  Fridays (Memorial Day through Labor Day) from  3:00 – 4:30 PM. We had so much fun on this pirate cruise, we may end up doing it again before the summer is over.

Last month was the second annual Food Truckin’ for Josh Cares  down on Fountain Square. Over $33,000 was raised for Josh Cares, an organization that make sure no seriously ill child feels alone and afraid while hospitalized. It is estimated that over 1,500 people gathered on the square during the three-hour event to sample food from 10+ Cincinnati food trucks. I can attest to the large crowd, as it was packed upon my arrival just before 1 PM.

Crowded Fountain Square for Food Truckin’ for Josh Care

I was only able to sample food from one truck, but fortunately it was one that was new to me.  Joseph Garcia, owner of Texas Joe, was born and raised in the heart of the South, Houston, Texas. According to his website, “His food comes from generations of family home cooks that didn’t measure or use recipes.”  With the exception of the tortillas, Garcia prepares all the items on his menu from scratch. He offers quesadillas, tacos and tostados with a variety of meat: including chipotle pulled chicken, braised beef brisket and 12-hour hickory smoked pork.

Texas Joe – “The Legal Mexican”

Unfortunately it seems that Texas Joe was working with an abbreviated menu for the food truckin’ event. The only thing on the menu for the day was tacos (1 for $4), however they were not the standard tacos either. Normally the tacos come topped with black bean and corn salsa, shredded cabbage, and grated cotija cheese, which sounds awesome! The tacos for this day did not have the salsa or cabbage but were instead served topped with a mix of sautéed vegetables. Both the chipotle chicken and the vegetables tasted good, but they did not blend well together and I found it to be a rather odd combination.

Chipotle Chicken Taco

I really wish I could have tried to taco as advertised on the standard menu, as it sounds so much better than the funky combination I was served on this day. The food was freshly prepared and tasted good, but I feel that it wasn’t a very Tex-Mex  inspired dish. I look forward to seeing Texas Joe out again so that I can try the true “Legal Menu.”

I bought tickets for Bunbury  last year at the conclusion of last year’s festival after having a great time and being guaranteed the lowest prices. The down side to buying this early is that you have no idea who is going to be playing when the lineup is eventually announced months later. In addition future plans can sometimes take place on the same weekend, like what was supposed to happen for my family this year. We had tentative plans to be out-of-town during Bunbury and after what I considered to be a lackluster lineup announcement, I went ahead and sold our tickets to some friends.

ZZ Ward on Main Stage

Fast forward to this past weekend and as the festival approached I starting digging into the lineup a little more and finding bands that I wouldn’t mind seeing perform live. Then our plans to be out-of-town fell through and I started  thinking about buying a single day ticket to attend Friday, but I just couldn’t convince myself to spend $70 for the single day ticket after originally buying the three-day pass for just over $100 last year. Fortunately I was able to secure a free pass into the festival on Sunday to experience at least a little of Bunbury’s third year.

Robert DeLong on River Stage

I arrived just before  4pm having no idea that some bands were pushed back due to severe weather earlier in the day. This was good news for me as I was able to walk right in and see The Lighthouse and the Whaler perform on the river  stage, which was fortunately back on the banks of the Ohio River this year. Last year this stage had to be moved up out of the floodplain due to high water. The serpentine wall provides a great natural setting for a concert with its steep steps and tiered seating areas. The disadvantage is that sometimes this natural amphitheater can cause the volume to swell a little too loudly, but that is worth the risk due to the ideal setting and great backdrop.

Young the Giant on Main Stage

Bands set times were cut just a bit in an effort to squeeze everyone in and the curfew was pushed out so that the headliners could still play full sets. I spent the middle of the evening bouncing primarily between the river stage and the main stage, which was moved to the other end of the grass of Yeatmans Cove Park. With the move they had to take out the  western most entrance to the festival, but as I mentioned last year this stage had to be moved somewhere else. In the old orientation, the stage and crowd  created such a bottleneck situation as the evening went on. I was so glad to see that the stage was moved, and I’m sure many others were too, even if it meant longer walks to get inside the gates.

Flaming Lips on Main Stage

I really enjoyed the stretch of music provided by Red Wanting Blue, Kopecky Family Band, ZZ Ward, Robert DeLong, and finally Young the Giant. These bands all alternated between the main and river stages, which are within close proximity to each other. So even though the following band would start immediately after the prior, I was still able to catch nearly all of their sets. The night was closed out with the Flaming Lips, who I have seen a couple of times before. As I experienced at these past shows, their set was much more about the stage show and theatrics than it was about the music. The fireworks were a nice touch though.

I saw enough continued improvements to visit the box office and purchase tickets for next year. Bunbury is worth the risk of buying tickets without knowing the lineup.

A couple of weeks ago my neighborhood and surrounding areas in Cincinnati suffered a major power loss. This wasn’t  the first time I’ve lost power at home during work hours, forcing me to find a coffee shop to work from for a few hours, but this was the first time all of my neighborhood shops were also without power. A friend of mine suggested heading towards either the University of Cincinnati or Xavier University, and while on my way toward UC I drove past  Café DeSales, who appeared to have power.

Inside

Once inside I found a few others already setting up a workspace at  the neighborhood coffee shop and deli. After ordering a cinnamon roll from the counter, I found a table and started my work day. Hours later power was still not restored to our house  and it was well after my normal lunch time. Fortunately  Café DeSales offers a variety of sandwiches and salads for lunch, in addition to breakfast items being served all day.

Chicken Salad Croissant

I was pleased to find a chicken salad croissant sandwich on the menu, always a favorite of mine. It is served with lettuce and tomato along  with a side of chips, potato salad, or pasta salad. I chose potato salad, which is a large serving in a plastic cup. Both items were tasty and better than I would expect from a place that is predominately a coffee shop. I ended up spending my entire work day at  Café DeSales and would gladly do it again in the future.

Before leaving the Smoky Mountain area a few weeks ago, we parked the car for one last hike. Kim’s brother Chris and his girlfriend Kirbi joined us for our last night in our cabin and came along for the hike to Laurel Falls.

On The Hike

This is one of a few paved trails in the park, so we were able to push our stroller up the trail and we saw many others doing the same. Parts of the trail have a steep drop on one side, so you’ll want to be careful with your little ones.

At The Falls

It takes about an hour and a half to cover the  2.5 mile round-trip hike to see the cascading waterfalls. The falls are 80 feet tall and a bridge crosses over the water stream about half way down. You have a great view of the upper falls from the bridge and shallow pool on the other side. The bottom half of the falls are hard to see, though you can walk right up to this edge and peak your head over.

Laurel Falls

The parking lot at the trailhead was very crowded, so it’s best to get an early start if you want to beat the crowds, otherwise you may find yourself having to hike extra just to get to the trailhead. Better yet, I’ve read that there are more scenic and less visited waterfalls in other ares of the park.

Gatlinburg City on Dwellable

After a long afternoon exploring Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies a few weeks back, my wife and I were able to walk the streets of Gatlinburg and get both of our kids to fall asleep in the stroller. We quickly took advantage of the situation to enjoy a peaceful early dinner at the Smoky Mountain Brewery.

Outside

Even with the address in hand, we walked right past the restaurant and brewery on our first trip down the street. It sits back off the  parkway behind Calhoun’s and the Cherokee Grill. The outside of the building looks like a ski lodge and offers multiple levels of dining.

Beer Sampler

Since we wanted to keep the kids in the stroller to let them sleep, we were asked if it would be alright if we ate downstairs in the small kitchen dining area. We occupied the only table but our server never once forgot about us. We enjoyed a sampling of their beers while looking over the food menu ($5.75 for 5 5-oz pours). Their main stay beer offerings seem to cater toward those who enjoy lighter beers and I was not impressed by them. However the porter was great as was  the featured IPA. Plus their beer is also ridiculously cheap!

Chicken Reuben

For dinner I enjoyed the chicken Reuben with sauerkraut, sour cream, and cheese on grilled rye bread ($9.75). This was not a standard Reuben  at all. I’ve had turkey Reubens many times, but never one made with chicken. The chicken was thick sliced and the sour cream was not really noticeable. Some thousand island would have really made this sandwich great, but it was still good as is. For the included  side I chose the honey-mustard potato salad, which was awesome!

Chicken Cheese Philly

My wife ordered the chicken cheese Philly with fires ($9.75). The sandwich was a very large portion and filled with loads of grilled peppers and onions. I stole a few bites of the sandwich and it tasted great. The bread was fresh and soft, and the filling was piping hot. The fries were your average shoestring variety, and I would definitely recommend the potato salad instead.

The Smoky Mountain Brewery is a somewhat hidden spot just off the main thoroughfare through Gatlinburg, but it is well worth a stop for a meal and some beer.

During our vacation a couple of weeks ago my wife and I made sure to balance things that we wanted to do with things that we knew the kids would enjoy. Fortunately we found something that all of us could easily enjoy,  Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies  in Gatlinburg.

Trey

The aquarium has numerous exhibits from tropical rain forests, to ocean reefs, a massive shark lagoon, and an interactive penguin playhouse. The underwater tunnel for the shark lagoon features a 340-foot long glidepath, that allows you to move through the exhibit without moving your feet. Our three-year-old liked this so much we had to do it twice!

Paige

The kids also really enjoyed the discovery center with puzzles, touch tanks, and other interactive displays. We spent the better part of three hours here and we even rushed through some of the exhibits. For those with longer attention spans, you could easily spend the better part of a day at the aquarium, and you will likely want to as tickets can be a little on the high side, $27 for adults. Also the crowd seemed to build as our visit went on, so arrive early to avoid the rush.

Gatlinburg on Dwellable