This park is a pocket strip park located in downtown Cincinnati. This thin park spans two blocks…read more It is primarily a place to sit and take a load off, with tons of shaded seating. It has been around since 1817 and is the city's oldest park. It has a statue of President James A. Garfield on one end, and a statue of President William Henry Harrison on the other, both of whom were from Ohio. There is a paved walkway that runs down the park and there are benches on the perimeter of the walkway facing each other. You will find decorative arches placed along the path and some decent fountains. The park is named after brothers John and Benjamin Pratt after they donated the acre of land to the city under condition it be used "for a market space." That land is now Piatt Park. The park has free wifi and is the site of special events. They were having a food give away while I was there. They also host a weekly acoustic lunch series in the summer. There is metered street parking and commercial lots within reasonable walking distance. Sadly the park is over run by the city's homeless and is beginning to look trashed and run down. The park does not have any water fountains, rest room facilities or much green space. It is basically a place to sit or maybe run through. I do like the park's historical aspect, but that can only take it so far. If you are looking for a park to hang out, I would probably pass them up. It has right intentions, but misses the mark. Fun Facts: The statue of President William Henry Harrison is the city's only equestrian statue and both presidents served the two shortest terms in office as president: Harrison served 31 days and Garfield 199 days.

A nice small park in the middle of downtown. It's not much. Really it's like a median in 8th…read moreStreet. Benches are here to sit at. This is located close to other things. It's not really a park to come run around. It's better for taking pictures or sitting. There's not a playground area for kids, because there isn't room for that kind of thing. It's located right in the middle of 8th Street, like a median. This goes between Elm and Vine. It has a statue of President Garfield. He was from Ohio. This is also pretty close to Fountain Square.

Delicious cocktails. Service was attentive. Look the garage atmosphere. Really cool place to go and…read morejust have fun. Plus, the seating is really comfortable. Sit down on a couch, eat some pizza from downstairs, and relax.

Second visit to SSOM. This time during the winter market with a more compact list of vendors…read moreoffering unique holiday gifts. This will be the last SSOC until spring time, but what a great reason to checkout the local shops not just on main but in OTR in general. The event is intended on taking place rain or shine so the organizers were well prepared for percipitation with covered tents. This included a furnished and carpeted tent that offered warm festival beverages from Revel wine bar.

My two friends and I spent 2.5hrs here today! We were given a tour and even got to participate in a…read moresimulator. The museum is is small but full of a lot of interesting artifacts and if you like Cincinnati history this place has it!

Had a wonderful time definitely it must do when you come to Cincinnati. The staff was very friendly…read moreand we learned a lot of information about the Cincinnati Police Department. I will say it again a must do.

We arrived on Wed 5/19/21 during regular business hours and no one was…read more there to help us. We struggled to finally find a parking space around the block.We also tried calling the phone number listed on the board at the entrance to no avail ,window shades were drawn. If they were possibly closed due to Covid there was no indication of notice. It was a great disappointment ,especially with the hassel of finally parking. Hopefully not to many people have to go thru what we did!!

The Betts House is a small museum tucked away in the West End, just off of Central Avenue. Clark…read moreStreet looks like it is miles away from Downtown Cincinnati, with its Italianate houses and gigantic canopy of oak trees. This part of town looks like it's straight out of a New England movie, with historic houses to boot. The Betts House is the oldest house in Cincinnati and Ohio, erected in 1804, just one year after Ohio became a state. The Betts family originally owned several blocks of land on the West End, but as generations passed, Cincinnati expanded and plots of land were split. Surprisingly, when the Betts lived here, the West End was considered rural. Just two stories tall and consisting of eight rooms, the house chronicles the history of the Betts family and the evolution of the West End in the permanent upstairs exhibit. Downstairs features a rotating exhibit, currently which is about the New Madrid Earthquake in 1811. The earthquake was felt here in Cincinnati and caused extensive damage to the Betts' kitchen. Sounds pretty cool, so why only three stars? During my visit, a mother brought her toddler to visit one of the docents. Their conversation could be heard loudly throughout the house, even when I was on the second floor and they were downstairs. The toddler was screaming and crawling all over the place. The docent didn't seem to mind that she was getting weird looks from myself and a few of the other guests. That being said, please do not bring children to the Betts House. It's a museum for adults or mature youth. Most of the exhibit features text and diagrams which are much too complex for anyone under age 10. Also, since there is a lot of reading, excessive noise and talking disturbs other patrons. Lastly, when I went upstairs to view the Betts Family exhibit, the room featured a few posterboards propped up on the floor. They weren't on stands or affixed to the wall like a normal museum. I actually had to kneel to read the end of the paragraphs. As a historical landmark, the Betts House is worth a look. The presentation at the museum, on the other hand, I could go either way. Cost per person: $2.00 Viewing Time: 1 hour Tips: - Ample, free street parking - Not handicapped accessible, as it is preserved as a historic house. - Check out the neighboring house with a placard, where the Gamble Family once resided.

There are some great things about this park, and some room for improvement. There are multiple…read moreareas within in the park to have a picnic. There is a large rentable pavilion with a fireplace, a smaller shelter, and a long, covered picnic table. There are three playground structures, but one of them is quite old. One of the playgrounds is brand new. The zip line is perfect for elementary school aged children. There are also two soccer fields located within the park.

I love this nature preserve! It has a great loop trail that's perfect for taking a walk, bringing…read moreyour dog, or simply enjoying some easily accessible nature. The path is paved and generally very accessible. If you visit during the spring, be prepared for some large puddles that can be difficult to get around. The trail could definitely use some repaving in a few areas, but it's still well worth the visit. I especially recommend coming during the spring or fall migration seasons if you enjoy bird watching. I've spotted a variety of interesting species here! Overall, this preserve has a peaceful, neighborhood feel while still letting you feel immersed in nature.

The fenced playground along the eastern edge of Summit Park was very popular with the kids. There…read morewere multiple climbers suitable for a range of ages. The slides looked like they were mainly for the younger kids. There were low artificial hills. They had low climbing walls and nets, low enough for small kids, challenging enough for some of the older ones. There's seating all around the play areas, for watchful caregivers. There are some benches and picnic tables outside the fence, and several of us who didnt have immediate supervisory roles sat there with ice cream or coffee (or in my case, bourbon-spiked-coffee :-).

The Twelve Days of Yelpmas Day Twelve…read more I didn't get enough coastering in down in Florida so on the spur of the moment I decided to drive down to Kings Island Winterfest. I knew there would be three coasters running and expected Mystic Timbers to be the star of the show. It took awhile to get on, as it was sitting idle after several test trains right after rope drop so I decided to knock out The Racer and Flight of Fear first. Then when I got back to Mystic Timbers it went down shortly after I got in line. So it was back to the supporting cast. Third time was a charm, though. I ended up barreling through the woods five times on Mystic Timbers. It hauls pretty well through the cold air but wasn't quite as marathonable as I expected. Don't get me wrong - MT is a blast but as far as Great Coasters International rides go I was hoping for a little more White Lightning airtime and a little less Renegade intense laterals. That's just my taste for elements and the quick side to side motions were probably exacerbated by the fact I was a single rider going crashing into a stranger every time Mystic Timbers did a sideways whip. MT is definitely smooth enough for a wood coaster but it kinda doesn't matter when the turns are that hard. Still fun, I rode it 5 times but eventually I found myself desiring another ride on The Racer which I didn't think was gonna happen. The ride ops were on point. Much better than the laggards down at Busch Gardens Tampa. And the theming is cool but I can take or leave it. I like the cheesy 80s music appearing to play from a cassette on a vintage boombox better than the video screen in the shed. At least it's something for the dead time on the brake run. I recommend Mystic Timbers even if it wasn't quite the masterpiece I was hoping for.

For today's review, we have Mystic Timbers at Kings Island. Now, on paper, you look at this ride…read moreand are like "Oh, typical GCI, nothing special." WRONG, WRONG WRONG WRONG. This is one of the best wooden coasters EVER!!!! I'm serious, this ride is so freaking awesome, it's in my top 10 overall coasters! So yeah, we're in for a TREAT with this ride! :) First we sit down, get our seatbelts on and lapbars down and th.... oh, the train dispatched before I could finish my sentence! Yeah that's typical, Kings Island ops are amazing! Anyways, we have some small dips and turns before heading up the lift hill. We are told by some speakers to turn around and to go home back to our video games. But since we're f*cking stupid, we don't! We then hit the drop and into a big left turn, so far this isn't anything special. But don't worry, the real madness begins now! We then drop off and have a SHARP moment of ejector air. Yeah, I preached about how Prowler and Thundehread have airtime better than some RMCs, yeah, Mystic has that as well. We then hit two back to back bunny hops which provide AMAZING ejector air. We then hit a s bend that hits us with some good laterals with EVEN MORE AIRTIME! Along with another curved hill. Yeah, you get the idea. This ride has a lot of amazing airtime with laterals thrown in. Prowler has this as well, but Mystic adds the insanity that Thunderhead provides, making this the overall stronger ride. We then turn into a tunnel that provides some exceptional laterals followed by more airtime. And you do NOT slow down. You are just FLYING through this layout. After some more strong airtime and laterals, we hit one last double up into the brake run. And then.... THE SHED!!!! Yeah, this ride has a mini dark ride section, SWEET! So we enter the shed and we hear some music play (if only it was Justin Bieber or Misha, THEN it would be scary). After the train ahead of us leaves the station, the lights start flickering and we move forward. And a screen shows us a TREE MONSTER who attacks us, and then back in the station. So yeah, that's Mystic Timbers. Sure, the Shed scene isn't that great, but I do appreciate the fact that it exists. It still adds on to the ride and makes Mystic Timbers stand out even more. And on top of that, THE RIDE IS FREAKING AWESOME! This is seriously if you took Outlaw Run, Thunderhead, and Prowler, and combined them all into one coaster you get Mystic Timbers. This is easily my favorite GCI (Sorry Thunderhead) and my 2nd favorite wooden coaster (Only Behind Voyage). So I obviously recommend riding Mystic Timbers. It's the best ride at Kings Island and one of the best coasters ever made! Final Score: 100/100 Opened: 2017 Built by: Great Coasters International Last Ridden: August 9th 2025