A Fun & Delicious Day in Butler County-Part Two

After Jolly’s Drive Inn, Heather, Teddy, and I drove back to West Chester, Ohio, to the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting. It was quite an impressive place, and we had a private tour with Bob.

This non-profit is a museum constructed in the original Voice of America Bethany Relay Station. It was opened during World War II and operated from 1944-1994. In addition to the memorabilia and historic information provided on VOA, the rooms go on to explain how local Powel Crosley Jr.’s broadcasts led to his interest in investing in radio and television design.

The stories within the walls as well as materials in the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting are fascinating. I strongly recommend finding time to visit this place. It is also wheelchair accessible. I had no problem wheeling through all of it.

Our schedule had us back at the hotel for a two-hour rest, but as often happens on these media trips, we were running late all day. We just had enough time for me to put my feet up for a short while and do a quick change of clothing before heading back to Hamilton to Cozy’s Café & Pub.

 

Our entire drive to Hamilton was filled with a magnificent sunset. It was beautiful and really reached a colorful peak downtown. The retaurant’s name sounded like it was going to be a small and cozy place, but it was extremely big, with seating inside and out.

They also had live music while we were there. Although it was outside, we could still hear and enjoy listening to the musicians from the inside. It was clearly a popular spot among locals.

Cozy’s Café & Pub was packed with people waiting for tables. We still had excellent food and service. We lingered for a bit with cocktails as it didn’t seem so long since our big lunch. We were also having a tough time choosing from the menu. Everything looked incredible!

Heather decided on the Buttermilk Fried Chicken with spicy maple syrup and a loaded baked potato. She also had a large side salad beforehand with lots of fresh vegetables.

 
I went for the Pasta Parmigiano with Eggplant (aka eggplant parmesan). It was excellent and, as it’s my favorite dish to make and eat, that is a big endorsement for me . We had no room left for dessert. It’s a rarity for me, but I was already taking half my meal back to the hotel refrigerator.

We were finished at the restaurant in time to make it to Holiday Auto Theatre for the movies, Bad Guys Two and Train Your Dragons. It had been a long time since I’d been to a drive-in and it was Teddy’s first. It was a relaxing break, but we were still too tired to make it through both movies.

 

Heather drove us back to the Marriott Cincinnati North hotel and we fell asleep very quickly. The next day would be our last in Butler County. We still had several things left to do before we headed home.

A Fun & Delicious Day in Butler County-Part One

I almost always use this blog for a story representing each day of a trip. The idea is to be able to talk about all the little things I don’t have a chance to put in published stories. Sometimes I need to break with tradition, and this trip was one of those exceptions. We had so many things to do, and I have so many photos, on day two that it deserves two blogs!

One of the things I was told about Butler County before I arrived was that they have a Donut Trail. I’ve never been one to shy away from baked goods so this sounded like a scrumptious addition to the weekend.

Heather, Teddy, and I got started with the trail first thing Saturday morning at Holtman’s Donuts in West Chester, just a few miles from the Marriott we were staying at. It became instantly apparent that this was going to be a challenge and I wasn’t backing down. The crew at Holtman’s was waiting for us with a box of donuts.

I asked them, as I did on all the following stops, what their most unusual and popular donuts were. The unusual ones were Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops, and the popular ones are Maple Bacon and Buckeye.

For those who aren’t familiar with Ohio’s Buckeyes, in addition to being the name of Ohio State’s athletic teams, Buckeyes are chocolates filled with peanut butter. These are two of my favorites, so I was looking forward to trying it at a few separate places. As for Heather, she declared the Maple Bacon here the winner as it wasn’t just specks of bacon but included actual slices.

We then headed to Hamilton. We had most of the day planned for there with another donut stop first. It was about 11:00 am when we got to Kelly’s Donuts and they were almost sold out. Fortunately, they had put some donuts aside for us. They were all good, but I declared the Buckeye there the best I’ve had and that record still stands.

 

The next stop in Hamilton was at Pyramid Hills Sculpture Park. It is a must see when you are in the area. We only had an hour, and it wasn’t enough to see the extensive sculpture collection throughout the 470 acres of woodlands.

We got a golf cart to go in around in and see as much as possible before going inside the Ancient Sculpture Museum, funded by Attorney Howard T. Wilks. It was a contrast to the modern sculptures throughout the park. The collection was full of one-of-a-kind options.

 

Pyramid Hill was wheelchair accessible throughout, with exception of two steps to get into the Visitor’s Center. Someone came out while I waited by the steps and apologized, saying they were working on getting a ramp.

From the park we went to downtown Hamilton to visit Inside Out Studio. Not unlike the park, the area was a mixture of history and modern murals. We were also heading to another spot about art.

 

The mission of Inside Out Studio is to “provide an opportunity for artists with disabilities to produce, market, and receive an income from their art, while gaining confidence in their abilities.” The back of the building contains a large area with tons of supplies for the creation.

The front is the store where you can purchase these items. You’ll find all types of things for sale, from jewelry to home goods. The quality was all good and you could tell a lot of creativity went into making them.

It was time for lunch after Inside Out Studio. I would like to say we had something healthy after our donut breakfast, but Jolly’s Drive In was a staple in the area on our schedule. The menu is not very big, but everything on it was. The options were hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, fries, and onion rings.

We pretty much ordered one of everything at Jolly’s. We also had to have their famous root beer. I am generally not a soda drinker, but I do like a good root beer. I would definitely put theirs in this category.

 

The next activity on our schedule was back in West Chester, so we hit the road for the second half of the day.