Michelle's Birthday Trip

This year Michelle is 16. We were supposed to go when she was 13, but I, her Mom, am a procrastinator. So I planned the trip for this year. We had a grand time. She knew that we were going on a trip, but the activities were a surprise. This is what we did.....

We headed to Cincinnati to the most amazing grocery store I have ever seen. It is called Jungle Jim's. It is a 'destination' grocery store! It is about the size of three Walmarts. They import food, from about every country on the globe. We had visited here last year and Michelle has been hankering for a return trip.

THis is heading toward the entrance. If you want more details, check out their website www.JungleJims.com . We spent about 3 hours traipsing up and down their aisles on Monday afternoon. My poor feet!

They also have a cooking school on the premises. Michelle and I took a cooking class on Monday and Tuesday night. They did a nice job and were quite accommodating about her gluten intolerance situation. This is their main entrance. They do have big fish tanks so you can have fresh fish, but that is not where we went to see fish.

We went to the Newport Aquarium in Newport KY. It was very well done and the nicest aquarium I have ever been to. I took lots of pictures with my old camera.

These are the worms that implant themselves in the sea bottom and look like asparagus.

These are Japanese crabs. Can you see the face on the bottom of his belly? I didn't notice it there, when he was jumping around, but when I came home and looked at the picture, it almost weirded me out. When it is enlarged, it looks EXACTLY like a face!

This is a very large alligator snapping turtle. I wouldn't want him swimming in a pond near where I was swimming. That head is about six inches across!

These are the largest toads I have ever seen! Isn't God's creation marvelous? It is just so unique and fascinating. No way it could have just happened by chance!

The aquarium has a number of tunnels through different fish tanks. It is really neat to stay dry, yet have so any fish swimming right near you and even above you!

For lunch we walked down the hill to the River Boat cruises. It was a very clean boat and we had a lovely two hour trip up and down the Ohio River. This is the boat we went on, The River Queen.

This was my favorite bridge on the river. Why? you ask. It was the first bridge built anywhere across the Ohio River. It was built as a model for the Brooklyn Bridge and it is really beautiful in form. It is the most elegant bridge I have ever seen.

We also saw a big barge being pushed up the river. Our boat had to move over to the side to let it by. This was a lunch cruise, but we were spectators only. We brought our own GF lunch on board. We had cheese and olives, blueberries(fresh) and fresh lychees that we picked up at Jungle Jim's. They are a favorite with Michelle.

We then headed up a bunch of stairs to see the rest of the aquarium.

We watched them feed the penguins. They have a large exhibit of them.

Then more time watching the sharks in their walk-through tank.

We spent quite a bit of time petting and watching the smaller sharks in their petting tank. We even saw some shark eggs.

Well, if you were wondering how tall Michelle has gotten, the answer is, pretty tall! She did have crocs on, and she's still growing!

We left the aquarium and headed back to Jungle Jim's for round two. We only had to walk around and shop for another two hours, before and after class. The second class was on main dish salads. This is a modern interpretation of a Cobb Salad. I think it was my favorite. If you want the yummy details, ask.

This was a Caesar salad, made into a main dish by the addition of a grilled beef skewer. Also, yummy. We headed back to our friends house where we spent our overnights. It was a really nice time away and we each enjoyed it and our time together. I have a very special daughter and I love her very much!!

~Mom