Preview of Walk #5: Prospect Hill

Our fifth walk took us into new territory:  Anywhere but Mt. Adams!  We started in Over the Rhine, wandered through Prospect Hill National Historic District to the peak of Liberty Hill in Mt. Auburn and back down to OTR.  The walk involved an increase of steps over what we'd grown used to in Mt. Adams -  which is probably good since we're supposedly doing this to prep to climb Carew Tower.

Here are some of the fun facts we learned along the way:

• Around the time George and Mary Alice Pendleton built their house which is the sole mansion at the peak of Liberty Hill in Mt. Auburn (the time of which the book neglected to mention), the area was called the "Northern Liberties."  The book explains that the CIty's tax laws ended at Corporation Alley, right on the edge of the neighborhood.
• The area has another historical nickname:  "Dr. Daniel Drake, founder of the University of Cincinnati medical college, referred to Prospect Hill as "Mount Poverty" because when he moved into a log cabin on what is now Milton Street, it was quite rural and he was quite penniless.  Again, no time frame given.
• There's an important set of ruins on the tour:  "At the pinnacle of the Young Street Steps... take note of the view and the broken monument at the peak of the steps.  During the mid-1880s, the Hamilton County Courthouse was destroyed by fire.  The only thing that survived was a spectacular ornate marble archway, which was moved to this site.  It stood here until 1965, when all but this column base was toppled in a car accident."
  We're pretty sure we saw the view, but not the base.  Thanks, car accident!  Sheesh.
• We may not have found the column base, but we found two other cool things:  A park with a sweet jungle gym; God's Bible School & College.  We'd never known of either before.
• Folks at the two-and-a-half story Mt Auburn House made somebody really busy for a long time.  The owner of the  house - Henry Martin - also owned the Mount Auburn Cable Railway observed the Sabbath by transferring the title of his railway every Saturday night and resumed ownership every Monday.
• According to the book, the William Howard Taft National Shrine (author's name for it, not its real name) - which just happens to be the birthplace of our 27th president - is the smallest and least visited national park in the entire United States!  I'll admit, the only thing that stuck with me about Taft from grade school is that he got stuck in a bathtub.

Update to the brunch walk

If you are thinking of joining us for the walk to the PIP / Venice on Vine Brunch this Saturday, we've changed the time we are meeting.  If you would like to come, please meet us at 11:00 (instead of 11:30).  Rebecca and I have to be done by 1:00 so we thought we'd start a little earlier.

The details on the walk are here: http://cleanairclimbers.blogspot.com/2010/09/special-walk-1-plan-walk-to-pip.html

Walk #4: Science Stroll

Our fourth walk out of Walking the Steps of Cincinnati was our fourth and last in Mt. Adams. Despite our fourth time being there, we still learned and saw things we hadn't in walks one, two, and three.

As usual, you can see the route we took and Chris' snapshots from the trip at SportsTracker.  We record this all on Chris' Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone on the Cincinnati Bell network.

We initially planned to start the walk about two-thirds of the way through the given path:  We walked from Hoxworth Blood Center where we'd just donated to the intersection of Court & Broadway downtown.

Heads-up for here on out:  The fingers show you which walk we're on. :)

Check out the rest of the walk after the break!

Special Walk #1 Plan: Walk to the PIP Fundraiser Brunch 9/19 11:30

EDIT:  If you've read this before 9/13, we've changed the time we are meeting.  We will now meet at 11:00 AM 

Want to join us for a short walk, eat a great all you can eat brunch, and raise money for one of our favorite local charities?  This is the walk for you!

First...about this walk.
Meeting location:  Bandstand in Burnett Woods
Meeting time:  11:00 AM, Sunday September 19th.  (Don't be late.  We'll be hungry and ready to get to brunch!)
Walk plan:  We'll walk down and up a couple small sets of stairs in Burnett woods.  From the park we'll cut through UC's campus and hike a few small staircases as we make our way to Corryville Catholic School's cafeteria.  This should be a short walk of less than 1 mile with only a few small staircases to navigate.

Now...about the brunch!
Power Inspires Progress, the organization behind the restaurant, Venice on Vine, is holding their annual all-you-can-eat brunch fund raiser.  PIP / Venice on Vine's focus is on taking persons who are living in poverty and helping them break the cycle by providing them job skills that will help them move from being labeled as unemployable to working a job that provides a living wage.  They deliver on this mission by training persons in their program to operate their fully functional restaurant, Venice on Vine.  In addition to providing real experience working in a restaurant, they also are aided in achieving educational goals through mentoring and tutoring.

While the Venice on Vine restaurant provides a portion of the funding required to run this organization, they continue to need additional funds to tutor and mentor their trainees.  To help cover their costs, PIP/Venice on Vine hosts an annual fund raiser brunch featuring an all-you-can-eat menu of waffles, goetta, sausage, ham, eggs, muffins, fruit, potato pancakes and more!  The cost to attend is only $12.50 in advance or $15 on the day of the event.

Even if you can't join us for the walk but would like to attend the brunch and support this great organization, please do!  You can read more about the brunch and purchase your advanced reservations on their website  http://powerinspiresprogress.com/.

Preview of Walk #4: Science Stroll

Our fourth walk was, yet again, in Mount Adams.  At least this time we made our way there from downtown officially.  I'll be honest - I was feeling like I was ready to get the heck outta Dodge (a.k.a. Mt. Adams).  But as usual, the walk pleasantly surprised us and taught us still more things about the city in general and this neighborhood in particular.

Here are some of the fun facts we learned along the way:

• According to this book (and no where else, at least from my comprehensive eight minutes of internet searches), Cincinnati is known as "Landslide City, USA."  I did find a UC News story that calls us "Landslide Capital of the Country."  While the moniker may be disputable, the actual landslide in 1973 isn't - according to the book it caused $22 million worth of damage.  The book says the landslide was set off by excavations for the I-471 ramps between it and I-71.
  Apparently, between 1974-1993 Cincinnati landslides cost $2.9 million per year.  We may be a city of hills, but apparently the hills are trying to kill us.
• Of the four walks through Mt. Adams, this one gives the most extensive coverage of the Mount Adams Incline ruins.  For this incline, there are also the ruins of steps that ran alongside the incline.  I may or may not have climbed around on these.
• If you would like to purchase a piece of the Mt. Adams Incline, you can buy a lot that is part of the ruins from David McDonald at Comey & Shepherd.  It's only $225,000 - really, a steal considering how many places on the same road run in the millions.  I'm thinking of buying it and putting up a tent. 
• There are rooks - "an Old World bird resembling the North American crow" - on the original gateposts going into Rookwood Pottery.  Rooks.  Rookwood.  It makes sense.  The Rookwood even uses a little image of a rook for their web icon.
• Supposedly just past the Highland House, to the east, is a small gray-brick cottage set back off the street that Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall is believed to have once lived in.  We couldn't find it.
• Legendary actress and singer Doris Day has a Cincinnati past - and you can see remnants of it in Mt. Adams.  At 1033 Monastery was the Hessler Studio of Dancing, which was supposedly Doris Day's favorite school.  She, like the Clean Air Climbers, was apparently a fan of public transport: the book says she rode four street cars from her home in Evanston to get to the school.

Don't worry about further landslides!  Chris has got you covered!

Walk #3: Genius Loci

Our third walk (the third in Walking the Steps of Cincinnati - which guides all our walks) took us around Eden Park and around Mt. Adams.  Our previous two walks made us feel ahead of time that we'd have nothing new to see, but we were wrong.  There were still new, cool things to see, walk, and learn.

Check out the path as we walked it and the photos Chris took along the way here - all recorded through the Sports Tracker app on his Nokia phone using Cincinnati Bell service.

We started just a little ahead of where the path officially starts in the book.  We walk and/or bus to all of our walks, so we'd walked from our home in Clifton out to where we started this trek:  At the corner of Eden Park and Gilbert.

See the rest of Walk 3 after the break!

Join Us For A Labor Day Walk

Want to join us for one of the shorter walks in "Walking The Steps of Cincinnati?"

On Labor Day, September 6th we will be walking the steps around Mt. Echo Park in Price Hill.  If you would like to join us, meet us in the parking lot in Mt. Echo Park, near the baseball diamonds and the tennis court.  If you choose our favorite way of reaching these walks, the Metro, route 32 will get you within a half mile walk from the park (refer to the Sunday/Holiday schedule).  Get off at the stop near Elberon and Basset then walk down the hill to Mt. Echo Park.  If you drive, park near the tennis courts.

We plan to start walking promptly at 3:00 so please be in the parking lot before 3:00 if you want to join us.

If you take route 32, follow this walking map to get to the park.

View Larger Map

Preview of Walk #3: Genius Loci

Our third walk (as always, from Walking the Steps of Cincinnati) kept us in Mt. Adams - in and around Eden Park much like the previous walk.  It just goes to show, though, that there is much to learn about that locale.  Despite being in the same region, the walk took us to many different places.

Here are some fun facts we learned along the way:

• The Baldwin Piano and Organ Company - located on Gilbert Ave. since 1920 - burned in a terrible fire in 1964 but was fully restored afterward (the book actually says "perfectly" restored - score for Baldwin!).
• According to the book, the building formerly known as the Museum of Natural History (now located in Union Terminal) is "currently being used for collections storage, research, and laser shows.  I don't know about you, but when I go to Gilbert and Elsinore Place, I see the the "9 News on Your Side"  TV studio.
• Continuing in the "things that are history" category, the fancy arch that was a landmark (at least for me growing up having gone to that museum) is still there even though the laser shows aren't.  Had I realized there was a Wikipedia "article" on it beforehand, I may not have been so surprised to learn its history.  The arch was built in 1883 as a valve house that regulated the flow of water between the reservoir and the Ohio River.  At the same time and place, Eden Park needed a gateway.  The clever Charles Hannaford (progeny of famous Cincinnati architect Samual Hannaford) was inspired by another famous Cincinnatian's (James Murdoch) performance as Hamlet.  He designed the valve house to resemble the theatrical set and the tower and street were named Elsinore after the tower and gate of Castle Kronberg in Hamlet.
• If you stop at the end of Fort View Place, you can do two things:

1. Look at where the original Fort Washington was - basically right where the rotating Western-Southern time & temperature sign is now.  Fort Washington was established in 1789 and basically marked where our city was going to grow up.
2. Be a part of Civil War non-history:  the book says "several cannons were poised here over the declivity, ready for action but never fired.

•  The staff in Playhouse in the Park were very nice to me.  I had to pee and they let me in without question.
• If you look carefully (because, really, you might look right at it and miss it), you can see the ruins of the Mt. Adams Incline from the southern end of the Rookwood Pottery parking lot. 

 While at the end of this walk we weren't done with Mt. Adams, we were done with Eden Park (at least for this project).

Welcome Jen!

If you happen to stop by the Clean Air Climbers' page on the 2011 Fight for Air site recently you'll see something very exciting:  We're growing!

We want to give a great big welcome to Jen Carter!  You can support Jen's climb by checking out her page!

She'll be joining us on some upcoming walks and having fun 'til the big day on February 20th.  We'll give her a proper introduction here soon!

Why You Should be a Clean Air Climber

We mentioned earlier that you needn't be a Clean Air Climber or climb the Carew with another team to fight for clean air.  I believe what we said is very true.

That said, though, why not be a Clean Air Climber?

Here are some reasons why it would be a good thing to be one of us:

• You're supporting a great cause:  Clean air for everyone!  The American Lung Association works for clean air on many different levels, including nationally and locally, education and policy.  Climbing the Carew with the Clean Air Climbers raises awareness of and funds for this great work.
• You're having fun!  Climbing 45 stories sounds pretty terrible, really.  But, in reality, the Clean Air Climbers had a great time last year!  We're already having a lot of fun this year in our "training" wandering all over the city.  By the way, I put "training" in quotes because...
• You don't actually have to be fit to climb the Carew.  Our "training" doesn't actually involve that many sets of stairs - and we've already climbed the longest set in Cincinnati so you can rest assured if you join us you won't have to haul up the worst there is.  Last year, none of us trained, one had just had a baby, and yet we all made it up to the top in around 14 minutes.  Just remember: There are oxygen stations every few floors!
• You don't have to come on our jaunts around the Queen City.  That's just our fun way of "training" - you can do it your way.  (p.s. you don't have to be a Clean Air Climber to come on a walk - we'd love the company!)
• Considering that you don't have to train to survive the climb, the only time you'll really give up is a few minutes asking folks to sponsor you and an hour to climb then eat all the food in the climber resting room on Sunday, February 20th.
• If you sign up before November 1st, the registration fee is $20.  It goes up after that. 
• You get a cool medal and an official climbing number.  We keep ours on display in our kitchen.  It makes us proud and makes us look really cool.  I mean, you could wear the metal every day if you wanted to.  You can see how awesome it is below:

If all of this persuaded YOU to want to be a Clean Air Climber, we'd love to have you on the team! To join:
1) Click on this link to our team climb page, hidden in the box with our team name is a "Join the Team" link.
2) Fill out the form. You may set your own fundraising goal but the Lung Association recomends a minimum of $100.
3) If asked, enter Clean Air Climbers as your team name! Welcome to the team!