Meeting Butler County, Ohio

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  I was invited to spend a long weekend in Butler County, Ohio, just after they became Wheel The World certified for accessibility. The tourism board wanted me to write about how wheelchair accessible the region is. I hadn’t been there before, and it sounded like an interesting area, so I made plans to go. My trip to Butler County turned out to be one of my most unusual adventures, with new experiences, and a lot of donuts!   I brought Teddy and my friend, Heather, along for the ride, about three and a half hours from home. We had a nice welcome basket waiting for us at the hotel. Our home base was the Marriott Cincinnati North in Westerville. I was happy at the start with a flat entrance and automatic doors. They didn’t have any accessible rooms, so we had two connecting rooms. Teddy loved going back and forth between the two rooms. Mine had plenty of space for me to wheel around, a well-equipped desk area I could reach, and a large bathroom with a shower chair. The hand...
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Washington Wine Begins in Seattle

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Quite honestly, my only view of Seattle has been my weekly sit down with Grey’s Anatomy and my only real time in the Pacific Northwest was when I was covering the Davis Cup Final while finishing my book.  While I would have no problem taking a ferry with Patrick Dempsey in any weather, I found eight days of solid rain depressing on my Portland trip.  I was determined not to let that image stay with my for this trip and it turned out I didn’t have to worry about that at all.

There was a bit of rain when I got off my plane, but Dave from British Motor Coach, who picked me up and dropped me at the Hotel 1000, assured me it was going to pass.  I took his word for it and, after I settled in, I headed a few blocks downtown to the Market, where all the rain really began to disappear. Seattle became a bright and bustling city with blocks and blocks of a market the likes of which I had never seen. 

I wandered for about two hours, wishing I wasn’t allergic to seafood as the fish flew at the Pike’s Place Market, and gazing over the crafts and jewelry trying to figure out how much room I had in my suitcase (as well as my wallet).

In the Market of downtown Seattle you can find just about anything you want to nibble on, from delectable from chocolates at Chuckars Cherries to The Confectional, which had me with a sign that read “Confess Your Love for Cheesecake.”  I also went by the first ever Starbucks, with a line that went down the block despite the fact that there were two more Starbucks on that same block!  I had to save my appetite, though, for a big dinner at Boka Kitchen, the restaurant at Hotel 1000.

I am traveling alone on my Washington adventure and was happy to hear my friend Evan Zeder of Athletic DNA was in town to join me for dinner.  It was great catching up with Evan, a former Illini tennis player, who is the manager of Sales and Sponsorship for this rapidly growing Seattle company.  We chatted about Washington over one of the restaurant’s signature drinks by Misuk, Vamp a mixture of vodka, ruby port and house crème de cassis, with a drop of whiskey. We also nibbled on a delicious baked herbed goat cheese and roasted tomatoes, and an order of grilled flat bread.

The food of Chef Angie Roberts continued to impress.  I had the Brick Chicken, which was pan roasted and served with Celery Root Mashed Potatoes and bacon braised Brussels Sprouts, perfectly paired with a light and fruity 2009 Distephano Sauvignon Blanc, while my dinner companion enjoyed the Apple Wood Smoked Painted Hills Ribeye with a Huckleberry glaze. The meal was finished with Chocolate Decadence, which definitely was!

After a long, leisurely dinner, I settled into the night in my spacious corner suite at the Hotel 1000 (the views are really spectacular).  I had a very full day ahead of spa treatments, wineries and more gourmet food, as I was heading to Kirkland.

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