Picture Perfect

How’s this for budget travel? When our young family lived in a third-floor walk-up in Cincinnati, we’d make the long trip (about 15 minutes, door-to-door) from our apartment to a motel just the other side of the river. For $8 — and another buck for a rollaway crib — we’d cash in on three things we didn’t have at home: air-conditioning, a pool and a color TV.

At dinnertime, I’d drive back, raid the refrigerator and return in the space of a color cartoon with baloney sandwiches and Kool-Aid for everyone. A 24-hour vacation for a 10-spot! Tax and gas included! Talk about living large!

OK, that was nearly four decades ago. But take heart: Little-cost, big-fun trips are still available. And you don’t necessarily have to make that long trip to Kentucky to find them. Our cover story this month, gives you all sorts of bargain travel ideas in every region of the Buckeye State.

One of those places we enjoyed all those years ago is the Cincinnati Zoo. As seen on our cover, the Mathews family is experiencing similar fun at the same spot today. To preserve their memories on something better than the Instamatic our family used way back when, we sent an Ohio Magazine entourage to capture the scene. Pictured above are all the folks who helped record the family’s day on film.

OK, not film. On digital whatever. Give me a break. I’m the guy who remembers when a good, clean, family-style motel was $8 with another buck for a crib.