Last Saturday, Ross and I discovered yet another hidden treasure of Cincinnati: Trader's World.

We started out the day by going to Cincinnati's Premium Outlet for some good Christmas deals... and it certainly didn't disappoint. We cashed in with some dress shirts for Ross for only 15 dollars each (and of course he is a weird size - too skinny for "Big and Tall" so this was a real treat to find shirts that fit him), and 3 pairs of 110 dollar dress shoes for a grand total of 60 dollars. A-mazing. We also scored for other people - but I'm certainly not going to divulge about those purchases here.

THEN - we serendipitously came across Trader's World. Okay, let me back up by saying that I've known about this place for awhile. It's hard not to; I drive I-75 every week and this eye sore is right off the highway, complete with fake palm trees and 15 foot giraffes. I never knew any details about it though because I honestly never thought we'd go, but... like I said, we stumbled upon it on our way home taking the back roads.

Okay, we thought, why not. It's snowing, we're bored, let's go. So indeed, this is what we did. The picture is an example of what Trader's World would look like from an aerial view... Basically you are looking at 14+ storehouses of.... stuff. So we rolled in, not quite sure what we were getting into, paid our 2 dollars and entered.

Within 3 minutes of walking through building 1, Ross commented that this was like an alternate universe. Within those short moments, we realized that we were in a huge, antique, junk, knock off, and some useful items garage sale where one was free to eat ice cream, drink beer, and barter with salespeople. Rules simply did not apply in Trader's World; it was awesome.

Another successful road trip with an outcome that can only be described as, my dad's dream Saturday afternoon. We missed out, Dad, next time... next time.