I like to celebrate my birthday in somewhat epic fashion each year – and especially for the “big ages” ending in zero or five.
Long-time readers may remember that my family feted me with a unicorn-themed pony party for my 50th birthday during the Covid lockdown of 2020!
Since I celebrated another milestone birthday this year, I knew I had to go all out and plan something amazing. I LOVE planning my own birthday because I’ve honed my party-planning skills as a girl-mom for the past 15 years.
This is how my Cincinnati Birthday Besties girls’ trip made it out of the group chat and became a reality!
Step one was to make sure my bestie could join me for a full-day celebration and road trip on my birthday, which happened to fall on a Friday this year. We always have an amazing time on our roadtrip adventures! When she said yes, I immediately requested the day off work and also let my family know I’d be gone that day.
Then, I set out to plan the perfect day for my bestie and me! We knew we wanted to eat lunch at Honest Indian restaurant in Sharonville, OH. Bestie has been telling me about this place for literally years and raves about their incredible vegetarian cuisine.
Next, I wanted to find the perfect hiking spot nearby to see some waterfalls, get our steps in, immerse ourselves in nature and have an epic photo shoot in our prettiest Indian dresses. Did I mention that bestie brought us gorgeous dresses back from her recent trip to India? My birthday was the perfect occasion to wear them and take some killer pics!
My research revealed that Sharon Woods Metro Park was right near the restaurant and offered a variety of trails, including the 0.7-mile Gorge nature trail which follows Sharon Creek and offers views of waterfalls and wildlife. The plan was to slip on comfy shoes and go for a hike in our pretty dresses, taking pictures as we went. It all sounded perfect to me!
After hiking, we planned to stop by another Indian place in Sharonville, Brij Mohan, for dessert and snacks before our drive back up to Lewis Center. Bestie has also raved about this place for years and said they specialize in the Indian sweets I adore. I was so ready!
I even came up with a backup plan for us in case we had a rainy day. If the weather wasn’t right for hiking, we planned to drive a little farther south and tour the American Sign Museum instead, which has been on my Ohio travel wishlist for years but I still have never been.
Well, I’m happy to report that all that planning paid off; we had the most amazing day! As with all things in life, not everything went according to plan, but we had a delightful time.
Bestie picked me up bright and early and we both looked splendid in our festive Indian dresses. I’m not sharing any photos of bestie, as is her preference, but our dresses coordinated perfectly and we got SO many compliments throughout the day!
We laughed all the way down to Cincinnati, so the drive felt like it took no time at all. We had an early lunch at Honest which was honestly one of the top 10 best meals of my life. We ordered my favorites, dahi puri and pani puri, to start – perfection. Then we split an incredible Dabeli sandwich and the Dabang dosa, which was like the fanciest thing ever – sort of a burrito/standing pizza tower hybrid. Everything was made fresh, spiced to perfection and just spectacular.
After lunch, we drove to the park. We passed Brij Mohan but we were far too full to even think about dessert at that point! The day was sunny but not too hot – just perfect for a hike. First, we visited a waterfall and took a bunch of photos, even roping a stranger in to photograph us together (I think she enjoyed and appreciated it as much as we did!)
Then, we went on a lovely hike up along a wooded gorge. Several times during the walk, there was a clearing and we were able to look down on and photograph the stream and various waterfalls. We got a little hot and sweaty on our walk up, but right at the top, it started to lightly sprinkle/mist just a bit, which cooled us off perfectly on our hike back down to the car.
Then, having walked and rested a bit, we were ready to hit Brij Mohan nearby for sweets… but guess what? We hadn’t reseached the hours. Brij Mohan is a family-run place that closes for an afternoon break from 2:30 to 5 pm… and we got there right at 3 pm! It was tragic.
Then again, while we were sad we wouldn’t get to have the amazing sweets at Brij Mohan, we were still pretty full from our amazing lunch. Instead, we went to a nearby Indian market, shopped around a bit and then drove back up to Lewis Center. I was home just in time for a lovely birthday celebration and dinner with my fam. The day all went as it was meant to!
Now, we have to plan a Cincinnati girls trip part two with another meal at Honest, followed by an immediate visit to Brij Mohan so we don’t miss the time window!
Have you taken a fun road trip from Columbus lately? I love that we can go south to Cinci, north to Cleveland, west to Indianapolis or east to Pittsburgh for an amazing day trip. We’ve also done Hocking Hills and WV, of course. If you have ideas for where we should go next, let me know in the comments below or over on Facebook or Instagram!
