What's In Ohio?

When I told people I was going on a 7 day trip through Ohio with my mom and Regina, they all looked at me quizically and said, "What's in Ohio?"  After spending a week there my answer to them is, "Lots, in fact we could have stayed a few extra days."  Here are just a few of the sights you will see if you ever go to Ohio.

We started in Cleveland, and a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It's an excellent museum, and for those of us of a certain age, it brought back lots of memories.  The Cleveland Art Museum is world class, and we were lucky enough to catch an exhibit called "From Impressionism to Modernism,"  which we all enjoyed.  Cleveland is actually a small city, under 400,000, yet there's a lot to see and do.  We had other areas to explore, so we headed for Ashtabula next.

Ashtabula and the area surrounding it, contains more covered bridges than just about any other place in the state.  In all, there are over 100 covered bridges in Ohio.  Many of them have been refurbished, and are just a charming feature of the landscape.  There's a map available that shows you where they're located.  We ran into an old timer at one of the bridges.  He had lived in the area his whole life, and one of the bridges was named after his family.  He took us to a local museum to see all the artifacts related to covered bridges.

Next we toured the Amish country.  We stayed two nights in Berlin, the heart of Amish Ohio.  It was so interesting to learn about the ways of the Amish, and do see and talk to them in markets and restaurants.  After spending time in Amish country, we drove to Dover, the sight of the Warther Museum.  This was one of the most amazing museums I have ever seen, and Mr. Warther is the greatest craftsman you have never heard of.  Totally self taught, he produced works of art that will amaze you.

We stopped in Columbus for lunch and a tour of the Franklin Botanical Gardens.  The Dale Chihuli exhibit was mind blowing.  Beautiful glass works throughout the gardens were magical.  After a nice lunch, we headed for Cincinnati.

What a beautiful little city Cincinnati is.  Only 300,000 people, a beautiful, clean downtown, with murals everywhere.  Cincinnati also has an Underground Museum, which tells the story of slaves being brought north on the underground railroad.

I could go on and on.  We visited an apple orchard, street markets, some good restaurants too.  Every place you visit has lots to offer.  You've just got to seek it out.  We found so much to do, including an evening theatre performance in the Amish Country of a comedy show.  So we would definitely say that Ohio has lots to offer any visitor.  Leaves were just beginning to turn, but the landscape would have been stunning in a few more weeks.