Ohio

Last summer, I realized that we'd gone on a big adventure and traveled all over the United States, but we'd never really taken our kids to many touristy places in Ohio.  Char and I always wanted to see and do things that were new to us, and it seemed we never got around to showing the kids as much of their own state while on trips.

Our adventure also made me realize that a lot of people tend to short-change their own home state.  We heard a lot of people joke about their home states, thinking that the jokes were really unique, but in reality we heard the same jokes in many states:

"There's only two seasons here in [insert the state name] - winter and construction."
"If you don't like the weather here in [whatever state name], stick around for another few hours.  It'll change."
"Really?  You're traveling around the entire U.S. and you chose to come HERE??"
Why do we disdain our own states so much?

Last summer, I started wanting to take the kids to a few specific places in Ohio.  There are quintessential places in every state, and it was time to visit some of Ohio's as a family.  I'm now writing about these Ohio places partially because this blog is my version of a family scrapbook, and partially because I know some of you read it as a travel blog.  Here's my opinion of a few unique or special Ohio destinations.

1)  Hocking Hills State Park.
We took the kids last summer, as our first post-adventure camping trip.

I remembered going to Hocking Hills as a child, and it's still my favorite state park in Ohio.  I'd say it can rival the state parks in the other states we've visited around the country.  Lots of waterfalls, which I love, rocks, and forest.  We also went to a great night hike there.  Hiking is strictly forbidden in the dark at Hocking Hills except for in naturalist-led hikes, as people otherwise have a tendency to fall in the gorge and die.  The night hike was unique, and if you visit, I recommend timing it with a night hike event.

2)  Amish country
This spring, we visited Amish country with our kids.  Amish country is so close to our house, we'd never made it a destination of its own, other than to go buy furniture.  A blessing of living near Amish country is being able to get affordable, nice quality, hand-made wooden furniture.  It's an Ohio perk.

This was a quick, one night trip.  Since we scootered around the country, I really think we need to scooter some of Ohio, too.  The Holmes County Trail is a great trail that has one lane for bikes and scooters, and a second lane for horses and buggies.  The photo doesn't show it, but we did get passed by a good number of buggies!

In this picture, B is scootering on the wrong side, apparently thinking himself a horse.

If you're not from around here, you might be surprised to see the way parking lots look through the car window.

This is Heini's Cheese Chalet.  I love it!  The Amish farmers bring the milk for the cheese every morning.  Only part of the milk is used in the cheese, and the other part is used to make fudge.  After taking a tour of the factory, you can sample probably 30+ different cheeses, and 10 or so fudges.  We bought our favorites and had them for lunch with crackers.  It's unique, and Amish country is worth visiting!

3)  Lake Erie Islands.
This is on my list to do with our family sometime, as we haven't done it yet, but I remember enjoying it as a child.  It was fun to take a ferry ride out to Kelley's Island or Put-in-Bay and bike ride around the islands.  It's another unique activity in Ohio.  (However, for the best Lake Erie beach, I think Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania is the place to go.)

4)  Cincinnati

I'm sure everyone has a differing opinion.  I'm a country girl, and not so interested in cities.  The cities in northern and central Ohio just don't seem great to me.  (Except that Cleveland has the Cleveland Orchestra.  That's great!)  If you like cities, I think Cincinnati is pretty nice.  We recently went there to visit the Creation Museum.  It was fun and educational!

The Cincinnati River Walk helped me accomplish the goal of scootering through the state as a family.  It was fun to walk across the Ohio River on the Purple People Bridge, and our kids loved that the river walk had tons of really unique play structures.

Relaxing river walk swings

Why do I want to touch major bodies of water and rivers?  Not sure, but it makes me happy!

There you have it.  I am no longer short-changing my home state, and these are some places in Ohio that I think are worth visiting.  I wonder what's on your list, either in Ohio or in your own home state?