Sightseeing in Ohio

While we were in Ohio, I took Sweetie to see some of the local "attractions." One day, we went to Amish country (Ohio has the largest Amish population in the US, I believe). It was a beautiful day (as were virtually all days we were in Ohio -- something I keep trying to convince Sweetie is NOT at all normal). We drove down to Berlin, Ohio, parked the car and wandered in and out of some shops and stopped for some tea (while choking on fumes from the countless semi-trucks that passed on the rather narrow main street) -- all the while trying to escape from attacking yellow jackets.



We finally surrendered and got back into the car in search of the Amish-Mennonite Heritage Center. We resisted the temptation to pay to see the highly touted "cyclorama." Instead, we tried to catch some free peeks into the barn and schoolhouse while a tour was being conducted.



On the way home, we took a different route and discovered glorious local route 77 (not the highway 77 that runs up to Cleveland, as we learned). It was just beautiful. I knew Sweetie really enjoyed it. Me less so since I was constantly trying to avoid hitting the numerous horses and buggies we encountered on the road.



Pro Football Hall of Fame

No visit to the Canton-Massillon area is compete without a stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The last time I was there, I was FIVE years old. A very very long time ago. Longer than even I can believe. Anyway, the parking lot was full of cars with HOF theme license plates. We were in HOF territory for sure.



By this point during the trip, I had managed to contract some plague and was not feeling well at all. Nevertheless, I pressed on, taking frequent breaks at the benches scattered throughout the facility. The historical displays were rather interesting and I'll be happy to take any future Ohio visitors there.



Wine Festival

Sweetie and I are big fans of wine, so we couldn't resist checking out Canton's Wine Tasting event that coincided with our visit home. It was actually much better than we expected, with a fairly large variety of wines from virtually all major wine-producing countries. The live music was good, there were various restaurants offering food for a nominal cost (and sometimes free!), and there were tables available to stand at and sip your wine (I migrated to a picnic table on the fringe of the festival because I needed to sit!).



Incidentally, this is where we did make an appearance in the newspaper. While Sweetie was getting wine for us, a reporter for the local paper zeroed in on me and by the time Sweetie came back, I was in full-swing trying to give the reporter some good quotes. Sweetie, however, was much better at this, and he certainly attracted the attention of my relatives with his infamous, "Rather than [just] sitting at home and visiting relatives, we decided to do something."



Unfortunately, my illness (and the fact that I was driving) put a slight damper on my energy level, but again, I pressed on and hung in there the best I could. Neither of us were able to finish our EIGHT wine tasting tickets (the samples were practically half-glasses!), which sort of made us feel old, but anyway, we enjoyed it.