MORE STUFF TO DO IN OHIO

October, 2022

We’re off the road and living in Southeastern Michigan, we figure, until late fall, 2023. Our condo is far enough away from our grandchildren and children to not be intrusive and close enough to be intrusive if we so desire and can get away with it!

Sometime last summer we were talking with Elyssa about son-in-law Ben’s business, Bootleg Bagels, and she was wishing that she could be available to help him out by working the booth with him at Dayton, Ohio’s Jewish Festival. The problem was that she was having a hard time finding someone to watch her 2 children; our granddaughters. We reminded her that that was why we moved to Michigan, and to her “oh yeah” we ended up spending a lovely afternoon with Maggie and Penny.

So, when the request came to watch the granddaughters (or would the girls be watching us?) for just about a week while Elyssa and Ben spent some alone time in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachuettes we were ready, willing and able. Arriving on Friday night so that we could be at their place Saturday morning for their early departure was easy enough – remember we’re retired! Saturday was a breeze, capped off with a delightful dinner with Ben’s parents at their home. We found ourselves traveling to Columbus on Sunday and spent a great day at Legoland. Come Monday, the girls would be back in school so what were a couple of old folks like us to do during the school day? Obviously, we had to find the unusual, the strange, and the ofttimes not frequently visited places.

The hollow earth monument pays homage to the theories of John Cleves Symmes who believed that the earth is composed of a series of concentric rings, that it is hollow, that the center of the earth is habitable, and the earth is open at both poles (think of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth). The monument sits atop Symmes grave in Hamilton, Ohio’s Ludlow Park. It is the only grave remaining in what had once been a pioneer cemetery.

Jungle Jim’s International Market is unique…where else is a visitor greeted by a menagerie of African animal statuary and sounds or entertained by animatronics throughout a cavernous warehouse of a supermarket? Where else can you find ground kangaroo, boneless rattlesnake “bites,” 73 hot sauces from who knows how many countries, 129 flavors of potato chips, 7 (!) different kinds of goat milk yogurt or simply tropicana orange juice and Chiquita bananas? If near Fairfield, Ohio and looking for that perhaps truly once-in-a-lifetime ingredient to make that “where in this world did you get that recipe and the protein/produce/spice to make it?” go ahead and stop in, but otherwise when the day is done, and after the novelty wears off it is just a fairly expensive supermarket.

The Secret Chamber House of Oddities and Artwork is on Main Street, Fairborn, Ohio alongside oddity stores, Halloween shops open year ’round, comic and toy stores, and a couple of bar and grills. Its merchandise is a collection of macabre and unusual stuff dedicated to enthusiasts of horror. See anything you like?

…and now for something a little more mainstream…

Celebrating its 25th anniversary Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum in Hamilton, Ohio has more than 80 “contemporary” sculptures that are integrated into the Park’s 300 acres of rolling forested hills, meadows, lakes and gardens. While there is a sense that some of the sculptures could use a bit of maintenance and care, we visited on a glorious fall day with the trees at the height of their colors – a pallet complimenting the work of each and every sculpture artist.

Here’s a sampling of the sculptures…

Unexpectedly a flock of wild turkeys greeted us as we entered the Park.

Spend time with grandkids – check. Find new and different places to visit – check.

It’s probably redundant for us to say, but there’s something new and/or unusual for everyone no matter where you might be or how long you might be there. How many life-long New Yorkers have never gone up to the top of the Empire State Building or had pastrami at the Carnegie Deli or ice skated at Rockefeller Plaza or taken a carriage ride through Central Park? How many folks living in LA have never had a donut at Randy’s or a hot dog at Pink’s or visited the La Brea Tar Pits? How many Chicagoites haven’t visited landmarks like the fire house/water pumping station that was the only building left standing after the great Chicago fire or seen the colored light show at Buckingham Fountain? And those are some pretty average things to do. So, ask yourself what’s in your neighborhood or close by or even some distance away. It’s not about money ’cause there are so many freebies out there. It’s not about using the excuse of avoiding tourist traps ’cause there are some pretty cool tourist traps. It’s not about being too far outside of your comfort zone ’cause that’s something you can control. It’s all about living; about being able to reflect back and say: “damn, look at what I’ve done and seen.” L’Chaim.

Barbara and Brian

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.“ – Henry David Thoreau