The state of Ohio continued to impress us as we visited both Columbus & Dayton in the south.

Having lived my entire life, all 59 years on the east coast, even through college, I would have to say that I have a decidedly east coast understanding of the rest of the United States.  Not trying to make any excuses, but how could I not.  That being said, Judy and I both agree that there is a lot to learn about the rest of these United States and we are well on our way to acquiring a greater insight of the mid-west.

After departing the Cuyahoga Valley, we headed due south to Springfield, OH which sits just about ½ way between Columbus, and Dayton, OH.  From this location we were able to explore two more Ohio cities. 

Our first stop was the Columbus Zoo.  We spent the better part of the day (6+ hours) wandering through the 6 different and distinct areas of the Zoo.  We did our homework before departing and found out that the zoo allows their patrons to bring in coolers and picnic lunches and doesn’t require that all food and drink be purchased on premises.  Knowing how big the zoo was we packed accordingly and brought along a soft-sided cooler where we kept plenty of water and drinks.  Worked out fabulously.  Here was a day where we logged almost 20,000 steps, and I think Judy’s Apple watch indicated that we walked more than 7 miles that day.  We have been to several zoos, and although we are obviously a bit partial to those zoos that have free admission, (hello, we’re still Jewish, so that’s never going to change), the Columbus Zoo is a great zoo, with the friendliest & most helpful employees, and one we would say is well worth the price of admission.

Dayton, Ohio is an absolutely fantastic city to visit.  I have no qualms or reservations about making such a statement (and no, I haven’t started working for the Dayton Ohio tourist authority either). First, it’s the birthplace of aviation, as this is where the Wright Brothers had their bicycle shop, and where much of the designing, building, and testing of their original airplane, the 1903 Wright flyer, happened.  True, the first flight took place in Kitty Hawk, South Carolina, but most of Wilber and Orville Wrights’ lives centered around Dayton.  While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about the myriad of industries that were developed in Dayton, OH.  How about National Cash Register (NCR).  I had no idea that NCR was basically the first and dominant cash register company for the better part of 100 years.  Oh, and then there’s that little company called AC-Delco.  Guess what DELCO stands for?  How about the “Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co.”  Without some of the discoveries made at Delco, we would not have electronic starters or the proper timing on the spark plug ignitions in cars. There were hundreds of advancements made in the early 1900s by the brilliant engineers and inventors of Delco.  Ohh, and then there’s that little company that goes by the name of Frigidaire, also incorporated in Dayton.  Are you kidding me, does anybody want to hear about how refrigerators and air conditioners were developed?  Yeah, not here, go read about it for yourself.

We visited two outstanding museums.  As far as we’re concerned the following are “must sees” in Dayton. Judy and I will be returning, at some time in the future, so that we may visit again because there was just so much to see, but so much more that we wanted to see.  

• Carillon Historical Park, which is a Dayton historical experience that we will not forget.  A park, spread over 65 acres, incorporated privately in 1942 by Edward  & Edith Deeds.  This park contains a Carillon bell tower that looks like this.  There is an entire building dedicated to the Wright Brothers complete with a bicycle shop, and the Wright Flyer III.  Just reading about the “Deeds” contributions was eye-opening.  

• National Museum of the United States Air Force has over 1 million square feet of space, consists of 5 building the size of 4 football fields each, and contains every conceivable type of flying machine.  Even ballistic missiles.  WWI,  WWII,  Asia Pacific, Cold War, and presidential planes were all part of the exhibits.  I have never been to a museum that includes the “needed” walking times between buildings and exhibits displayed on maps and directions.  Wow!  That about sums up our reaction, and we had to return for a second day, which included another picnic lunch so that we never had to leave the museum grounds.

We were also exposed to the sometimes “explosive weather” of the mid-west.  Picture this if you can.  We planned and spent what we expected to be a lovely day at Buck Creek State Park which included walking trails, and a rather large public beach on a good-sized lake.  We packed for both a 5-mile hike, which would be followed by a picnic at the beach.  The hike along the lake’s edge was great, and we turned our attention to cooling off down by the lake.  There were scattered thunderstorms in the forecast for later in the day, and I was looking at my phone app that provided weather radar, and although there were thunderstorms in the area, none were within 50 miles of our location. The beach was full, and then there’s a sudden crack of lightning and a tremendous boom of thunder.  There are 3 huge rain drops and the skies just open up with rain.  Apparently, the next pop-up thunderstorm was to appear directly overhead, and we were just pinned under our beach umbrella as heavy rain pelted us, and the thunder and lightning just rolled on through.  And then came the ¼” to ½” hail.  It was unbelievable, as the hail felt like it was being shot out of an elephant gun.  No less than 5 minutes from sunny and warm to the gates of hell.  And the beach was littered with people running for cover, making the dash back to the concrete bath house shelter, or their vehicles.  Eventually were able to gather up our belongings and limp our way back to the “Beast” where we loaded our waterlogged belongings into the back and drove back to our campsite where we started the process of drying out.  That was a new and different experience.

So, if you missed it in this blog post, I just lost my decidedly east coast understanding of the rest of the United States.  Never too old to admit that I lived a sheltered, liberal life on the east coast with scarcely an understanding about what the Midwest is all about.  But we are just beginning our exploration and have so much farther to roam and wander.  And maybe that’s exactly what retirement should be all about.  Judy and I spent 30+ years of our lives focused on raising a family and supporting our careers, so that now, in retirement, we should remove ourselves from what we know, and find all those things that we know nothing about.  So join with us as we continue to explore & discover more about ourselves and these United States, as we tell… the Rest of the Story.