Day Trip, part 1
D.W.Q.M.: "How about a trip in the TARDIS? I'm just off." -the Fourth Doctor
Part 1: In Your Own Backyard
Recently, Jerm and I just finished watching Full Circle with Michael Palin. As usual, when I watch travel shows, or hear about friends adventures abroad, I'd like to jump right up and start traveling. ...unfortunately, time and money are usually against me.
Fortunately, thanks to Persephone (who will always be the queen of road trips, IMHO) and Jerm, I remembered that you don't always have to leave "your own back yard" to have an enjoyable trip!
Yesterday, the three of us traveled to the very center of Ohio:
Ok, so that's not really the exact center of Ohio-that's Magic Mountain in Columbus-the subject of part 2 of this story. ;)
Instead of taking the usual I-71, Perseph and Jerm thought it would be fun if we took the backroads down (Route 3 going down...Routes 303 and 86 coming back up...?) Perseph was smart-she brought her journal so she could write everything down, instead of trying to remember it several hours later, as I'm trying to do now... We took 71 to Medina, where we picked up 3. We were running really low on gas, and the first place we thought might be a gas station looked kind of run down-junk cars parked everywhere, the light pole above one of the tanks was bent over. We passed it to try to find something better, but as we passed I noticed a fairly new sign with current gas prices covered mostly by a bush. If we didn't find anything, we'd come back.
Well, we didn't. At least we couldn't with our current gas situation.
So we pull into the gas station and Jerm gets out to pump the gas. The tank is an older one-no digital read out or credit card slot...and when Jerm started pumping the gas, it made this horrific sound...almost like it was about to explode. Jerm filled it up to what he knew was a safe bet-he said from the look of the spout, he wasn't sure if it would stop automatically when the tank was full. As he was getting out his money, this guy, who, as Perseph said, looked like he was right out of the movie Deliverence, flipped something on the pump with a disgusted look and walked into the store. As Jerm went in to pay, I leaned over to Perseph and said, 'Don't you think we should go in there with him?' Perseph said, 'Noooo, we're stayin' right here!' When he came back out he got back into the car and said, '...scariest place I've ever bought gas...' LOL. *whew! Once we got going on Route 3, it was all good.
Taking the backroads was so much fun-and much more relaxing than I-71. You get to see so much more than you do when you take the main highway. The weather wasn't perfect (mostly cloudy on the way down with a few sprinkles), but we had a little bit of sunshine, so it wasn't bad. We saw lots of cool houses in the smaller towns, and lots of wide open spaces (perfect if you're feeling a little stressed and a bit claustrophobic in the city). We saw a variety of animals: cows, chickens, horses, sheep, ducks, alpacas; and I spotted a wild turkey. Perseph kept track of most of the small towns we drove through. My personal favorites were Funk, OH and Jelloway, OH.
On the way back we took I-71 to Grandpa's Cheesebarn and stopped for cheese and fudge. Then we decided to take the backroads all the way up to the lake:
the farthest north you can go...
We drove along the lakeshore until we finally had to turn away and head home. I was sad to see the day end, but I had such a good time! If you ever get the chance to explore the backroads of where you live-I highly recomend it. You may discover things you didn't even know were in your own backyard! (so to speak) Someday I hope to travel abroad...until then I'll enjoy watching travel shows and I'll explore the backroads of Ohio, Minnesota, and everything in between! :)
Oh, and you know what the best part about the day was? Being able to hang out with some cool friends!
Stay tuned for part 2...
Part 1: In Your Own Backyard
Recently, Jerm and I just finished watching Full Circle with Michael Palin. As usual, when I watch travel shows, or hear about friends adventures abroad, I'd like to jump right up and start traveling. ...unfortunately, time and money are usually against me.
Fortunately, thanks to Persephone (who will always be the queen of road trips, IMHO) and Jerm, I remembered that you don't always have to leave "your own back yard" to have an enjoyable trip!
Yesterday, the three of us traveled to the very center of Ohio:
Ok, so that's not really the exact center of Ohio-that's Magic Mountain in Columbus-the subject of part 2 of this story. ;)
Instead of taking the usual I-71, Perseph and Jerm thought it would be fun if we took the backroads down (Route 3 going down...Routes 303 and 86 coming back up...?) Perseph was smart-she brought her journal so she could write everything down, instead of trying to remember it several hours later, as I'm trying to do now... We took 71 to Medina, where we picked up 3. We were running really low on gas, and the first place we thought might be a gas station looked kind of run down-junk cars parked everywhere, the light pole above one of the tanks was bent over. We passed it to try to find something better, but as we passed I noticed a fairly new sign with current gas prices covered mostly by a bush. If we didn't find anything, we'd come back.
Well, we didn't. At least we couldn't with our current gas situation.
So we pull into the gas station and Jerm gets out to pump the gas. The tank is an older one-no digital read out or credit card slot...and when Jerm started pumping the gas, it made this horrific sound...almost like it was about to explode. Jerm filled it up to what he knew was a safe bet-he said from the look of the spout, he wasn't sure if it would stop automatically when the tank was full. As he was getting out his money, this guy, who, as Perseph said, looked like he was right out of the movie Deliverence, flipped something on the pump with a disgusted look and walked into the store. As Jerm went in to pay, I leaned over to Perseph and said, 'Don't you think we should go in there with him?' Perseph said, 'Noooo, we're stayin' right here!' When he came back out he got back into the car and said, '...scariest place I've ever bought gas...' LOL. *whew! Once we got going on Route 3, it was all good.
Taking the backroads was so much fun-and much more relaxing than I-71. You get to see so much more than you do when you take the main highway. The weather wasn't perfect (mostly cloudy on the way down with a few sprinkles), but we had a little bit of sunshine, so it wasn't bad. We saw lots of cool houses in the smaller towns, and lots of wide open spaces (perfect if you're feeling a little stressed and a bit claustrophobic in the city). We saw a variety of animals: cows, chickens, horses, sheep, ducks, alpacas; and I spotted a wild turkey. Perseph kept track of most of the small towns we drove through. My personal favorites were Funk, OH and Jelloway, OH.
On the way back we took I-71 to Grandpa's Cheesebarn and stopped for cheese and fudge. Then we decided to take the backroads all the way up to the lake:
the farthest north you can go...
We drove along the lakeshore until we finally had to turn away and head home. I was sad to see the day end, but I had such a good time! If you ever get the chance to explore the backroads of where you live-I highly recomend it. You may discover things you didn't even know were in your own backyard! (so to speak) Someday I hope to travel abroad...until then I'll enjoy watching travel shows and I'll explore the backroads of Ohio, Minnesota, and everything in between! :)
Oh, and you know what the best part about the day was? Being able to hang out with some cool friends!
Stay tuned for part 2...
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