OHIO!

November 2, 2007 8:14 PM

OhioFilter: I'm going to be spending a three-day weekend in Ohio to see Over the Rhine on their home turf.

I'm flying into Cleveland on Friday morning and flying out of Cleveland on Sunday evening. I have to be in Canton on Friday night and Dayton on Saturday night.

Other than those specific things, what should I do?

Here's my tentitive list:

1) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
2) The Warthers museum.

posted by Pants! to travel & transportation (18 comments total)

The air force museum at Wright Patterson air force base is pretty freaking amazing. Not entirely on your route, but totally worth a stop.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/
posted by Rallon at 8:28 PM on November 2, 2007

Over the Rhine is from Cincinnati, too bad you wont be seeing them in "Over the Rhine" the area they get their name from. Although, Dayton's only a hour drive away from Cincinnati, you could probably go check it out if you were really motivated. And go to the new Modern Art Museum or the Underground Railroad Museum while you're there.
posted by lannanh at 8:31 PM on November 2, 2007

Prepare to be underwhelmed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's all right, but it's nothing that great.

Speaking of "great," if you see the ice cream chain Graeter's, you must stop and get some ice cream. No, I don't care if it's November. Get a flavor with chocolate chips.
posted by rachelpapers at 8:32 PM on November 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

seconding Graeters-- it's one of the very few things i miss about ohio. If you're going to Canton, you should try to drive through the small towns of Berlin or Winesberg or both. They have lots of Amish folk, and, in addition to seeing them drive their buggies you can purchase/sample/look at wonderful cheeses, quilts, pies, and/or furniture.
posted by LizardOfDoom at 9:23 PM on November 2, 2007

Check out the seedy goodness of the Oregon District in downtown Dayton. The Neon is a cool theater down there.

If you can, drive the 15 minutes east to Yellow Springs. Cool little town. The Little Art Theater is charming. And there's a Graeter's there.

As for Cleveland--yeah, the Rock n Roll Hall is pretty disappointing. But the University Circle area has awesome museums (art and natural history) and Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. I'd skip the R&R museum and go out there.

You're on your own with Canton. Hope you like sports bars!
posted by Rykey at 10:25 PM on November 2, 2007

Apropos of nothing, I've NEVER heard of another person who's been to the Warther Museum.

My mom had quite the gift for picking out weird-ass places to stop on our annual crosscountry treks. Needless to say, it made quite the impression. I never tire of trying to explain the Plier Tree.

Have fun!
posted by Madamina at 7:14 AM on November 3, 2007

You could eat a meal at Schmidt's in Columbus on Saturday.
posted by billtron at 7:52 AM on November 3, 2007

2nd the Air Force Musuem. It is a very large and impressive collection of planes.

Canton has the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Its been almost 20 years since I have been there but it was enjoyable if you are into that sort of thing.
posted by mmascolino at 7:55 AM on November 3, 2007

Also, Graeters is good, and I have a t-shirt and all, but the BEST ICE CREAM IN OHIO IS JENI'S ICE CREAM!!!!

They have a stall in the North Market, and one somewhere in Granville, both in Columbus. Seriously good ice cream. Thai peanut, beer and milk, cayenne chocolate, etc. Ridiculous. Makes Graeter's taste boring.

Also, driving through Amish country is fun, but avoid the Dutch restaurants unless you like tons of carbs and gravy washed down with pop.
posted by billtron at 8:27 AM on November 3, 2007

Canton is good if you are a NFL fan.
posted by dzot at 8:37 AM on November 3, 2007

Rock Hall is a waste of time. See also.
posted by sciurus at 9:39 AM on November 3, 2007

Do you care about restaurants? What do you like? These are all in Cleveland. You can have a great brunch at Lucky's. Great Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai at Siam Cafe. Great contemporary American at Moxie (Chagrin and Richmond), fire and Dante (Rockside and Canal). Moxie and Dante each have website but their more trouble than they're worth. There's a great new Italia wine bar called Bar Cento (W 25th and Lorain). There's good Malaysian food at Pacific East which also has good sushi. El Tango Taqueria (Madison, West of Bunts) has amazing Latin American food. The green chile stew is phenomenal.
posted by stuart_s at 9:47 AM on November 3, 2007

Rykey wrote: If you can, drive the 15 minutes east to Yellow Springs. Cool little town. The Little Art Theater is charming. And there's a Graeter's there.

Actually, a few small corrections -- Yellow Springs is more like 30 minutes from downtown Dayton than 15. Also, there's no Graeter's in Yellow Springs that I'm aware of, but there are a few within striking distance of downtown Dayton. [If you do want fabulous ice cream near Yellow Springs, however, check out Young's Jersey Dairy.] Yellow Springs is truly worth visiting -- not really many other cities in Ohio that are anything like it.

As for other things to check out in Ohio -- Cleveland has a really great art museum (perhaps the best in the state).

I myself live in Dayton, and grew up around here... and I'm sorry to report that there aren't many tremendously exciting things to do here. We've got a few nice restaurants, a reasonably cool natural history museum, and of course the National Air Force Museum. Also, there are parks and ... uh .. malls.
posted by dryad at 11:54 AM on November 3, 2007

Greaters Locations
posted by Mick at 12:49 PM on November 3, 2007

Thanks everybody. Sounds like I'll have to settle once and for all the Graeters v Jeni's controversy.

I'm willing to try both for the future of our species.
posted by Pants! at 4:03 PM on November 3, 2007

More food in Cleveland:

Lola in Tremont is one of the top five restaurants I've ever been to (surprising in Cleveland, no? but true...). Pricey, but amazing.

For really good breakfast/lunch food, I love Tommy's.

If you like Ethiopian food, Cleveland has a great restaurant. I'm always really excited by this because I can't get it in my area and I love it. But YMMV.

For other things:

A bit on the dorky side, but you're going to be close to Oberlin College, which just happens to be having it's parents weekend then. They have an awesome conservatory there and manage to put on great performances during that weekend. So, if you're into classical/jazz music, it might be worth checking out. Oberlin's about 40 minutes west of Cleveland.

If you're into good roller coasters, Cedar Point in Sandusky is one of my favourites.
posted by mosessis at 3:03 PM on November 4, 2007

Sadly Cedar Point is closed for the season.
posted by mmascolino at 8:40 AM on November 6, 2007

Also, there's no Graeter's in Yellow Springs

D'oh! I coulda sworn that little ice cream stand in downtown YS was a Graeter's. Just up from that grocery store, with the wrought iron fence around its courtyard?
posted by Rykey at 9:06 AM on November 6, 2007