People love to knock my home state of Ohio. I'm not sure why it gets such a bad rap when it comes to people in other states but Ohio is pretty darn cool. After a 2500 mile road trip to Maine and back, I'm even more convinced of this descriptor. Sure, I saw some beautiful places especially Acadia National Park in Maine but it also solidified even more the love of my state. I'll tell you why.
I wasn't born in Ohio, but just outside our nation's capitol so I am a transplant but this is the state I have resided the longest so hence I consider it my home state. Well, because my home is here. I lived on the east side of the state in the early 1970's near Youngstown where my immediate maternal family hails from. After moving to Tennessee and then Missouri (where my paternal family is from), my parents returned to settle NW Ohio in 1981 when my father took a job here. When I got older I lived in Indiana for a bit until my first marriage broke up. Since 1998, almost 20 years, I've resided here settled between Dayton and Lima, Ohio.
When I mention to someone who doesn't live in our great state that I live in Ohio, their face might crunch up in concentration before they blurt out, "Oh, Ohio has a lot of corn doesn't it"? I'm not sure how we got this reputation, but okay, yeah we have a lot of corn. Actually, I live in the country and I can look out my windows right this second and see corn fields. You know what? Corn fields and other crop fields can be really pretty. So there, doubters. I don't mind living out among the crop fields, it's better than crammed up against people you don't get along with. I'm happy as a calm out here in bumfuk Egypt as my dad used to call it.
But while I live in what most outsiders believes our state consists of, I can in 1-3 hours drive to multiple cities. In an hour I can easily be in Columbus, Dayton and Toledo. If I want to drive less than 4 hours, I can add in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Ft. Wayne (IN), Indianapolis (do I need to put the state?), Detroit (MI), Lexington (KY), Youngstown, and Louisville (KY). When we plan a vacation where we need to fly, we have quite a few cities to check fares. Within a few hours, I can drive to another country, entering Canada through Detroit. All these cities offer their own unique experience so there is always a million things we can plan for a night away or even a day trip.
And sports? Are you kidding? Ohio is chock full of college and pro sports. We have two NFL and MLB teams. Sometimes it can divide families but hey it's all in fun. Not to mention to all the college sports (Hello – THE Ohio State Buckeyes) so you always have something follow or go spectate throwing in hockey and soccer as well. I'm not a huge sports person but you get the idea. We are even very grudgingly so, somewhat tolerant of Michigan fans. The rivalry of just OSU and Michigan could warrant it's own blog post. There are plenty of minor leagues and local sports to keep you engulfed in sportsdom. Even if you aren't a fan of a Ohio NFL team (I'm a Redskins fan – no comments ha), chances are you can see your team in our state some years as they may play the Browns or Bengals.
While our cities are great, our small towns are pretty awesome too. My town has been working over the years to spruce up the downtown and bring in new businesses. My daughters graduated from the same school system as I did which wasn't in my life plan as I wanted to get the hell out of dodge the moment I graduated, but I am grateful they had the same great education I did. They have all moved on to be successful, self-sufficient adults. They also all 3 attended OSU at least part of their college career (I had to throw that in lol).
I have to brag about our hometown a bit though. Our town not only supports sports like most school systems, but they are very active in all the activities such as music, academics and so on. My oldest daughter was in Quiz Bowl for 4 years and our school always had the most parents and family supporting their team. When our high school football team went to the playoffs with a big Dayton school at a bigger stadium between the two schools, our side was chocked full of people while the Dayton school side was pretty sparse. We also have a heart, people from our side went to the other team's side and sat and cheered both teams on.
Side note – Parental involvement is so important. When my oldest was in an honors psychology class at OSU, I went in to help out with a project for the class. The instructor told me he does the same project with the non-honors class as well but the parental support is much less. He contributes the kids being in the honors class to having strong parental involvement much of the time, not always, but over his years of teaching, this seems to be a consistent pattern. Okay off my soapbox and back to my subject.
Ohio has an incredibly diverse and rich parks system from local to state to national parks. Our terrain just isn't miles and miles of crops, we have shoreline along a massive Great Lake (Erie) and to the south we run into the rolling hills of Appalachia and everything in between. Okay, no desert but there are so many opportunities to be outside. Boating, hiking, cycling (road and mountain), kayaking/ canoeing, backpacking, hunting, and much more. Ohio also pays attention to providing handicap accessible options to get everyone outside. I can attest to the hundreds and hundreds of miles of bike paths/rail trails traversing through our state. I have ridden much of it at one point or the other. I love bike paths because you aren't dealing with cars so much and it's a bit safer though you still have to be careful of people. We have backpacking loops in our state. More hiking trails from short jaunts to the Buckeye Trail which circles our entire state.
Musically, you have local opportunities and then also considering all our cities, if your favorite band is touring there is a good chance you can catch them in Ohio or the state next door. We are also in a days drive of 50% of our country. Great location I think. One day I can be hiking in Hocking Hills and the next day lying on a sandy beach on Lake Erie. There is all sorts of culture from local theatre to attending Broadway productions in our larger cities that may be touring. We even have ski resorts, one just a half an hour from me. There are opportunities for many ethnic experiences as people from all over the world have settled in our midst, especially in our cities. The Arts are very alive and well with numerous large art museums and so on.
Ohio's other resource is it's people. It is rare that I run into anyone really unpleasant in our state. In general, people are really nice. The more rural you travel, the more this seems to stand out. If I'm out walking the dog on our country road and it starts raining, I'll have 3-4 people stop and ask me if I need a ride. That is the one thing I hear when I travel, besides the cornfield comment, is that our people are kind and friendly for the most part. No we aren't all backwards hillbillies.
Education in Ohio is abundant with great school systems throughout the state (some better than others of course) and colleges galore. Of course everyone knows of Ohio State but there are so many others like University of Cincinnati, Toledo, etc. Many private colleges as well such as Ohio University and smaller ones most people have never heard of. There is little you have to travel out of this state to pursue education wise at least on the undergrad level.
Our medical facilities in the state are also very progressive with places like the Cleveland Clinic and the Ohio State set of hospitals like the James Cancer institute which amazingly extended my mom's life to the fullest with her three boughts of cancer. Research is being done all the time to find new treatments and hopefully a cure in the near future. I pray for a cure.
I could continue to go on about the many historical sites and rich history, the restaurants, and many festivals that dot the state all summer long but I will stop here. I"ve got the day off and I'm going to go enjoy some of the great offerings of our great state. Don't knock Ohio, you doubters, come visit us. Ohio has a lot to offer!
Till next time.
Coloring In The Squiggly Lines 