Ohio

12-13^th Sept – Ohio

We travelled south to a campground in the state of Ohio near an area which is home to the largest Amish and Mennonite communities in USA.  On Saturday we drove around the district where we came across a Horse Auction in Mt Hope.

There were horses and buggies tied up along with trucks and horse boxes. Around the edge of the car park some horses were being put through their trotting paces.  There must have been over 200 horses in the stalls of the auction barns.  They all looked the same; same size, same colour – all bays!  You couldn’t make out the prices they were going for as the auctioneer talked in that very fast ‘talk’ that only auctioneers can.

We visited the Behalt Heritage Centre and learnt about Amish and Mennonite way of life and their history.  One of the differences between the two Orders is that the Mennonite embraces more aspects of modern life compared to the Amish.  The largest group of “Old Order” Amish travel by horse and buggy.  The “New Order”, which began in 1996, do not drive vehicles but have electricity and phones in their homes and compete in modern markets – their furniture is very popular. 
The Amish do not continue education past 8^th grade (age 13ish?) whereas Mennonites can continue if desired and hence may take careers into medicine and law to support their community.  However until a young Amish person joins the church they can use technology although they cannot own it.

Largest Cuckoo clock in the world

We stopped at the town of Sugarcreek, known as little Switzerland, and saw the largest cuckoo clock in the world strike 3pm. Driving home you had to be careful of going over the crest of a hill or around a corner as there were horse and buggies on all the roads, although the horses seemed very calm about the traffic passing them at 50mph!

14-16^th Sept – Cleveland



One of Lady Gaga's outfits

We spent the next couple of days at the campground and Paul did a bit of fishing.  On the Tuesday we went into the city of Cleveland and had a great visit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

With memorabilia from Bands through all the decades including up to date outfits worn by Beyoncé.

Sgt Pepper outfit

 

 

 

Brick in the Wall

It even included the 30 foot Teacher from Pink Floyd’s ‘Brick in the Wall’.  There are now nearly 300 ‘Inductees’ to the Hall since opening in 1986, and around 10% are British (+ ABBA).

Having spent most of the day in the R&R Hall we had a spare 1½ hour so decided to visit the Great Lakes Science Centre.  This was such a big disappointment.  It was not a Science Centre about the Great Lakes. It took us less than an hour to tour the 3 floors which had some basic exhibits about the space programme and medical treatments.  The ‘hands-on’ activities were aimed at 8-12 year olds.  To cap it all the Lego Exhibition had a model of Salisbury Cathedral – without a Spire!  We brought this to the attention of a member of staff ……!

17-18^th Sept – Dayton

We travelled further south to Wilmington and on the Thursday visited the National Museum of the US Air Force at Dayton.  We spent the whole day wandering among the aircraft in the huge hangars. 



The museum took us through the development of aircraft and their use during the various conflicts in the past 100 years.  We particularly found the World War II gallery interesting and the USA involvement in the Far East in the 50s & 60s. The dog in the picture (right) flew over 100 times in the Berlin Air Lift.

19^th – Cincinnati

Cincinnati is on the northern side of the Ohio River with a series of bridges connecting to Newport, Kentucky on the southern side.  We spent most of the day at the National Freedom Centre of the Underground Railway.  It covered the topic of slavery; from its history, through the conditions for slaves, the abolitionists, and the US Civil War.  The role of the ‘Underground Railway’ was a means by which slaves escaped to freedom in the northern regions including Canada, and involved a network of people who were prepared to assist their travel with food and shelter.  Kentucky was a slave state whilst Ohio was not; 175 yards of river separated the two states.

The Carew Tower is the 2nd tallest building but unfortunately their observation deck was closed for repairs.  So we walked around Fountain Square where they were setting up for the weekend for  Oktoberfest – in September?!
The stroll along the Riverfront was very pleasant in the sunshine. This was not the place where we expected to see a race prepared speed boat going through its paces.  

The following day we spent at the campground where they had members of the emergency services attend to give a Safety Presentation.  This included a Fire Engine for everyone to explore. We spent a pleasant and interesting half hour talking to a deputy sheriff.

Cincinnati was holding it's Oktoberfest this w/e but we didn't feel like travelling the 50 miles back there again.